Online shaming: A lynch in the new city square
Op-ed: Racism has become a dangerous weapon; while we must fight racism, we must also fight the unbearable lightness of racism claims.
But it seems that the fear of this serious disease, which exists in every society, has turned everything into racism – and it's only increasing. Even President Reuven Rivlin claimed that Israel has become a sick and violent society. And if he says so, it must be true. The protests initiated recently by young members of the Ethiopian immigrants' community added fuel to the celebration fire.
Over the past weekend, the racism festival claimed a victim. A young black woman claimed she had suffered discrimination because of the color of her skin. She accused a manager at the Population Immigration and Border Authority, Ariel Ronis, of racism. She wrote a post on Facebook, and her very painful and eloquent comments echoed across the Internet. The manager presented a completely different version. One story versus another story. Who should we believe?
Political correctness requires us to believe her of course. She is a woman and she is black. He is a white Jewish man. Thousands of people "liked" her post, and thousands shared it. The social networks have turned into a drumhead court-martial. There is no need for proof.
It doesn’t end there. Channel 10 journalist Rafi Reshef dedicated a long item to the complainant. Why she is clearly right.
Reality, it seems, is a bit more complicated. The same manager was active against racism and one of the operators of an association working for equality. He was deeply hurt by the publication. He couldn't bear the shame, and committed suicide.
It's reasonable to assume that we don't know everything. In the coming days, evidence may pop up from the incident which led the young black woman to complain. Maybe, just maybe, it will turn out that the man who committed suicide was oversensitive. It's all maybe. One thing is clear: He is not the only one.
Not everyone commits suicide, but too many people suffer. It's a bit harder to cope with the online criticism. The masses trample and crush.
We must remember that not every claim is proof and not everything is racism. Posts against Arabs don’t turn all Jews in Israel into racists, and Jewish hooligans' harassments of Arabs don’t make Israel racist. After all, such phenomena exist in Sweden and Australia as well. Relatively, maybe even more. Does that make those countries racist? Definitely not.
We are confusing cases of racism, and there are such cases, with a racist society. There are those among us who nurture the overall racism claim. It's a lie. Sometimes it a blood libel. Just like the claims that "Israel is an apartheid state," which are nurtured by Israelis of a certain species and gain huge popularity among anti-Semites of the old and new kind. They are also "against racism."
The result itself is racism. Because one of the main characteristics of racism is generalizations. Whoever turns the Muslims into animals, because one in 10 identifies with global jihad, is a racist just like those who turn Israel into a racist country.
The complainant who wrote the post claimed that she was also waiting for the moment she could leave racist Israel. That doesn't say anything about Israel. Let's hope it doesn't say anything about her either. There may have been a language problem, perhaps a misunderstanding. There is no need to turn her into a monster.
It's safe to assume that among the thousands of civil servants who serve the Israeli public, not everyone is perfect. But according to Amnon Ben-Ami, the director-general of the Population Immigration and Border Authority, the late Ronis was an ethical person. The last person one could accuse of discrimination and racism. The last.
So there should be only one lesson: We must fight racism, but we must also fight the unbearable lightness of racism claims.
