Let me just start by saying I’ve not seen the video, and going by the description I don’t intend to. The description is quite enough for me.
That said, there are really two separate issues here (especially as some people are now apparently claiming that the accused in the video was killed for reasons other than being gay) so I’m going to address them separately: Intolerance/Homophobia and Vigilantism.
furie said:
People who don't fit the "world view" we create as we grow up make us feel uncomfortable. It's only natural. There's a huge difference though between being out of your comfort zone and hatred… what I did was recreate my world view to include the things that made me feel uncomfortable. It's surprisingly easy and you feel much better and freer for doing it
I've never understood homophobia or racism, I just see people, but I was brought up in a very racist and homophobic community. Hence why there's a hurdle to step over.
I think Furie has made a good point about having to overcome hurdles. I’m a straight male, raised as a Catholic (although turned atheist) and raised in what’s essentially a Tory heartland (Richmond is William Hague’s constituency). When you’re surrounded by the mindset of “it’s unnatural and disgusting”, it takes a while to overcome that.
The thing is, to be able to overcome that, you need to broaden your horizons and be exposed to new ideas and counter arguments. Even then, it takes time. For me, there was an intermediate stage where I’d think “each to their own, but to me that’s kinda weird – I just don’t get it”. Having spent time with openly gay people in the last few years, I’ve reached the point where there’s nothing seems odd or unusual about anyone being gay – it seems like the most natural thing in the world these days, and now I can’t understand the logic of anyone who would think differently.
Whilst I know there are people out there who are willfully ignorant, what of those people who were raised in a homophobic (or racist or otherwise intolerant) environment with a hateful/fearful worldview and who are never exposed to anything else? It’s very easy to demonize something you don’t understand, and when everything you know says that a person/practice is abhorrent, it’s unfortunately human nature to accept that without stopping to question.
I was recently reading about an experiment performed with a group of monkeys and a banana tree. Whenever a monkey tried to climb the tree, all of the monkeys in the group would be sprayed with water until the monkey climbed down from the tree. Eventually, when a monkey tried to climb the tree, all the other monkeys would attack it until it stopped trying.
Over time, some of the monkeys in the group were replaced with others that had never been exposed to the water. Of course, these monkeys would try to climb the tree, but would always be attacked before they could climb it, so they’d never get exposed to the water. They in turn learned to attack any monkey that would climb the tree.
Eventually, as the monkeys in the group were replaced, the group reached a point where none of the monkeys had been exposed to water. New entrants to the group quickly learned that not only do you never climb the tree, you also batter any other monkey that tries to do so without really knowing why.
For all the human advances in philosophy and rational thinking over the years, we’re all still primates at heart.
There’s a difference between ignorance and willful ignorance. Some people will adapt when they’re presented with new ideas and evidence, and only hold these viewpoints because they don’t know any better. Education can fix that, but takes time and only works if people are open minded. Unfortunately, many of these African countries are still staunchly Christian, and therefore have deep rooted Christian prejudices against homosexuality. You’ve got to overcome the deep rooted closed mindedness first.
Now onto the second issue of vigilantism. Vigilantism is a symptom of a problem, namely a breakdown in the rule of law. When the system is so corrupt and law enforcement isn’t dealing with those who go against the perceived rules of the system, people perceive their only choice as being either to suffer at the hands of the criminal and/or corrupt or to take matters into their own hands. Meanwhile, for the corrupt and the criminal, the question becomes not “is it ethical” or even “is it legal”, but “can I get away with it?”.
We’ve seem this even in the “civilized” world in recent years with internet groups such as Anonymous. They’ve seen large corporate organizations such as the Church of Scientology or Sony which are being at best unethical and at worst breaking the law and getting away with it. Law enforcement does nothing, the organizations in question hide behind and are protected by the legal system, so ordinary people made the decision to do “something” about it.
Now take that to extremes. Many people are ultimately not nice. Many other people have a lack of respect for perceived “scum”. This is apparent in the “civilized” world too. Look at the number of signatures on the recent petition to bring back hanging. Have you ever heard of someone being sent to jail for a horrific crime and heard someone say something along the lines of “hanging’s too good for them?” There’s also a reason why those convicted of horrific crimes against children have to be kept away from other prisoners.
Now take the situation in an African nation where someone is accused of stealing what little people have from a variety of people. The boils down to:
- There is reason (rational or not) to think that the accused is guilty.
- The accused is therefore directly harming everyone and must be stopped.
- Law enforcement is ineffective or corrupt and won’t help, so the only option is allow the accused to keep harming everyone or take measures to stop them.
- This person isn’t going to stop stealing. They’ve already made a cost benefit analysis and decided that they’re better off stealing than playing by the accepted norms of society.
- You don’t have the means to just lock them up.
- Some of the people involved in handing down vigilante “justice” are unpleasant people in their own right, and they’re extremely angry at the accused.
- Those handing down vigilante “justice” know that with such lax law enforcement, they’re not going to be punished for their actions against the accused.
None of this makes prejudice or violent vigilantism in any way acceptable, but both of them are symptoms of deep rooted problems. You’ve got to fix the underlying problems in order to eliminate the symptoms. Unfortunately, in in closed environments, both of these problems are self perpetuating. Ignorance breeds ignorance, and corruption encourages more corruption. Unfortunately, I don’t see this kind of abhorrent behavior going away any time soon.
. Did I not say that I agree the video should not be on CF? All I am saying is that I can appreciate the reasons upon which AJ decided to post. 
