Terry Sarten: Tackle prejudice by having it out in the open

OUT IN THE OPEN: The story in Thursday's Chronicle about the anti-Muslim pamphlets circulating in Whanganui.

THE APPEARANCE of flyers in Whanganui letterboxes touting Muslims as posing a threat may offend our sense of community, but having these ideas out in the open means we can engage with them.

Banning pamphlets that preach prejudice would be counter-productive. Those demonising immigrants and Muslims should be willing to step into the light so that this challenge to our community can be discussed in the open.

We should be robust enough to take on the views of the nine members of the Right Wing Resistance and resist their fear tactics.

While fear is often the tack taken by our career politicians (looking at you, Winston), we must be wary about giving in to it.

I have colleagues I worked with in Australia who - because of their Muslim beliefs - have become cautious about going out with their kids, as they and the children were being harassed and verbally abused in the street. To an extent this has been a product of irresponsible and immature political discourse that has added fuel to existing levels of prejudice.

It is important to identify where and how prejudice evolves in order to counter its ability to undermine communities by creating "ghost" fears - shadows that are not substantiated by actual facts with the purpose of generating anxieties. Consider the false base on which those printing the pamphlets are building.

The Ipsos-Mori poll that examines how nations perceive themselves ranked NZ near the top of the list for ignorance.

One of the questions was estimating the proportion of immigrant population. New Zealanders wildly overestimated the number of immigrants, believing 37 per cent of the population are migrants when in fact it is 25 per cent.

The 2013 census counted 1.2 percent of the population, 46,150 people identifying as Muslim, with a quarter of them being born in New Zealand. We are not being over-run by foreigners intent on imposing their beliefs.

Fear is the currency of extremism used by fundamentalists of all stripes, whether that be of religious or political persuasion.

Fear of immigration was cranked up by pro-Brexit politicians in Britain as a distraction from economic woes. In Germany, the Pergida movement and AfD (Alternative for Deutschland) party are feeding fears that Islam will overwhelm the German national identity.

I was there earlier this year to do some gigs and in my travels saw no evidence of towns and cities being swamped by refugees. It is ironic that Dresden, the epicentre of right wing agitation in Germany has one of the lowest proportion of refugees in the country.

The difficulty with prejudice is that it is constructed on stereotypes beyond the reach of facts.

I recall a study done on prejudice in which two groups were pre-tested on their views. One was given information and the other none. It seemed that a dose of facts had minimal effect on their prejudices. Reading about this led to a fit of despondency as this suggested that bigotry is hard to shift even with solid science.

I should not have been surprised as, of course, prejudice is entirely a state of mind relatively immune to treatment. Experience seems to be the only cure.

I have encountered people with inbuilt prejudice against non-white, Jewish and gay people who have no coherent ability to explain why.

My favourite was a young man who was adamant that he hated Jews. Questioned whether he actually had meet anybody who was Jewish he admitted he had not. When I noted that I could be Jewish he looked startled and it seemed that a very large penny had dropped into his empty thought box.

■ Terry Sarten is a writer, musician and social worker - feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz