Is fear – not hate — the opposite of love?

May 26, 2017

By Anil Netto
Lately, we have witnessed a combination of factors that may have alarmed us: the rising cost of living, a tendency to slip into violence when one’s own or group interests are threatened and the stoking of ethnic or religious sentiments.

This is occurring in a climate when many are struggling to keep up with the higher costs of living in a society where a small group have fabulous wealth while many others can barely cope with daily expenses or save up for a house or their children’s education.

Is it any wonder then that some have succumbed to the temptation of earning quick wealth from so-called “money games” or get-rich-quick scams?

This is not something peculiar to Malaysia. Just eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6bn people in the poorer half of humanity, according to an Oxfam report. The report shows that the gap between the rich and the poor is much greater than feared.

Oxfam observed that its report ‘An economy for the 99 per cent’ shows “how big business and the super-rich are fuelling the inequality crisis by dodging taxes, driving down wages and using their power to influence politics.”

If, in Jesus’ time we had the oppressive Roman Empire, now we have the oppressive conditions that allow poverty to exist amidst affluence and wealth.

A theologian recently said, the opposite of poverty is not abundant wealth (which incidentally may also harm the eco-system). The opposite of poverty is social justice — which would provide opportunities to enable the poor to empower themselves and escape from the snare of poverty.

The poor are not poor because they are born like that. They are poor because they lack the opportunities to escape from the tentacles of poverty. For them to gain access to these opportunities, they need good nutrition, access to good education, free or affordable healthcare, a good social security network, decent housing.

Caring social policies and a progressive taxation would help to provide these. A progressive taxation system would ensure that tax revenue — collected from those who can afford it — is allocated to provide good education, affordable healthcare, decent housing and open green spaces.

Subsidies should not be a bad word. Instead, they are essential for easing the burden on the poor who do not earn enough to cover their household expenses.

Unfortunately, in today’s world, a lot of public wealth is used to protect the vested interests who have made poor investment decisions or investments that are not in the public interest.

Jesus proclaimed a gospel of love. Love when expanded to cover the whole of society translates into social justice, which is based on a deep love and compassion for the whole of society.

Now, we might think that the opposite of love is hate. Perhaps we wouldn’t be too far wrong.

But Gandhi had a profound point when he said that the “The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but it is really fear.”

During his earthly ministry, Jesus proclaimed a gospel of love and compassion. But after his resurrection, his mantra was not “Do not hate.” Instead, he urged his followers, “Do not be afraid.” He never wanted his followers to succumb to fear. A subtle difference in emphasis between fear and hate.

Perhaps it is fear and insecurity that drives us to hate. If that is the case, we have to remove the conditions that perpetuate that fear and insecurity — including the fear that our incomes in the future will be insufficient to cope with the rising cost of living?

So if we have a society that is lacking in love and, by extension, social justice, wouldn’t that lead to fear and insecurity?

If we have fear and insecurity, wouldn’t that lead to the demonising of groups that are different from ours or even the occasional lashing out in hatred and violence towards others?

If we are fearful of the outside world or insecure about the future, wouldn’t we then retreat fearfully into our own cultural, social and religious comfort zones. Perhaps our fear and insecurity would morph into a zealousness in “defending” our faith, which would, in turn, manifest itself in various forms?

If we are fearful and insecure of the future (due to a lack of social justice or wide income disparities), would we not be easy targets for “money games” and other scams?

Contrast this to a situation where people have enough to live on, in a society with adequate social security nets that reach out in compassion to those who lack opportunities in the system — wouldn’t we be less likely to succumb to fear and indifference?

What about apathy? While we are discussing opposites — perhaps apathy is the opposite of being compassionate and caring.

Perhaps apathy is also the fear that we are powerless to make a difference in creating a society that is caring, loving and compassionate.

So it is time to stop being afraid and apathetic. Instead, we need to work towards a society that is more caring and compassionate. In doing so, we will be cutting off the weeds of hatred and divisiveness.