Wikipedia had an article about the Rhodes Blood Libel on its front page a few days ago. This was one of those cases where a Jewish community was falsely accused of ritually murdering a Christian child, leading to horrible repercussions. Reading the article I was wondering whether such a thing could happen today and what can be done to avoid it.
The false allegations gained ground because the suspects confessed under torture. Of course we all know nowadays that people will say anything if you torture them enough. The tortured person becomes a megaphone for the views of the torturer and his bosses, who are inevitable revolting, crazy people. So torturing people becomes more a way of perpetuating prejudices and lies than of gaining useful information. This is worth bearing in mind as some governments seek to legitimise torture or even actively legalise it.
There is also the question of why on earth anyone would believe such ridiculous accusations in the first place. I think it was partly because the Jewish community lived so separately from the mainstream community. The bizarre rituals of Judaism aren’t in fact any weirder that the rituals of any religion but people had no way of becoming familiar with them because they were always carried out behind closed doors. When things are done in secret, in a mysterious language, they do take on a sinister aspect.
That obviously got me to thinking about the way in which some Muslims are trying to cut themselves off from the society I live in, with separate Islamic schools and all-concealing clothing. I can see why the atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust that’s been generated by George Bush’s War On Terror would make people want to hide themselves away, but I think that reaction would be a big mistake. When people are suspecting your motives the answer is to patiently keep talking to them, not to run away.
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