Source: Dawn

THE campaigns preceding the Brexit referendum in Britain and Donald Trump’s victory in the US exacted their toll. In both countries insults to and even physical attacks on Muslims and immigrants followed. In December 2015, well before the referendum in Britain and the presidential election in the US, Prof Sara Lipton asked in an incisive article: “Do harsh words lead to violent acts? At the moment when hate speech seems to be proliferating, it is a question worth asking.” Her answer was clear: “Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch recently expressed worry that heated anti-Muslim political rhetoric would spark an increase in attacks against Muslims … history shows that a heightening of rhetoric against a certain group can incite violence against that group, even when no violence is called for. When a group is labelled hostile and brutal, its members are more likely to be treated with hostility and brutality.”

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