COMBATING BIGOTRY & HATE | MAY 2, 2022

I Don’t Like That Man

There are people who would say that about me. Some, unfortunately, with good cause. Others, simply because they took seriously the blather of those who make a living out of attacking my religion.

Horses on a chess board — Photo by Dima Sobko/Shutterstock.com

To them, I am nothing more than a part of an amorphous mass, altogether to be painted with the same brush of lies and contempt.

They of course do not dislike me. They dislike whatever bogey they have conjured in their own minds, which they then project out on that amorphous mass.

This is the way of all prejudice. The attacker conjures up his own demons, and then because it would be silly to sit alone in a corner fighting imaginary demons, projects them onto some undeserving class of his fellows, inviting others to join the fictional fray.

I don’t know if there’s an easy fix for such conjurers. But for those who take them seriously, I would offer the following perspective. It comes from Abraham Lincoln who said: “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.”

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AUTHOR

Leland Thoburn

Leland has been a Scientologist for 45 years. His writings have been published in numerous magazines and literary journals, including Foliate Oak Review, Writers’ Journal, Feathertale Review, Calliope, Vocabula Review and others. Formerly an executive at EarthLink Inc., he works as a business consultant.

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