Shadow of Hate

Shadow of Hate

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Shadow of Hate

        The Video Shadow of Hate talks of the different issues that the American society was dealing with during the time it was building itself from the ashes. In the beginning of the Video, the audience is introduced to the Ku Klux Klansmen who are matching on the Streets of Washington DC airing their views on the opposition of the other communities such as Jews in America, Catholic and African Americans on their participation on the American soil. Furthermore, the activity is the first propagation of hatred towards other societies in the book. The essence of a watching a video for analysis is to relate the ideas in the movie with some of the contents being taught in class and the movie Shadow of Hate provides the expected contents. For instance, the movie makes it possible for the students to understand some of the issues related to hate and the manner in which they interfered with the American history because of hatred. Moreover, the biggest issue that the documentary makes one understands is the ideology that gave rise to race and the manner in which it affected history and the people who were involved both in history and at present (Guggenheim et al, 1995). Furthermore, it is essential to understand the concept of hate as the movie portrays it and the nature of intolerance since it one of the tools that was used in implementing hate and the ideology of the term “them” and “others”.

        The ideology in the video of naming and classifying individuals as “them” was initiated to establish the difference that instigated the individuals that were unknown. Furthermore, human beings are always afraid of the unknown due to uncertainty that may arise whereby claiming that they should be rendered as “them” since they are different. Furthermore, the biggest knowledge derived from the documentary was that concept related to race was an ideology that was instigated by the society in order to establish certain boundaries on some people (Guggenheim et al, 1995). The differences between certain people and communities were imposed based on social, political and economic aspects, which people might have especially in regards to point of view.

Therefore, it is important to note that the documentary The Shadow of Hate gives an account of the disturbing relic that has been established in the United States and has been seen to create an overwhelming prejudice within the American society for centuries. At the same time, the battle for dominance has always been based on the superior race whereby the white society has dominated the other races such as Quakers, Japanese –Americans and the Native Americans (Guggenheim et al, 1995). The difference in race has always been on the basis of preoccupation and obsession whereby the terms such as “us” and “them” are dominant on some of their conversations. Moreover, the documentary establishes the tensions that are being witnessed currently whereby it has caused the rift between different communities and cities.

The documentary also indicates that for the past 300 years the American society had been grooming the concept of race and hatred towards others, which later initiated the ideology of dominant society. For instance, the colonial period was dominated with cases of persecution of the Quakers, which created an ethnic tension among the English community. Now, people might think that the division of people into different states and communities was an easy and joyous thing but, the documentary implies that the division of ethnic societies and towns was as a result to avoid some of the tensions between different communities and societies (Guggenheim et al, 1995). The lesson learnt from the movie is to make the American society living in the current society to practice tolerance towards other people and community as it has initiated various examples to ensure that the message is passed across. For instance, the documentary uses different images to indicate the effects of ethnic tension through the persecution of the Quakers.

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