When we lived in Tanzania it surprised me to hear that some children were called ‘Tabu’ which means ‘distress, misery or difficult conditions’. This was usually because their mother had experienced problems during the birth. There were other children who were more fortunate, they were called ‘Bahati’ which means ‘luck’. I often wondered how having the name ‘Problem’ would make these children feel about themselves.
In the Associated Press in Oct it was reported that 285 Indian girls had chosen new names for themselves, because they had been named ‘Unwanted’. The birth rate of girls in certain states is sometimes 10-15% lower than that of boys because of abortions or neglect. Being called ‘Unwanted’ makes these girls feel worthless and in fact they are often treated so.
In Rwanda the Tutsis were called cockroaches by the majority Hutu tribe and the Hutus were told ‘Don’t worry, you’re not killing humans like you. You are killing some vermin that belongs under your shoe. You’re killing cockroaches.’ As a result over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus who did not support the killing were massacred.
When I tried to explain to a group of boys in a Cumbernauld High School that using negative language about others leads us to negative behaviour towards them, they seemed to be visibly moved. Using negative lanuage about those who support the opposing football team is a common day occurance for them. When I suggested that they could change their language they were not so sure that it would be received favourably by their families or friends. They recognised that they used such language because it had been passed on to them, but did not seem to think that they could change, nor that it would make any difference.
How sad that such negative langauge is still so pervasive in Scotland today and that these young people feel so helpless in the face of the sheer weight of the sectarianism that is around them.
