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As a woman who decided to convert from Christianity to Islam, Susan Carland often finds herself on the receiving end of hateful tweets from those who don’t agree with her decision.
Despite the fact that she became a Muslim 15 years ago, when she was 19, people won’t stop hating on her religious beliefs and choice of dress.
“I am just a blank canvas onto which they can project their own prejudices and fantasies about Muslims,” Carland, a sociologist living in Melbourne, wrote on The Age website.
“Their online abuse ranges from requests to leave Australia, hope for my death, insults about my appearance (with a special focus on my hijab), accusations that I am a stealth jihadist, and that I am planning to take over the nation, one halal meat pie at a time.”
But instead of wasting her time and energy arguing with bigots who attack her online, Carland has made the decision to look to her faith and turn all of the hate she receives into something positive.
Carland donates $1 (approximately 66p) to UNICEF for every single hate tweet she receives.
“I’d tried blocking, muting, engaging and ignoring, but none of them felt like I was embodying the Koranic injunction of driving off darkness with light. I felt I should be actively generating good in the world for every ugly verbal bullet sent my way,” she wrote.
“And so the idea of donating $1 to UNICEF for every hate-filled tweet I received came to me. I particularly liked the idea of giving to UNICEF, as so often they were assisting children who were in horrific situations that were the direct outcome of hate – war, poverty due to greed, injustice, violence.
“These children seemed like the natural recipients for the antidote to hate. And donating to them every time I was abused felt like tangible good in response to virtual hate.”
A huge number of Carland’s fans have pledged their support and, incredibly, some have even promised to match whatever amount she’s donated already.
But others are a little more skeptical about the whole idea, suggesting that by making her donating plan public, she’ll face a whole lot more hate.
