As a Muslim woman who was born a Christian, Susan Carland gets quite a lot of hateful messages from ant-Islamic bigots. After trying different ways to fight them, she came up with the best idea of all – she would turn their hate into something positive by donating $1 to UNICEF for every hate tweet she received.
Carland, is a sociologist with a PhD at Melbourne's Monash University, converted to Islam when she was 19. She is now 34. "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," she writes on The Age. "I felt I should be actively generating good in the world for every ugly verbal bullet sent my way. And so the idea of donating $1 to UNICEF for every hate-filled tweet I received came to me."
"One day [after] reading the merry stream of toxicity directed towards me, I wondered what the most edifyingly Islamic response I could give would be."
"And so the idea of donating $1 to UNICEF for every hate-filled tweet I received came to me"
"hey were assisting children who were in horrific situations that were the direct outcome of hate – war, poverty due to greed, injustice, violence"
"Donating to them every time I was abused felt like tangible good in response to virtual hate"
Her tweet even encouraged others to start donating
Some people noticed the irony of the situation, and hoped "the need for donations diminishes to zero asap"
“By refusing to let the hate of others mould me, I am more secure and relaxed in my own identity than ever”
Image credits: wireimage
Donations and support started to flow from all over the world
Image credits: Susan Carland