So the burgers and the chips were ready and me and a couple of other people from the mosque,
we walked over.
And I'll never forget,
the first person who I walked towards with this bag of food looked straight through me
as if I didn't exist.
And I thought, OK, keep smiling, keep positive, it will work.
That's Imam Adam Kelwick.
Describing the night his Liverpool mosque was surrounded by an angry mob.
Three young girls had been murdered at a dance class in nearby Southport,
and fake claims were flooding social media that the killer was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Across the UK, mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers were being attacked and set on fire.
But instead of hiding behind police lines, Adam did something few would dare.
He walked towards the protesters with bags of home-cooked food,
hoping a small act of kindness might defuse the threats of violence.
Welcome to LSEIQ,
the podcast where we ask social scientists and other experts to answer one intelligent question.
I'm Joanna Bale from the IQ team.
We work with academics to bring you their latest research and ideas and talk to people affected by the issues we explore.
In this episode, I ask, how is the far right shaping our future?
I'll find out why billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk thinks empathy is destroying Western civilization.