I am scared. Scared because I feel like my country is slipping back into one of the darkest times in our country's history: the pre-civil rights movement era.
Society is far from the public lynchings that once dominated the American south but we are moving in that direction. Back when my ancestors came to this country, the most extreme forms of bigotry were reserved for Jews and especially Blacks. Today, we also have two groups, Muslims and Mexicans, who like the Jews and Blacks of my ancestor's days, suffer more than any other minority.
Amidst this week's thwarted terrorist attack, Islamaphobia in America is becoming more visible. In this diary, I'll examine Islamaphobia, a disease spread by conservative fear mongering bigots.
From the front page...
Almost four in ten, 39%, advocate that Muslims here should carry special I.D. That same number admit that they do hold some "prejudice" against Muslims. Forty-four percent say their religious views are too "extreme."
I don't know if I should feel comforted or frightened by this data. Still, to thik four out of every ten Americans support something that's straight out of apartheid South Africa is pretty appaling. It could be worse. And I bet in some European countries, the numbers would be much higher. Still, 40% is absolutely unacceptable.
Perhaps the most jaw dropping stat of them all..
While Americans tend to disagree with the notion that Muslims living in the United States are sympathetic to al-Qaeda, a significant 34% believe they do back al-Qaeda. And fewer than half -- 49% -- believe U.S. Muslims are loyal to the United States.
Of course, this is absolutely horrifying. I read an article in the Economist magazine this summer that discussed the difference between the European and American Muslim communities. In short, they believed that America did a far better job of assimilating Muslims into mainstream society. But with stats like these, how can one praise our relations with the Muslim community?
Why am I so passionate about standing for Muslims? A few years ago, I went to London. My dad and I were in Whitechapel, a perdominatly Bengladeshi Muslim section of town and we just happened to pass by the local Mosque. We were just looking at it as innocent tourists with nothing better to do. After standing around for just a minute or two, the nicest group of young Muslims invite us in and take us to a room in the Mosque where they were having an exhibition for non-Muslims.
It was the best religious experience of my life. Unlike many of my experiences with Christians, I didn't feel like I was the target of proselytization. Instead, the genuinely wanted to build a bridge of understanding between two liberal American Christians and their devout community. Nevertheless, I saw some things that I didn't agree with (a poster comparing Darwin to Hitler), but I came out of that mosque with a strong sense of respect for Islam.
Usually, I think critics of the American media, or MSM as its condesendingly reffered to, blow their complaints way out of proportion. On this issue, however, I think critisism of the media is warranted. All we see when we turn on the news is one side of the Muslim world- the side that we are fighting in the war on terror. Instead of seeing Islam through the down to earth Whitechapel mosque, American's only see Islam through the hate speech of thugs like Hassan Nasrallah and Bin Ladin.
Furthermore, our media's depiction of the Israeli Palestinian conflict doesn't help. I've watched CNN and even Fox coverage of the recent turmoil on the Israeli Labanese border and both channel's go out of their way to create a dumbed down caricature of Israel=good, Lebanon=bad. Of course, it's not that simple and to pick a good guy in this turmoil is impossible.
Perhaps the most damaging outcome of propogating this caricature is the fact that it reinvigorates the notion that the War on Terror is a battle for the survival of the Christian West against the Muslim East. It's this type of attitude that made the American public so willing to give Bush a pass to go into Iraq, a Muslim country.
Bush's use of the term "Islamo-fascism", however, was the tip of the iceberg. The term is empty and has no other intention besides enciting hatred against an already victimized community.
What motivated me to write this in the first place was a discussion I saw on Freerepulic. Granted, its freerepublic and the people there are batshit crazy lowlifes to begin with. But from talking to people in my hometown, I can't help but think these sentiments are mainstream for this country:
Almost four in ten, 39%, advocate that Muslims here should carry special I.D.
Shades of Nazi Germany.
This was the only brave poster in the thread who echoed my sentiments. Here are the bigot's responsees:
GOOD shades, imo
Indeed. Perhaps we should make them wear a yellow crescent.
This idiot later explained he was dead serious about this idea.
I count myself among one of those who bears an inherrant distrust for Muslims. It bothers me that new mosques are still being built here in the US during these trying times.
So there you have it. Is this mainstream America talking above? I sure as hell hope not. And progressive Democrats like you and I need to be more fervant defenders of our Muslim brothers and sisters.