After reading a few web pages and blogs (that I will not mention here because I don't want to promote them) my dear English friend, Mark, sent this question to a group list:
"I guess anti-Muslim sentiment is pretty big in the US now? Would be interested to know what my American friends think about this dangerous mix of racism, dressed up as sound intellectual attack on backward practices having nothing to do with the heart of the Islamic religion (as with witch hunts/anti-feminism and the soul of Christianity, kids throwing bricks through windows and anarchism, etc etc) and instead everything to do with flawed power structures, bad consciousness, human beings controlling one another using false religion as an excuse etc etc.
We do have something of the same problem over here in the EU, in terms of racist attitudes, although I suspect it's not quite so prevalent..?"
I was wondering if any of you had any opinion about this or if you could shed some light on any of Mark's points. I'll post my (poorly composed) response in the comment section here just to get the ball rolling. I only posted the thoughts that have been voiced to me on the many occasions that I have tried to defuse this sort of racism. But please understand I work really hard against reactionary feelings for and against both sides. I am, after all, human.
3 comments:
I think you're painting with a pretty broad brush, especially with the first sentence. I think you do make some valid points, though. There is certainly a media perpetuated fear of the Islamic religion here, especially in Bible Belt USA. Religion is tricky in that it mostly seems to be a string of absolutes, and it is difficult to argue with "This is right/wrong because God said it is right/wrong." Islam is very much an unknown in several places here and people hear and see the Islamic extremists hurting, not only Americans, but each other and people tend to make blanket opinions based on their lack of education.
Also, I find that people do not distinguish between Islam as a faith and Islam as a culture. My own father-in-law says that the difference between Christianity and Islam is that we (meaning Christians) don't strap bombs to ourselves and blow up innocent people. To that I reminded him about all of the abortion clinic bombings, not to mention The Crusades etc. (Which is, I know, a very simplistic retort to a very simplistic viewpoint.)
Also, people fault Islamic clerics for not making enough of a statement about terrorism being wrong. They say that in being silent, the Muslims condone the atrocities that are taking place. I think phrases like "God willing" which to Muslims are sayings of ultimate faith and devotion, come across as inaction and as a dismissal of these abuses, especially in a Western culture that tends to be extremely opinionated (whether right or wrong) and reactionary.
I think the stereotype that ALL Americans are anti-Islamic is false. I think people are learning about Islam and are trying to make sense of a.) extremeism b.)the fact that our country is at war with Islamic ones (and the general notion that if you do not support the war and the troops, then you are unpatriotic and a bad person) c.) the idea that just as much as the Muslims feel that Islam is under attack, Christians feel that Christianity is, and d.) the politics that have resulted from the knee-jerk reaction of feeling unsafe on our own soil for the first time EVER.
So unless Americans are intentional about learning about Islam, there is nothing here that would lend itself to understanding the fact that the heart of Islam, as you say, is peaceful and beautiful. Whether we like it or not, the fear that is associated with the unknowns about Islam is very easy to access.
I have to say that there was a huge court case here recently - An Islamic aid organization that was raising money for people overseas was accused of funneling money to Hammas (which the US gov't has deemed a terror organization) probably because the organization was racially profiled by the federal government. After a lengthy court case, almost all of the charges were dropped and mistrials were declared. We're making progress, I think. It's just slow.
Also, my school community is very accepting of Islam. Several of my students wear the hijab without incident, and the Muslim Student Association is well attended.
hi ginger
i think it would have been good if you'd linked to the websites in question and let people see and make up their own minds
m
Hi Mark,
The sites in question are not something I want in this space for various reasons. So you're right. By omission, I guess I'm guilty of censorship, and of wanting to control this space. And I think that because this is my personal space and not really a public forum like your blog or like AWTW, I have the right to do so and not feel guilty. Perhaps I shouldn't have posted this at all.
Also, though, I don't see how sharing those particular sites would do anything but add to the discord that some of us struggle with anyway. I'll be the first to admit it. I struggle with having similar feelings to some of the ideas on the sites - and I HATE that in me -I fight that in me. You've even seen that struggle firsthand because I talked to you about it years ago when it happened once.
I do not want to reinforce those ideas. If I am going to fight against the moral injustice that is on the sites, then for me "fighting" is aptly about positive education and positive speech and actions - especially as I know who reads this blog, or really, who doesn't. For me, it's about learning to fight the internal battle first and teaching others to do the same. Continuing to wallow in the negative space that those sorts of sites promote, that have the potential to spread hate and intolerance, does not awaken a sense of moral injustice in me as I would imagine it does in hard core activists like you who are willing to spar with the universe. In the same way, I don't watch movies that detail the horrors of torture, war, rape, etc., not because I want to ignore the fact that those things exist, but because I personally can't stomach them. I don't respond well to them. They add nothing to my cause or to who I am.
So, selfishly, I chose not to post the sites.
g
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