I agree with Brenna to an extent. I agree that the beliefs people have about Islam is a result of ignorance. Even the statistics in the article say that with the fact that 37% of the people they interviewed didn't even know an Islamic person. Think about how skewed those stats could be though, if they only interviewed people in rural Connecticut, yeah not many people are going to know much about Islam, simply because we are not exposed to it as much. So to say that all of America is "Islamophobic" is a HUGE generalization. Just as it is a HUGE (and very false) generalization to say that all Muslims are violent. Or that Christians are hypocrites, yes there are some that are, but it cannot be said of everyone.
Overall, I think that people are always going to be hating on each other. Think about how New England was founded, it was the Puritans who came here because they were being discriminated against. These discriminations come in fads, just a few decades ago, people were prejudice against blacks (though some still are). Right now, unfortunately, it's the faith of Islam that is being discriminated against.
I agree with Brenna. There is no reason that a country founded on such a diversity of culture should turn their backs on a group of people, simply because a small percentage of them may be linked to the horrors we had previously encountered. Like the article's example, there are many people of muslim religion from around the country who have normal lives and normal jobs such as doctors or teachers or any other that any other "american" would do. There are six articles of faith, including God, Angels, Scriptures, Prophets, Resurrection, and Divine Creed http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/islam/beliefs.html No where in there, is there dirrection of violence or harm towards those of other religions. It is simple an excuse for Americans to discriminate and stay supreme to those of other religions. As much as it would be nice to change however, it may take some time before people begin to move on and accept people who are islamic. However, like Kailyn had said, we as Americans will continue to discriminate against those who are different, as we have for hundreds of years. Only time will heal the hatred and fear our country has towards these innocent people, but who is to say who is next?
First off to answer the question, I do believe America is Islamophobic, as well as Middle Eastern-a-phobic. Our deep involvement in the Middle East for over a decade has in no doubt, fueled such fears. The part of the article that stuck out to me the most was, "I just think it's not America." What is American? America was built by people trying to get away from their government’s restrictions. The United States of America is supposed to be a sort of refuge or safe house to all religions, ethnicity's, and just overall different ways of life. We're supposed to be a melting pot of all different cultures just as equally accepted as the next. What happened to not being prejudice to one’s beliefs and cultures? I agree with Brenna that our country would accept Islam if everyone knew the foundations of the religion. It’s not at all terroristic. Islam’s believe in many things that Christians do like God, Jesus, Angels, and Resurrection. Nowhere in the Quran does it say that Islams are supposed to participate in terroristic acts. I both agree and disagree with Kailyn. I do not believe that this fear of Islam is just a fad that will pass over in a few years. Countries in the Middle East are growing more and more powerful and influential whether it be good or bad. They won’t be disappearing into history or from the news any time soon; until then the new foreigners will still be feared. People of the Islamic religion have indeed been involved with terroristic activities. The Puritans were not blowing themselves up or hijacking planes. The Puritan discrimination was able to fade away because they hadn’t harmed anyone. I believe it’s going to take quite a long time to get Americans, and many other nations to fully accept the Islam Religion. It’s hard to change someone’s opinion of a large group of people. American’s still aren’t fully accepting of all the immigrants that have come to America. I’m having trouble figuring out what I’m trying to say here but I agree with Kailyn that there will always some sort of discrimination.
To start, America is Islamaphobic. I think we owe all of this to the misconstrued prejudices that we have against the Islam beliefs. The conflict in Iraq has been shown to the people as the United States as white Americans riding valiantly into Iraq in Hummers and on foot while scared members of Al Qaeda shoot rocket launchers out of windows and randomly shoot fully automatic weapons out of windows. Although there must be some truth behind this, we must also ask ourselves, what is the government not showing us? What happens to any member of Al Qaeda when we find them alive? There have been multiple accounts of torture and misuse of power in Iraq. It must be said then, that the people of Iraq, must have a phobia of Americans. These stories must come from both sides of a conflict. The only problem with our stories, is that they all come from 9/11. The stories that the people of Iraq have, come from everyday.
A saying comes to mind when I think of this. "Don't judge us by our weakest member". I think that this saying is especially true in this case. If we judge the Islamic people by their weakest member, we would be taking Saddam Hussein or any other terrorist leader. From the side of the people of Iraq, they could take any racist member of our society and judge us soley upon them. The point I'm getting to here is that not everyone of the Islamic people believe that America is a land full of killers and rapists. And we can't believe that the Islam religion breeds all terrorists.
"All I need to know about Islam I learned on 9/11." This is just one quote from the article that proves there are some people in The United States that are Islamophobic.I completely agree with Brenna on the fact that this is frightening behavior on our countries part. However, I also agree with Kailyn that not all of America is Islamophobic.To say that all Muslims are violent and shouldn't be trusted is putting them under an unfair stereotype.If you really think about it America is running on hypocricy. We always talk about how lives will improve here and how lucky and accepting we are as a country, but really we're not if this is how some of our people are going to label other cultures because of one tragic event (9/11), that didn't even involve all of the muslim people out there. Christian Americans have ruined the lives of minorities throughout history. During the civil war Christen Americans fought to keep slavery, the KKK claimed they were Christen oriented and America even had some Christen terrorists. ( See article http://www.legalspeaks.com/2010/08/the-muslim-mosque-and-americas-hypocrisy/). Do I think our country is Islamophobic? Yes. Should it be? No.
Just think about how our country would feel if people from another country came in and started telling us who to worship and how to worship and what to believe. The fact that there are many Muslims in America today that have to deal with this kind of hatred on a regular basis proves that our country is wary. In the article attached to the question, it talks about three Muslim people who were very upset by the hurtful accusations. The things they have heard about their culture won't ever cease to hurt them. The treatment of Muslims in America has gotten so bad that many of them are scared to death. I read an article in the New York Times that interviewed quite a few Muslim people and they said "they were scared not as much for their safety as to learn that the suspicion, ignorance and even hatred of Muslims is so widespread." It's a problem that needs to be dealt with. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/us/06muslims.html
Americans are Islamaphobic. Even before the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Americans as a whole have been afraid of Islam and the Middle East. While reading this article I was not surprised at some of the things I was reading because I hear similar stories everywhere all around the United States. Why I do not like to think of myself as Islamaphobe I still for some reason, subconsciously get nervous when I see Muslims in airports, and airports only. It must be from all of the stories I read and the terrorist attacks and former presidents enforcing fear and Muslims together in my mind that makes me think that way. I am not proud of it but it’s a feeling shared with many Americans even if they are not racist again Muslims. In the Time magazine article it says that all of the objections to building the Mosque in Wisconsin has nothing to do with all the zoning requirements needed for the actual building but the type of religion that was being practiced there. I felt extremely sorry for the man that was trying to build the mosque, because it his right as an American citizen. Another part of the article that disturbed me was that people were so opposed to a religion that they knew absolutely nothing about except for that a few extremists groups committed acts of terror in our country. If more people were educated about the Nation of Islam they would most likely be more understanding and compassionate. But then we are faced with the people that are just blind with hatred. Islamaphobia is not something that will go away in the future but I believe that it can eventually if we are just educated more.
First there is no way of getting around the fact that many Americans are indeed Islamophobic. Second there is no doubt that most Americans have drawn their opinions of Islam from the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (the 9th anniversary is this Saturday by the way). The problem is that, as we all know, those responsible for the attacks were part of and extremist minority. The problem becomes even stickier when you bring in out media's influence. What is the media more likely to cover, Muslims peacefully worshiping? or suicide bombers killing innocent people? Since Americans ability to form their own opinions has slowly declined, many assume that all Muslims are violent people and that Islam is a hateful religion. I have noticed that whenever a controversy involving Islam in America "Christian" views are also mentioned. For example, the TIME article referenced Rev. Wayne DeVrou, a pastor at a local church near the proposed Wisconsin mosque, and his anti-Islamic sentiments. Or I just heard today in an BBC broadcast that a Pastor of a Florida church (ironically named the Dove World Outreach Center) made plans for "Burn a Koran Day" on September 11th. Neither of these examples reflect Biblical values, yet are portrayed through the media as the sentiments as Christians as a whole. So what you have here are two extremest minorities acting under the umbrella of their religion (Islam vs. Christianity)but really these extremest groups have completely misinterpreted their holy books. But in order to bring things back to the initial question, yes, as a whole America is Islamophobic, because they are freighted by their misunderstandings.
Before we all jump to conclusions saying America is Islamophobic, we should actually think about it. First, you should ask yourself, "Am I Islamophobic?" Most of you would probably say no. If you asked your parents, they would most likely say no as well, and your friends too. We also have to consider, would this magazine sell or be as popular with an article about American NOT being Islamophobic? Probably not. How sure can we be about all these statistics that the author throws in the article? Where is all the basis and background? By reading all your responses, everyone seems so upset that America is Islamophobic... and aren't we a part of America? Sure some Americans are a little hesitant about trusting Islamic countries due to 9/11 and such, but that is human nature. We all hold a slight grudge because we have seen our country in the pits of hell after the terrorist attacks. We see the "towel heads" (bad to say, but it's a name still used) and we are reminded of the pain and tears. I am not saying that all Islamic people are like that or have any part of our past, but just the sight of one is a reminder of the past. As this one article I found states "Hold on. A minority (45%) belief that “Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence against nonbelievers” constitutes Islamophobia?"
I think this person has valid point. The author of the Times magazine is trying to exaggerate the statistics and sell the magazine. So as I said before, we should ask ourselves and the people around us our/their opinions before we believe statistics in a magazine. We are Americans and just because we live in the "Quiet Corner" of CT does not mean we are not an influence on these "statistics".
I can see where Americans can be defined as Islamophobic, but I don't think that it's the entire reason we are so hesitant of this mosque being built. Ever since 9/11, the people of our country have developed a stereotype of Middle Eastern people. But I don't think it is fair to automatically generalize Americans as being fearful of that race. That isn't the complete truth in all cases. For example, in the article, a man was interviewed and voiced his opinion by saying he "acknowledges that Rauf and Khan are within their constitutional rights, but adds 'I just don't think it's the right thing to do'". I can completely understand this man's opinion. I think that building the mosque would cause even more controversy than it already has. I have nothing against them building one because in America they have freedom of religion, but I think they should find a better place to build it so that no one is offended.
Try to think of it this way. What if it was the other way around, and Americans wanted to build a Christian place of worship near a tragic site in Pakistan? I highly doubt that Islams would be comfortable with this. It doesn't mean that they would have Christianophobia, though it is definately possible that some may be stereotyped against people of the Christian religion. I agree with what Lucy said about how people automatically feel when they see a Middle Eastern person in an airport and I can connect with that. That is a situation where we can be generalized as a Islamophobic society. But when it comes to the mosque proposal, I think most people just want to respect the grounds where the World Trade Center once stood.
Like everyone, I agree that America is definitely Islamophobic. Also, the part of the article that upset me the most was the protesters signs, "All I need to know about Islam, I learned on 9/11". I think it's embarrassing that Americans are generalizing all Muslims this way, and further more, are probably clueless about the actual religion they follow...well some of them, unfortunately a large percentage of Muslims do abuse their religion but that's another issue. One source states, "43 percent of Americans hold unfavorable views of Muslims". Almost half of America generalizes a diverse group of people based off of actions most of them have no control over. This is wrong. I agree with Lucy and feel as though more Americans should study the religion, interact with Muslims and get over this irrational fear. Didn't America already agree on freedom of religion? We should be past this stage and accept every religion unfortunately has extremists, as seen by 9/11, but this doesn't mean we need to be prejudiced.
This whole issue really gets me to realizing how ignorant we can be, myself included. I am guilty of generalizing people with out even realizing it. Not the extent that i hate all muslims, but that when i hear about an issue like this, i couldn't really put it in perspective. But from reading this article, y understanding of this would outrage me if i was islamic. We have trouble seeing things in perspective though because of the country we live in. Not because we are ignorant, but because for the most part we dont have anything chasing us out, forcing us to to leave. We dont ever have large groups of americans living somewhere that is drastically culturally different and being rejected a s a group. It would be like if we had a large society of american christians living in iraq before the war, then all of the sudden a small group of those people attacked as an act of terrorism. Then all the people from their culture began to hate us, even though we may not agree with the views of the attackers. And they hated all christians everywhere and were protesting angrily and calling your religion demonic. That just doesn't seem right, yet that is what we do to them. Now of course that is a generalization as well, but there is a large group of americans that feel that way. 61% of americans are against park 51. but that is not to say that all the opposers are just stereotyping the muslim faith and thinking mosque=bad. I can understand the argument against it. It may not be the most appropriate place to build a mosque, just noting the fact that a majority of america doesnt quite understand the situation, they feel that it would be an insult to those who died on 9-11. but the park51 argument has become much much more than building a mosque in new york. It now represents constitutional rights, political views, and public opinion. It has become a very fragile topic that only draws attention to the fact that a majority of americans have a problem with muslims. Most people need to think about it from a different point of view though and take the time to learn about the situation. Like the fact that they have been praying there for over a year and just want to improve their facilities. But most people see it as a suspicous, out of the blue, attempt to build a training center and armory for terrorists, or some other extreme obscured view of the islamic people. And maybe it isnt even that people are islamaphobic, but they feel like that is the general vibe of the rest of the community. Take the case in Wisconsin for example. Dr. Mirza said that alot of those people were patients of his and he never saw their rudeness and ignorance coming. But that shows something. Those people didn't actually have a problem with islamic people themselves, because they trusted them to care for them in a secure and confidential environment. That is kind a control when looking at this. When it is just a single person by themselves, knowing that no one else from their community knows what they are doing, they were nice and trusting to Dr. Mirza. But when they were in a town meeting none of them stood up for him, and some of them lashed out at him. That could be because the ones who didnt stand up just didnt want to be paired with the Dr. and his beliefs, so rather they deserted him to protect themselves. This problem has potential to become increasingly worse unless people decide to stand up. Much like any event in history, a movement needs to be led. A movement needs individuals to stand up against the general opinion.
Oh my! I agree with Brenna on the fact that this article was utterly disturbing! A pastor burning a copy of the Qu'ran? What has our country come to?!
Sadly, Americans have labled all muslims as terrorists and people of violence. Sadly, our country is now Islamophobic. I think that Americans are still swayed by the terrible terrorist attack and have the urge to blame a religion rather than the terrible terrorist groups who attacked our country. Commenting on the Park51 issue, I think Muslims have the same amount of right to build a mosque as Catholics have the right to build a church. Wouldn't it be sensible to build a place of prayer so close to the 9/11 site? I think Obama has some decision-making to do. When he'll make a decision and enforce it, we will never know.
There is hope. According to TIME, "polls have shown that most Muslims feel safer and freer in the U.S. than anywhere else in the Western world. Two American Muslims have been elected to Congress, and this year, Rima Fakih became the first Muslim to be named Miss USA. Next month, the country's first Muslim college will formally open its doors in Berkeley, Calif." So there are some steps forward. But how many steps forward will we, as a country, have to take so that they counteract the steps backward? This goes back to the progress question from last week. Is progress possible?
Our country was built upon religious freedom. TIME points out that we are unlike Saudi Arabia, which is a country with a state religion. We are a country of choices. Let the Muslims make their choice. Let them build their mosques and let them practice religion. Let them be Americans.
I agree with what everyone has been saying, America is, unfortunately, Islamphobic. In sociology we each have to pick a social problem in America to study for the whole semester. I actually have Islamophobia as my social problem, mostly referring to the mosque being built on ground zero. This is a huge social problem in our society right now and people are extremely judge mental. I was with my cousins in NYC over the summer, one of them is 12 and one is 6, we were walking through the city and my 9 year old cousin just randomly started crying, we asked her what was wrong and she responded with "those people with the sheets on their heads are going to kill us" I was so embarrassed. I asked her why she thought that and my other cousin, who is 12, told me that when they were in the airport all the men with "sheets" on their heads were being pulled aside and had to go through extra security and when my cousin asked her dad why he jokingly, yet stupidly, responded with "they are out to kill all americans". My 6 year old cousin now has this false image of all muslims just because of one stupid comment. So people that have lived through 9/11 and other terrible things are going to constantly be judge mental on the situation. Like other people were saying 43% of americans hold unfavorable views of muslims, America is a big place, 43% is a lot of people. On the website http://www.islamophobia.org/news.php there are seven different videos all about muslims. Some of the videos are absolutely ridiculous with what people are saying. I agree with Noel, this goes back to is progress possible. It has been almost 9 years now since 9/11 and people are still going backwards with their opinions of muslims. One of the videos on the website is firefighter talking about his experience during 9/11, how he lost some of his closest friends, how he risked his life to save others, and at the very end of the video he says he is a muslim. People are afraid of what they don't know, people now a days are so judgemental that it only takes one person out of an entire race for people to hate that entire race. I understand why some people might have an issue with a mosque being built on ground zero but what I don't understand is how people can be so empty headed that they will believe anything they see on TV or read in an article somewhere. It goes back to the old saying, Don't judge a book by its cover. I think people need to do their research on the world and fully understand the muslim faith if they want to even think about judging it.
I agree with Brenna to an extent. I agree that the beliefs people have about Islam is a result of ignorance. Even the statistics in the article say that with the fact that 37% of the people they interviewed didn't even know an Islamic person. Think about how skewed those stats could be though, if they only interviewed people in rural Connecticut, yeah not many people are going to know much about Islam, simply because we are not exposed to it as much. So to say that all of America is "Islamophobic" is a HUGE generalization. Just as it is a HUGE (and very false) generalization to say that all Muslims are violent. Or that Christians are hypocrites, yes there are some that are, but it cannot be said of everyone.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think that people are always going to be hating on each other. Think about how New England was founded, it was the Puritans who came here because they were being discriminated against. These discriminations come in fads, just a few decades ago, people were prejudice against blacks (though some still are). Right now, unfortunately, it's the faith of Islam that is being discriminated against.
I agree with Brenna. There is no reason that a country founded on such a diversity of culture should turn their backs on a group of people, simply because a small percentage of them may be linked to the horrors we had previously encountered. Like the article's example, there are many people of muslim religion from around the country who have normal lives and normal jobs such as doctors or teachers or any other that any other "american" would do. There are six articles of faith, including God, Angels, Scriptures, Prophets, Resurrection, and Divine Creed http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/islam/beliefs.html
ReplyDeleteNo where in there, is there dirrection of violence or harm towards those of other religions. It is simple an excuse for Americans to discriminate and stay supreme to those of other religions. As much as it would be nice to change however, it may take some time before people begin to move on and accept people who are islamic. However, like Kailyn had said, we as Americans will continue to discriminate against those who are different, as we have for hundreds of years. Only time will heal the hatred and fear our country has towards these innocent people, but who is to say who is next?
First off to answer the question, I do believe America is Islamophobic, as well as Middle Eastern-a-phobic. Our deep involvement in the Middle East for over a decade has in no doubt, fueled such fears.
ReplyDeleteThe part of the article that stuck out to me the most was, "I just think it's not America." What is American? America was built by people trying to get away from their government’s restrictions. The United States of America is supposed to be a sort of refuge or safe house to all religions, ethnicity's, and just overall different ways of life. We're supposed to be a melting pot of all different cultures just as equally accepted as the next. What happened to not being prejudice to one’s beliefs and cultures? I agree with Brenna that our country would accept Islam if everyone knew the foundations of the religion. It’s not at all terroristic. Islam’s believe in many things that Christians do like God, Jesus, Angels, and Resurrection. Nowhere in the Quran does it say that Islams are supposed to participate in terroristic acts.
I both agree and disagree with Kailyn. I do not believe that this fear of Islam is just a fad that will pass over in a few years. Countries in the Middle East are growing more and more powerful and influential whether it be good or bad. They won’t be disappearing into history or from the news any time soon; until then the new foreigners will still be feared. People of the Islamic religion have indeed been involved with terroristic activities. The Puritans were not blowing themselves up or hijacking planes. The Puritan discrimination was able to fade away because they hadn’t harmed anyone. I believe it’s going to take quite a long time to get Americans, and many other nations to fully accept the Islam Religion. It’s hard to change someone’s opinion of a large group of people. American’s still aren’t fully accepting of all the immigrants that have come to America. I’m having trouble figuring out what I’m trying to say here but I agree with Kailyn that there will always some sort of discrimination.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/isl_intr.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/00439/kelly/puritans3.html
To start, America is Islamaphobic. I think we owe all of this to the misconstrued prejudices that we have against the Islam beliefs. The conflict in Iraq has been shown to the people as the United States as white Americans riding valiantly into Iraq in Hummers and on foot while scared members of Al Qaeda shoot rocket launchers out of windows and randomly shoot fully automatic weapons out of windows. Although there must be some truth behind this, we must also ask ourselves, what is the government not showing us? What happens to any member of Al Qaeda when we find them alive? There have been multiple accounts of torture and misuse of power in Iraq. It must be said then, that the people of Iraq, must have a phobia of Americans. These stories must come from both sides of a conflict. The only problem with our stories, is that they all come from 9/11. The stories that the people of Iraq have, come from everyday.
ReplyDeleteA saying comes to mind when I think of this. "Don't judge us by our weakest member". I think that this saying is especially true in this case. If we judge the Islamic people by their weakest member, we would be taking Saddam Hussein or any other terrorist leader. From the side of the people of Iraq, they could take any racist member of our society and judge us soley upon them. The point I'm getting to here is that not everyone of the Islamic people believe that America is a land full of killers and rapists. And we can't believe that the Islam religion breeds all terrorists.
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ReplyDelete"All I need to know about Islam I learned on 9/11." This is just one quote from the article that proves there are some people in The United States that are Islamophobic.I completely agree with Brenna on the fact that this is frightening behavior on our countries part. However, I also agree with Kailyn that not all of America is Islamophobic.To say that all Muslims are violent and shouldn't be trusted is putting them under an unfair stereotype.If you really think about it America is running on hypocricy. We always talk about how lives will improve here and how lucky and accepting we are as a country, but really we're not if this is how some of our people are going to label other cultures because of one tragic event (9/11), that didn't even involve all of the muslim people out there. Christian Americans have ruined the lives of minorities throughout history. During the civil war Christen Americans fought to keep slavery, the KKK claimed they were Christen oriented and America even had some Christen terrorists. ( See article http://www.legalspeaks.com/2010/08/the-muslim-mosque-and-americas-hypocrisy/). Do I think our country is Islamophobic? Yes. Should it be? No.
ReplyDeleteJust think about how our country would feel if people from another country came in and started telling us who to worship and how to worship and what to believe. The fact that there are many Muslims in America today that have to deal with this kind of hatred on a regular basis proves that our country is wary. In the article attached to the question, it talks about three Muslim people who were very upset by the hurtful accusations. The things they have heard about their culture won't ever cease to hurt them. The treatment of Muslims in America has gotten so bad that many of them are scared to death. I read an article in the New York Times that interviewed quite a few Muslim people and they said "they were scared not as much for their safety as to learn that the suspicion, ignorance and even hatred of Muslims is so widespread." It's a problem that needs to be dealt with. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/us/06muslims.html
Americans are Islamaphobic. Even before the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Americans as a whole have been afraid of Islam and the Middle East. While reading this article I was not surprised at some of the things I was reading because I hear similar stories everywhere all around the United States. Why I do not like to think of myself as Islamaphobe I still for some reason, subconsciously get nervous when I see Muslims in airports, and airports only. It must be from all of the stories I read and the terrorist attacks and former presidents enforcing fear and Muslims together in my mind that makes me think that way. I am not proud of it but it’s a feeling shared with many Americans even if they are not racist again Muslims. In the Time magazine article it says that all of the objections to building the Mosque in Wisconsin has nothing to do with all the zoning requirements needed for the actual building but the type of religion that was being practiced there. I felt extremely sorry for the man that was trying to build the mosque, because it his right as an American citizen. Another part of the article that disturbed me was that people were so opposed to a religion that they knew absolutely nothing about except for that a few extremists groups committed acts of terror in our country. If more people were educated about the Nation of Islam they would most likely be more understanding and compassionate. But then we are faced with the people that are just blind with hatred. Islamaphobia is not something that will go away in the future but I believe that it can eventually if we are just educated more.
ReplyDeleteFirst there is no way of getting around the fact that many Americans are indeed Islamophobic. Second there is no doubt that most Americans have drawn their opinions of Islam from the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (the 9th anniversary is this Saturday by the way). The problem is that, as we all know, those responsible for the attacks were part of and extremist minority. The problem becomes even stickier when you bring in out media's influence. What is the media more likely to cover, Muslims peacefully worshiping? or suicide bombers killing innocent people? Since Americans ability to form their own opinions has slowly declined, many assume that all Muslims are violent people and that Islam is a hateful religion. I have noticed that whenever a controversy involving Islam in America "Christian" views are also mentioned. For example, the TIME article referenced Rev. Wayne DeVrou, a pastor at a local church near the proposed Wisconsin mosque, and his anti-Islamic sentiments. Or I just heard today in an BBC broadcast that a Pastor of a Florida church (ironically named the Dove World Outreach Center) made plans for "Burn a Koran Day" on September 11th. Neither of these examples reflect Biblical values, yet are portrayed through the media as the sentiments as Christians as a whole.
ReplyDeleteSo what you have here are two extremest minorities acting under the umbrella of their religion (Islam vs. Christianity)but really these extremest groups have completely misinterpreted their holy books.
But in order to bring things back to the initial question, yes, as a whole America is Islamophobic, because they are freighted by their misunderstandings.
here is a like to the BBC article that reflects what i heard on the radio http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11223457
ReplyDeleteBefore we all jump to conclusions saying America is Islamophobic, we should actually think about it. First, you should ask yourself, "Am I Islamophobic?" Most of you would probably say no. If you asked your parents, they would most likely say no as well, and your friends too. We also have to consider, would this magazine sell or be as popular with an article about American NOT being Islamophobic? Probably not. How sure can we be about all these statistics that the author throws in the article? Where is all the basis and background? By reading all your responses, everyone seems so upset that America is Islamophobic... and aren't we a part of America? Sure some Americans are a little hesitant about trusting Islamic countries due to 9/11 and such, but that is human nature. We all hold a slight grudge because we have seen our country in the pits of hell after the terrorist attacks. We see the "towel heads" (bad to say, but it's a name still used) and we are reminded of the pain and tears. I am not saying that all Islamic people are like that or have any part of our past, but just the sight of one is a reminder of the past.
ReplyDeleteAs this one article I found states "Hold on. A minority (45%) belief that “Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence against nonbelievers” constitutes Islamophobia?"
I think this person has valid point. The author of the Times magazine is trying to exaggerate the statistics and sell the magazine.
So as I said before, we should ask ourselves and the people around us our/their opinions before we believe statistics in a magazine. We are Americans and just because we live in the "Quiet Corner" of CT does not mean we are not an influence on these "statistics".
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/244481/america-islamophobic-matthew-shaffer
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/08/027066.php
I can see where Americans can be defined as Islamophobic, but I don't think that it's the entire reason we are so hesitant of this mosque being built. Ever since 9/11, the people of our country have developed a stereotype of Middle Eastern people. But I don't think it is fair to automatically generalize Americans as being fearful of that race. That isn't the complete truth in all cases. For example, in the article, a man was interviewed and voiced his opinion by saying he "acknowledges that Rauf and Khan are within their constitutional rights, but adds 'I just don't think it's the right thing to do'". I can completely understand this man's opinion. I think that building the mosque would cause even more controversy than it already has. I have nothing against them building one because in America they have freedom of religion, but I think they should find a better place to build it so that no one is offended.
ReplyDeleteTry to think of it this way. What if it was the other way around, and Americans wanted to build a Christian place of worship near a tragic site in Pakistan? I highly doubt that Islams would be comfortable with this. It doesn't mean that they would have Christianophobia, though it is definately possible that some may be stereotyped against people of the Christian religion. I agree with what Lucy said about how people automatically feel when they see a Middle Eastern person in an airport and I can connect with that. That is a situation where we can be generalized as a Islamophobic society. But when it comes to the mosque proposal, I think most people just want to respect the grounds where the World Trade Center once stood.
Like everyone, I agree that America is definitely Islamophobic. Also, the part of the article that upset me the most was the protesters signs, "All I need to know about Islam, I learned on 9/11". I think it's embarrassing that Americans are generalizing all Muslims this way, and further more, are probably clueless about the actual religion they follow...well some of them, unfortunately a large percentage of Muslims do abuse their religion but that's another issue.
ReplyDeleteOne source states, "43 percent of Americans hold unfavorable views of Muslims". Almost half of America generalizes a diverse group of people based off of actions most of them have no control over. This is wrong. I agree with Lucy and feel as though more Americans should study the religion, interact with Muslims and get over this irrational fear. Didn't America already agree on freedom of religion? We should be past this stage and accept every religion unfortunately has extremists, as seen by 9/11, but this doesn't mean we need to be prejudiced.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/08/027066.php
This whole issue really gets me to realizing how ignorant we can be, myself included. I am guilty of generalizing people with out even realizing it. Not the extent that i hate all muslims, but that when i hear about an issue like this, i couldn't really put it in perspective. But from reading this article, y understanding of this would outrage me if i was islamic. We have trouble seeing things in perspective though because of the country we live in. Not because we are ignorant, but because for the most part we dont have anything chasing us out, forcing us to to leave. We dont ever have large groups of americans living somewhere that is drastically culturally different and being rejected a s a group. It would be like if we had a large society of american christians living in iraq before the war, then all of the sudden a small group of those people attacked as an act of terrorism. Then all the people from their culture began to hate us, even though we may not agree with the views of the attackers. And they hated all christians everywhere and were protesting angrily and calling your religion demonic. That just doesn't seem right, yet that is what we do to them. Now of course that is a generalization as well, but there is a large group of americans that feel that way. 61% of americans are against park 51. but that is not to say that all the opposers are just stereotyping the muslim faith and thinking mosque=bad. I can understand the argument against it. It may not be the most appropriate place to build a mosque, just noting the fact that a majority of america doesnt quite understand the situation, they feel that it would be an insult to those who died on 9-11. but the park51 argument has become much much more than building a mosque in new york. It now represents constitutional rights, political views, and public opinion. It has become a very fragile topic that only draws attention to the fact that a majority of americans have a problem with muslims. Most people need to think about it from a different point of view though and take the time to learn about the situation. Like the fact that they have been praying there for over a year and just want to improve their facilities. But most people see it as a suspicous, out of the blue, attempt to build a training center and armory for terrorists, or some other extreme obscured view of the islamic people. And maybe it isnt even that people are islamaphobic, but they feel like that is the general vibe of the rest of the community. Take the case in Wisconsin for example. Dr. Mirza said that alot of those people were patients of his and he never saw their rudeness and ignorance coming. But that shows something. Those people didn't actually have a problem with islamic people themselves, because they trusted them to care for them in a secure and confidential environment. That is kind a control when looking at this. When it is just a single person by themselves, knowing that no one else from their community knows what they are doing, they were nice and trusting to Dr. Mirza. But when they were in a town meeting none of them stood up for him, and some of them lashed out at him. That could be because the ones who didnt stand up just didnt want to be paired with the Dr. and his beliefs, so rather they deserted him to protect themselves. This problem has potential to become increasingly worse unless people decide to stand up. Much like any event in history, a movement needs to be led. A movement needs individuals to stand up against the general opinion.
ReplyDelete-austin
Oh my! I agree with Brenna on the fact that this article was utterly disturbing! A pastor burning a copy of the Qu'ran? What has our country come to?!
ReplyDeleteSadly, Americans have labled all muslims as terrorists and people of violence. Sadly, our country is now Islamophobic. I think that Americans are still swayed by the terrible terrorist attack and have the urge to blame a religion rather than the terrible terrorist groups who attacked our country. Commenting on the Park51 issue, I think Muslims have the same amount of right to build a mosque as Catholics have the right to build a church. Wouldn't it be sensible to build a place of prayer so close to the 9/11 site? I think Obama has some decision-making to do. When he'll make a decision and enforce it, we will never know.
There is hope. According to TIME, "polls have shown that most Muslims feel safer and freer in the U.S. than anywhere else in the Western world. Two American Muslims have been elected to Congress, and this year, Rima Fakih became the first Muslim to be named Miss USA. Next month, the country's first Muslim college will formally open its doors in Berkeley, Calif." So there are some steps forward. But how many steps forward will we, as a country, have to take so that they counteract the steps backward? This goes back to the progress question from last week. Is progress possible?
Our country was built upon religious freedom. TIME points out that we are unlike Saudi Arabia, which is a country with a state religion. We are a country of choices. Let the Muslims make their choice. Let them build their mosques and let them practice religion. Let them be Americans.
I agree with what everyone has been saying, America is, unfortunately, Islamphobic. In sociology we each have to pick a social problem in America to study for the whole semester. I actually have Islamophobia as my social problem, mostly referring to the mosque being built on ground zero. This is a huge social problem in our society right now and people are extremely judge mental. I was with my cousins in NYC over the summer, one of them is 12 and one is 6, we were walking through the city and my 9 year old cousin just randomly started crying, we asked her what was wrong and she responded with "those people with the sheets on their heads are going to kill us" I was so embarrassed. I asked her why she thought that and my other cousin, who is 12, told me that when they were in the airport all the men with "sheets" on their heads were being pulled aside and had to go through extra security and when my cousin asked her dad why he jokingly, yet stupidly, responded with "they are out to kill all americans". My 6 year old cousin now has this false image of all muslims just because of one stupid comment. So people that have lived through 9/11 and other terrible things are going to constantly be judge mental on the situation. Like other people were saying 43% of americans hold unfavorable views of muslims, America is a big place, 43% is a lot of people. On the website http://www.islamophobia.org/news.php there are seven different videos all about muslims. Some of the videos are absolutely ridiculous with what people are saying. I agree with Noel, this goes back to is progress possible. It has been almost 9 years now since 9/11 and people are still going backwards with their opinions of muslims. One of the videos on the website is firefighter talking about his experience during 9/11, how he lost some of his closest friends, how he risked his life to save others, and at the very end of the video he says he is a muslim. People are afraid of what they don't know, people now a days are so judgemental that it only takes one person out of an entire race for people to hate that entire race. I understand why some people might have an issue with a mosque being built on ground zero but what I don't understand is how people can be so empty headed that they will believe anything they see on TV or read in an article somewhere. It goes back to the old saying, Don't judge a book by its cover. I think people need to do their research on the world and fully understand the muslim faith if they want to even think about judging it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.islamophobia.org/news.php
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/08/027066.php