Radio Hoax Exposes Anti-Muslim Sentiment in U.S.

[superwizard]

What is this country coming to? What happened to equality in America? This type of story just makes me so mad
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Edited by Prim to hide long URL, 7:47 AM PST

[Túrin Turambar]

Unfortunate, but sadly not surprising.

[superwizard]

Unfortunate, but sadly not surprising.

Yes I agree but I just feel something must be done about this! America is all about freedom and equality did people forget that?

[Túrin Turambar]

What can be done, though? You can’t make holding a certain belief illegal.

Another issue is that attempts to suppress these sorts of things usually have the opposite effect. I can use the rise of Pauline Hanson and her One Nation Party in Australia as an example of that.

[superwizard]

What can be done, though? You can’t make holding a certain belief illegal.

Education my friend. If people knew more about Islam and Muslims do you really think that they would still believe in those stereotypes? Of course if the only thing the media shows is conflict and warfare as they do know there's going to be problems. Ignorance is the main problem here IMHO. I believe it is the responsibility of everyone-muslims and non muslims alike to try and educate the people of this country on this matter.

I totally and absolutely agree that trying to supress such sentiments would only lead to more and more problems and that it is definitely is not the way to fix the problem!

[Túrin Turambar]

Education does help, but it has its limitations. For one thing, it’s hard to do outside school, and if we put more focus on Islam in schools right now, it would take years to show. Besides, how much of their schooling does the average person take to heart? And there is always that possibility that they would rebel and reject whatever they were being taught.

Attempting to educate the adult population inevitably raises concerns about censorship and propaganda, and before long someone starts waving around a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

[axordil]

Education in school is not as effective as education in real life. I really think the best, and indeed, only way to eradicate prejudice and bigotry against a group of people is to live with them on a day-to-day basis. I know it has worked for me over the decades...I was NOT illuminated in my youth.

Obviously this takes a while...

PS--SW, can you hide the URL in a shorter link? It's streching the heck out of the board.

[anthriel]

Ax brings up something that I intensely believe in: prejudice and stereotypes function best from a distance. Actually getting to know someone makes the path of Us vs. Them treacherous indeed.

As an aside, I've always wondered how the 911 killers could have continued to believe that Americans should be slaughtered when they had lived in our country for a while. One of them lived in the apartment complex where a good friend of mine lived with her children for a few months; she said she saw him by the pool, many times, interacting with people from the complex.

I just don't know how he could still go get in that plane.

But anyway, I don't think it's surprising at all that the radio hoax got all that reaction. My grandad fought in WWII, and to his dying day had a grave mistrust and dislike of all people Japanese. At one point I was embarrassed by his enmity, feeling that he was being unfairly hostile in his prejudice.

And no doubt he was.

But for him, the Japanese had the "face" of the enemy. He had seen some pretty tragic things, and I don't blame him for his deep dislike of the faces he saw on the other side of a great deal of pain. I don't like it, but I can understand it, from his point of view.


Of course not all Muslims are terrorists, although I still would love to see the "moderate" Muslims come out swinging against the fundamental types who are more likely to be involved in this kind of activity. But it's hard to argue with the fact that everyone involved in 911 was a Muslim, and perpetrated that horrid act in the name of their religion.

[Primula Baggins]

Well, Hitler wrapped himself in Christianity when he found it convenient, and those of us who are Christians would probably prefer not to be judged on that basis.

I attribute a lot of the anti-Muslim sentiment to manipulation by the Bush administration and its supporters, to keep people frightened and divided and thus too cowed to object to the extreme inroads on our civil liberties they have made in the name of the War on Terror.

[vison]

Well, Hitler wrapped himself in Christianity when he found it convenient, and those of us who are Christians would probably prefer not to be judged on that basis.

I attribute a lot of the anti-Muslim sentiment to manipulation by the Bush administration and its supporters, to keep people frightened and divided and thus too cowed to object to the extreme inroads on our civil liberties they have made in the name of the War on Terror.

And with Anthriel, too. Moderate Muslims MUST begin to reclaim their religion, to speak out agains the radicals and terrorists.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I agree with Anth, Prim, and vison. (Pretty good company.)

[axordil]

I do find myself wondering about what it means for moderates in any particular religion to "reclaim" it. Keep in mind that in the case of Western Chrsitianity, it took a couple of centuries and some pretty nasty wars to accomplish the Reformation, and the history of the movements that came out of that are problematic in some ways (how many Protestant denominations ARE there in the US, anyway?).

I'm not saying it shouldn't happen. I'm just saying that there are deeper issues involved for the principals; in many cases it might involve congregations and even families being divided.

[vison]

I do find myself wondering about what it means for moderates in any particular religion to "reclaim" it. Keep in mind that in the case of Western Chrsitianity, it took a couple of centuries and some pretty nasty wars to accomplish the Reformation, and the history of the movements that came out of that are problematic in some ways (how many Protestant denominations ARE there in the US, anyway?).

I'm not saying it shouldn't happen. I'm just saying that there are deeper issues involved for the principals; in many cases it might involve congregations and even families being divided.

Very true.

But things move faster nowadays, and that's not just being flip. In Luther's time the fastest you (or information) could move was at the speed of a galloping horse. Now, it's light speed.

However, I am not, myself, particularly optimistic. I see this era as a kind of "end time", with the American Empire failing. I think it will last my time (if I'm spared), but I think the next 100 or 200 years are going to be pretty tough going for most of the world.

It is interesting, in a kind of horrible way, that so many great crises are coming to the point: "global warming" ( a term I dislike, but it is shorthand for the situation), what I see as the beginning of the failure (?wrong word, can't find the right one) of the greatest Power yet known on Earth, Islamic terrorism, the question of China, and the new, threatened increase in nuclear proliferation.

[narya]

I just went for a hike yesterday, and had a delightful conversation with one of the new members of our hiking group. She's a Palestinian Arab who has been in the US for 8 years, working as a nurse, and wants very much to have citizenship. But since 9/11, she says, not one Arab has been allowed to become a US citizen without a lawsuit pressing the issue. Their requests are simply set aside "for review" indefinitely. Only those who can afford the legal battle and lawyers' fees have made it in.

Makes me

[anthriel]

Well, Hitler wrapped himself in Christianity when he found it convenient, and those of us who are Christians would probably prefer not to be judged on that basis.

And, of course, I did write that not all Muslims are terrorists. That's pretty clear, at least to me.

What I was trying to say was that I was not surprised-- saddened, but not surprised-- at the reaction to the hoax. When only extreme fundamentalist violent Muslim activities are the ones that get attention in the press (and I don't think we can blame the Bush administration's manipulations for the Muslim-related headlines in France, for instance, or Spain or Bali or Australia) then it seems, to the perhaps less well-informed, that that is the way Muslims are. Right?

I would like OTHER Muslims... those not involved in these violent acts, those who shudder to be associated with the people who are... to come out and say that. Loudly. And I would like the press to give these Muslims equal time.

I would like to see the press really play up peaceful rallies like the one we had here in Phoenix several months ago, which received almost no air time at all. We had hundreds of members of our Muslim community march against terrorism. It's barely noticeable, apparently, when the peace-loving Muslims step up in front of the camera.

[superwizard]

Of course not all Muslims are terrorists, although I still would love to see the "moderate" Muslims come out swinging against the fundamental types who are more likely to be involved in this kind of activity.

We have been trying! (Yes I am indeed a Muslim) However there are certain problems. Muslims living in the Middle East generally don’t really feel the need to ‘reclaim’ their religion because everyone that lives there already know that pretty much all Muslims disagree with the very few radicalists. It is the Muslims here in The USA that really try to erase the stereotypes. At Stanford we even have an organization Muslim Students Awareness Network (http://msan.stanford.edu) that very actively hosts many events that try to change the situation. There are also many Sheiks here in the US who are calling for all this really quite crazy protests over things that aren't worth it (Pope's remark for example) to end and for Muslims to go back to using dialogue. Unfortunately there are so many non educated Muslims in muslim countries who are usually the one to protest and start acting violent and those who call for peace and negotiations are usually no where to be seen on the news!
Also how can we get people to dissociate Islam and terrorism if there are people like Bush who use words like Islamo-Fascism? I encourage those who live in the bay area to come and see one of our activities especially during Islam Awareness Month (which will be in February).

[anthriel]

Yeah, superwizard! It sounds like you are doing exactly what NEEDS to be done.

Now if we can get the st00pfid media to pay attention to YOU...

[superwizard]

Yeah, superwizard! It sounds like you are doing exactly what NEEDS to be done.

Now if we can get the st00pfid media to pay attention to YOU...

Thanks Anthy

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I would like to see the press really play up peaceful rallies like the one we had here in Phoenix several months ago, which received almost no air time at all. We had hundreds of members of our Muslim community march against terrorism. It's barely noticeable, apparently, when the peace-loving Muslims step up in front of the camera.

That's really the problem, in a nutshell. So many people only see the violent face of Islam, and they assume that is all there is. That is not all that there is.

Thank you, S'wiz, for all that you are doing. I am very impressed. But also very frustrated that these efforts are not only downplayed by the media, but utterly overwhelmed by our government's propaganda.

[anthriel]

Yeah, superwizard! It sounds like you are doing exactly what NEEDS to be done.

Now if we can get the st00pfid media to pay attention to YOU...

Thanks Anthy

No, than YOU, Fuzzy Wuzzy! I am really proud to know you. What you are doing takes guts, and it has to be a really frustrating fight. But it is absolutely the best thing to do, and your efforts are benefitting not only the Muslim community, but also the greater American community which is fed only what is newsworthy... read: violent... by the media.

If there's anything a freckled white Christian girl can do to help down here in Phoenix, let me know.