Let's talk about Islamophobia

zoogs

zoogs

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Vox: a review of violence against Muslims

The headline piece is about the execution-style murders of three men yesterday. I don't agree that it's appropriate to jump to conclusions, but there's a summary of sporadic violence directed at Muslisms by non-Muslisms later in the piece.

I'm surprised there isn't a greater light shone on this. It doesn't need to be widespread before anti-Islam violence is condemned in America -- indeed, one wonders how it would possibly be contained if it ever got to that point.

It's a scourge that I think has roots in complacency. A blind eye towards this sentiment while we're going steadily into our second decade of stoking fears of Muslim terrorism. Now American politicians are openly or implicitly championing the worst of anti-Muslim and anti-Mexican rhetoric, and rather than sink into scandal they are soaring to widespread popular acclaim. That alone is a horror.

I'm proud of our Western civilization with its Judeo-Christian, Age of Enlightenment roots but it is a history not without shame -- from slavery, to Nazism, to internment camps, to the bombing of churches and the Ku Klux Klan. This is a new shame, and it is ongoing. It's not the politicians nearly as much as it is the people who enable and follow them, under the stunning delusion that this is somehow American of them when it is the cardinal opposite. Let's please stop this in ourselves. Please.

 
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How some Americans view it,

An american kills a Muslim " Gud, DAT gal darn mooslim was prolly voilent neweyz"

A Muslim kills an american " F those mooslims, dey r all evil, we needs to wipes dem off dis planet"

 
zoogs said:
What do you think, J?
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I'll preface this by saying I have not yet read the linked article. I will do that soon. However, my gut feeling is that violence committed by Muslims against non-Muslims probably far exceeds violence perpetrated against Muslims. That in no way makes the latter more acceptable but it does cause me to think one is maybe a bit more deserving of elevated concern than the other.

 
Okay, I've now read the article. With some of our Presidential candidates basically making hate speech somewhat mainstream nowadays, I can see where some of the fringe elements in this country are likely taking that as some sort of permission to cross the line with their actions. That behavior is not right and is not the America we want to cultivate.

I will say that, worldwide, Muslim violence against non-Muslims is still a much larger issue deserving of more attention simply because of the sheer number of victims. It does not make these cases any less concerning or acceptable, and the recent increasing trend does seem a bit alarming, but I do think the scope and scale is important to consider.

 
To the extent that we are worried about radical groups like ISIS perpetrating violence against the West, though, the West is also part Muslim. Where ISIS advocates violence against us, that us is also Americans like this one. And worldwide, it's also overwhelmingly violence against Muslisms! To call for example ISIS "Muslism violence" is like calling the Westboro Baptist Church "Christian".

Radical religiously-motivated terrorism doesn't just demand the military action that has already been happening for years. It demands repudiation of our own crazies, who beyond hurting people also serve as propaganda tools for extremists here and elsewhere. Diminishing and deflecting makes its own, quite active statement about who we are. (This is directed specifically at Mr. Rubio)

There's some data presented in the above article, but more below:

1. For scale: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/us/politics/crimes-against-muslim-americans-and-mosques-rise-sharply.html

2. American attitudes towards the religion as well as towards its people: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/markaz/posts/2015/12/09-what-americans-think-of-muslims-and-islam-telhami

3. Muslim-American attitudes towards extremism: http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/

I think these are not really surprising trends given our state of near-perpetual war since 2001 against various targets in the Muslim world. We either summon the better angels of our nature or give in to our worst demons -- dip bullets in pig's blood, carpet bomb the hell out of 'em, etc. I think the scope and scale of our response to that is also an important consideration.

 
The young men were members of a predominantly Muslim diaspora community whose roots are in Africa's eastern Sahel region. They were Muhannad Tairab, age 17, Adam Mekki, age 20, and Mohamedtaha Omar, age 23. Police have identified no motive in the killing, which appears to be something of a mystery ... Were they killed for their religion? A police spokesperson cautioned against jumping to conclusions, stating that, as of yet, they had "no reason to believe this was any type of hate crime, or focused because of their religion or their nationality whatsoever."
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Interesting that Vox would use this killing to lead off the article. There is no known motive. These guys might have been killed because they are Muslim. (Likely.) But it might have been a drug deal gone bad, or any number of other things.

Then there are acts like these that clearly are directed towards Muslims:

...almost exactly one year ago, of three Chapel Hill students, by a local man who'd expressed a paranoid hatred of religion. Later that spring, the FBI arrested the leader of a far-right militia that was planning to massacre a predominantly Muslim neighborhood in upstate New York.
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The problem seems to be that attacks such as these are carried out by American extremists in retaliation for things done by Muslim extremists. Maybe "extremists" is too kind of a word. Crazies might be more apt. On both sides of the fence.

 
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NUance said:
The young men were members of a predominantly Muslim diaspora community whose roots are in Africa's eastern Sahel region. They were Muhannad Tairab, age 17, Adam Mekki, age 20, and Mohamedtaha Omar, age 23. Police have identified no motive in the killing, which appears to be something of a mystery ... Were they killed for their religion? A police spokesperson cautioned against jumping to conclusions, stating that, as of yet, they had "no reason to believe this was any type of hate crime, or focused because of their religion or their nationality whatsoever."
Click to expand...
Interesting that Vox would use this killing to lead off the article. There is no known motive. These guys might have been killed because they are Muslim. (Likely.) But it might have been a drug deal gone bad, or any number of other things.
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good point. as of now its a murder of 3 men that were found in a party house. Islam may have nothing to do with it. but its a good selling point to get an article read.

 
It's going to be trumpeted as a possibility if you've got a presidential candidate advocating for a ban on all Muslims and the killing of families of terrorists. It certainly brings the possibility to the forefront.

 
A major presidential candidate fanned the flames of fear and took the opportunity of a terrorist incident to call for "empower[ing] law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized."

It's revolting -- and terrifying. The words of Hillel would seem to apply today. If our country is at stake, that existential threat is not the terrorists who occasionally succeed in doing in the West what they do every day in Iraq or Syria, it's the people back home who voluntarily yield to fear and hate in reaction.

 
^^^

This is incorrect and it is placing the blame on good, upstanding Americans of EVERY race and religion who want to feel safe. The threat IS terrorists, and those who enable them, who want to destroy countries, value sets, cultures, etc. Don't blame your fellow countrymen (assuming that you are American and/or live in the U.S.) for reacting in an appropriate and expected manner. Who are you to tell upstanding patriots what and who they should fear?

P.S. zoogs, you are a good mod and I will always respect you for being a great HB mod

 
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