Ever since the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris on November 13th, Islamophobia has been circulating the country and the world. People, including politicians, have been quite vocal with their opinions. “Nobody, nobody, nobody wants your evil cult in this county,” as well as numerous other anti-muslim remarks were made during a protest outside The Islamic Center of Fredericksburg, an Islamic center with plans to expand. These events frighteningly resemble much of the backlash following the events of 9/11 and seems to be becoming a trend following terrorist attacks.
My questions for you are:
Fear is a powerful weapon, and politicians, such as Donald Trump, are using this to their advantage. In a recent interview Trump was quoted saying "I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down." Here Trump is referring to seeing Muslims celebrate post-9/11. (There is no evidence of this and police deny this happening). In this fearful time, people want answers and someone to blame. People are looking for a scapegoat. It is for this reason that people like Trump are able to gain support and spread their own unjustified views of Islam.
Besides what I mentioned, why do you think people like Trump are able to gain support (especially in a time like this)?
What are some parallels of this event from history? Elaborate. (Think scapegoats, unjustified blame, characterizing a whole group based off of a few's actions, fear tactics, etc!)
References: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/11/22/donald-trumps-outrageous-claim-that-thousands-of-new-jersey-muslims-celebrated-the-911-attacks/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/attacks-on-american-muslims-are-growing-uglier-by-the-day-it-must-stop/2015/11/23/a55d99d8-91e9-11e5-b5e4-279b4501e8a6_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_dvorak-1215pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
2 comments:
Besides what I mentioned, why do you think people like Trump are able to gain support (especially in a time like this)?
-I think that people like Trump are able to gain so much support because there are people who feel that way and have islamophobia especially after all the recent terrorist attacks.
What are some parallels of this event from history? Elaborate. (Think scapegoats, unjustified blame, characterizing a whole group based off of a few's actions, fear tactics, etc!)
-First thing that pops into mind when I read this questions is WW2. Germany (Hitler) used the Jews as a scapegoat. Hitler said Jews were the reason their economy was failing and he used this to bring the people of Germany together. Hitler blamed a whole people for Germany's problems just like how some people now are blaming Middle easterners as a whole for terrorist attacks.
Thanks for the post Cami. Being a practicing white Muslim in America, I can relate a lot to this post. Islamophobia is rampant in our country right now, and from personal experience, ever since 9/11, there have been people in my life who have teased me for being a "terrorist". Also, more recently, the teasing has substantially increased after the Paris attack, and although people's intentions aren't malicious, the effect is still there, people have this perception that Muslims are terrorists.
People in general want to think of all Muslims as belligerent individuals who want to harm others in the name of their religion. The problem with this perception is that it's completely wrong. People like Trump mention events like Muslims celebrating after 9/11, but the fact is that these events never happened. All these false claims that are being spread to the public are simply propaganda that are brainwashing the minds of individuals, and is the main cause of Islamophobia. I can tell you from personal experience that I have never met a Muslim that believes that the crashing of the twin towers or the killings in Paris were justified. I go to a Muslim mosque every Friday, and constantly our people preach that those actions are condemned, and that the people that support it are extremist Muslims who misinterpret our religion for their own political agenda.
They say ignorance is bliss, but sadly in this case, it's not. People have a wrong view of Islam, and it is solely caused from the lack of understanding of our religion. In the Quran it states that “if any one killed a person, it would be as if he killed the whole of mankind," highlighting the misdeed of murder. So how can these killers be true Muslims? The truth is, they're not, and I ask people today to not paint all Muslims with one brush and to have an open mind next time someone decides to call a Muslim a terrorist.
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