In 2001, after the 9/11 attacks, the FBI recorded 481 hate crimes against Muslims. Number of such incidents recorded in 2000? 28. The “debate” about the so-called Ground Zero Mosque was rooted firmly in anti-Islamic prejudice, as was the similar outrage over the Mosque in Murfeesboro. Elected Republican officials have called Islam “a cancer that needs to be cut out of American society,” argued that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to Muslims, and publicly called the President a “secret Muslim.” And that’s not even getting into the Iraqi invasion and Abu Ghraib. Hell, even in this thread, we have Hubzilla expressing the idea that Muslims are somehow obligated to apologize for the behavior of terrorists, as if it’s somehow their fault this happened.
The backlash never comes? Read a fucking newspaper some time. Jesus.
I think it might unintentionally make make Muslims feel even more awkward and singled out.
Imagine you are a white person in an Arab country. White Westerners in that country are few and far in between. One day a white person goes on a killing spree. The next day, Arabs are all like, “Hey, you’re white, but don’t worry, we’ll still ride with you!”
Kind gesture, but might make you feel even more like you stand out like a sore thumb. Many Muslims in Australia probably don’t want a spotlight on them right now.
What I’m getting at is that it can make Muslims feel even more collective guilt. Muslims may interpret it as, “Hey, one of yours (Muslims) just killed two of ours (Australians,) but I’ll still ride with you.”
The Council On American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) frequently sounds off after terrorist acts committed in the name of Islam, but their message generally comes across as “Don’t look at us.” :dubious:
As it happens, I can’t think of a single public figure from any side of politics who has not posted, said, or tweeted something similar - this is a terrible tragedy, our hearts/prayers/sympathy go out to the victims and their families, and so on and so forth.
There is absolutely no disagreement among anyone that what the Sydney shooter did was wrong, and the deaths are 100% his responsibility.
As well as that, a much smaller subset of people are supporting the #illridewithyou meme, in order to reassure members of the Muslim community that we recognise he was an isolated nutjob. I haven’t noticed any members of government getting on board, f’rinstance.
So we have
a) People giving their sympathy to Monis’ victims and also making clear their view that he and he alone was to blame, and
b) People who are just giving sympathy to the victims.
Good on the #illridewithyou lady. And all the folks who re-tweeted.
I think Islamophobia is the greater danger. There will probably always be isolated nutjobs who will hurt others, and they will probably always slap some label on their actions: they did it for God! They did it for liberty! They did it for BOGO sales at Payless Shoe Store!
But what happens if the majority thinks they can blame the minority for it? More than just the isolate nutjob. You can have concentrated hate, a systemic attempt at ethnic cleansing or genocide, a lessening of everyone’s civil liberties, a destruction of civility and equality, second class citizenship, and a culture of fear and hatred and scapegoating. We know these things can happen; they have a nice chunk of history proving it.
Who are the real victims? The real victims are everyone who is hated and harmed for no reason.
You added a word in there. That word is not in the declaration of intent, it is a qualifier that is not being used. Please do not try to fuck up the meaning of what is being said by adding words that do not at all belong.
When you start from nearly zero, a 1700% increase may still not amount to much.
Muslims are not being lynched in the US.
Mosques are not being burned down.
Contrary to what Hollywood showed us in The Siege, the Army is not rounding up Muslims and hauling them to prison camps.
In fact, EVERY time a Muslim commits an act of terrorism, the President (no matter which party), the local police, and the media will hasten to assure us that “Islam Is A Religion of Peace.” Befoe the perpetrators are known, the mayor is liable to hint that they’re probably Tea Partiers (good call, Bloomberg!).
This is both patronizing to Muslims AND tacitly insulting to ordinary Americans. The unspoken assumption (one YOU clearly share) is that the average American is a bigoted yahoo who’s just dying to beat up or kill some AY-rabs.
I’m saying that simply isn’t true. In the wake of 9/11, there has been astonishingly LITTLE “Islamaophobia” and remarkably little in the way of hate crimes.
I think we have far more to fear from genuine, tangible Muslim terrorists than from hypothetical Islamophobes.
Many (most?) Muslims in this country are “ordinary Americans”. Let’s not forget that.
Who is this “we” of you speak, Kemosabe? I don’t have a lot to fear from Islamophobia, but I’m not Muslim. If I were, I’d have more to fear from it than I do from Islamic Terrorism. There are many more Islamophobes in the US than Islamic terrorists.
More appropriate would be a “You’ll Ride With Me” campaign.
Meaning, you join our society: embrace our customs, share our culture, watch our movies, listen to our music, etc. Do these things and people won’t see you as threatening.
Western terrorists (setting aside Australia’s physical location) are not forced to bomb innocent people. They choose to do so. They choose to reject a society that has welcomed them. A liberal, free society, where they can practice any religion and marry anyone they want. They view our society as an abhorrence.
We have already met the Muslim community halfway. We do not owe it to them to grandstand on our tolerance. It is embedded in our society. Adopt it, appreciate it, and these cheesy slogans are no longer needed.
It is, after all, a problem of the Muslim community. Perhaps Jesus would have offered the other cheek. Many of us are tired of doing so.
There is no such thing as “the Muslim community” anymore than there is a “Catholic community” or an “Italian community”. Would you say that the mafia is a problem of “the Italian community”? Does my Italian neighbor have some responsibility for mob hits in Chicago?
I would say that the idea that there is “an Islamic community” is the root of Islamophobia in the first place. It’s an idea of collective guilt and should have no place in a modern, western democracy.
We owe it to ourselves and to posterity, to practice it, wouldn’t you say? Or else it does not exist. And the terrorists (of all descriptions) have won.
Most Muslims, especially in the US (and probably in Australia, though I have no firsthand experience) already do all this. They’re already productive and peaceful members of our society.