In U.S., fear and distrust of Muslims runs deep
That seriously freaks me out. The fact that people (not the radio host, since he staged a hoax) actually believe Muslim Americans should be TATTOOED and have special marks on their licenses and passports??
HOW CAN PEOPLE NOT SEE HOW FUCKED UP THAT IS?
How sad.
People learn absolutely nothing from the past.
Apropos of nothing, I’m curious what brought this up today - the article is from Dec. 1st.
I wonder what would have happened if they asked the same question about Atheists?
I suspect we would not like the answer.
Thanks for the link zweisamkeit, that is some seriosly screw up stuff. It seems I can always be surprised by how ignornat and just plain stupid many of our fellow citizens can be.
You would think the Tattoo part of the Hoax may have clued most of the idiots in. It is a scary world.
Always remember:
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.
The sad thing is that it’s not even the distant past; for crying out loud, we still have people around who fought during WWII.
And a friend posted the link in her LJ today; I can’t answer why she brought it up today, though. 
And you’re welcome, What Exit?, though I’m sorry it had to be such a depressing read.
It seems to me, historically, that communities (small and large) have always employed a ‘boogieman’ to enhance social cohesion through the solidarity of fighting a common enemy. It’s an US versus THEM scenario, with us being all that is virtuous, and them being hell-bent on our destruction.
When I was a kid, and even though I’m an Aussie, we played Cowboys and Indians. Of course the good cowboys always won.
Not too many years ago, the threat of those stinkin’ pinkos taking over the world was every western citizens’ worst fear. “What’s a Cold War, mum??”
And today, in the absence of any** real** imminent threat to our survival (global warming and economic disasters excluded), we have had to create a new boogieman. This time it is the Muslims…like the commies, their culture and belief-systems are easily demonised because they ARE different. And people are like sheep and desperately want to believe all the bad stuff that is spewed through the media and on the internet. It validates their self-perception as the good-guys, and gives them an easy target when, for whatever reason. things screw up. (Of course, you can reverse the players…Insert Western Capitalist for Muslim etc).
Community leaders and governments aid and abet the boogieman thesis. It suits their purposes to have citizens in a state of fear and focussed on the outside threat: a scared populace is a malleable one that is less inclined to seek any sort of change to the status-quo.
In other words, I am not surprised by the poll results. The hype that is played upon to exacerbate the ‘threat’ of a Muslim takeover is predictable and pathetic. Governments love it, and the tabloid media love it because there is a never-ending supply of material for them it seems.
But I am sure it too will pass, just like I don’t shoot arrows at the bloodthirsty Indians any more, and the mention of the word Russia brings brilliant tennis players to mind instead of nuclear missiles flying overhead.
I read an article a while back about a theory as to why kids believe in monsters lurking in the closet and under the bed. The author suggested that children are somehow genetically programmed to have fears. In the past, those fears were very useful: it kept them from wandering into the woods where they may be attacked by animals, as an example. Today, lacking any real dangers, children have to invent monsters to fear.
I wonder if this is not just confined to children and, taking what you said one step further, fear and xenophobia are a natural part of mankind. If there is no outside threat, we will find one within our own borders: a witch, a pervert or a non-believer in the “real” religion. We may need someone to be the focus of a natural urge to fear.
Not true. They learned it was wrong to do that to Jews. This is about Muslims. It’s COMPLETELY different! Through a process of elimination, humanity is gradually figuring out which groups it’s okay to oppress and which it isn’t.
:smack:
Don’t worry, this isn’t restricted to the United States.
At a recent vernissage, the artist (who I thought was my friend… :smack: ) introduced me to a fellow attendee as a New Democrat. This fellow proceeded to inform me that he had thought Jack Layton was cool until he had decided to defend Maher Arar and try to get him taken off the US’s no-fly list. You see, this must be a deep-cover investigation of Arar by the US that Jack had gone and screwed up. (No, I don’t see the connection either).
He then went on to expound with great gusto about how the Muslims, having previously controlled the world in the medieval period, developed a taste for it and were now attempting to control the world again, by armed takeover. All Muslims everywhere.
I’m not entirely certain how I made it through that without putting out an eye, his or my own.
(From a little something I just jotted down. Reuters did a story on it.)
"On 26 November, 2006 , over five years after the attacks, a talk show host suggested that all Muslims in the United States be forced to wear distinctive clothing to alleviate public fear. For an hour callers applauded the proposal which grew to the point of rounding up Muslims for mass deportation. Finally, the host, Jerry Klein admitted his proposal was a hoax. He called the callers ‘beyond disgusting.’ Nonetheless, in America in 2006 arresting and deporting people based upon their religion was a position that had at least limited public support. "
Freaking wonderful.
I am immediately reminded of the survey mentioned here.
I expect most Americans would be willing to force atheists to wear identifying symbols. Or just kill us.
Didn’t the Taliban(when they were in power) want the Hindus in Afghanistan to wear yellow arm bands or some such crap?
I find that pretty hard to believe. I thought most Americans, when asked how they felt about Atheists, would just shrug and say “meh.”
As far as the anti-Muslim thing goes, the article in the OP is really shocking. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, something like this happens. I’m really, really, really tired of this ugly shit, to the point where I feel like screaming “E-fucking-*NOUGH * already!”
Now people are seriously advocating fucking tattoos and special ID? Are you shitting me? Is the hatred that out of control that you can’t even see Muslims as anything except dangerous animals that need to be controlled or “dealt with”?
Quit painting all Muslims as violent backward savages or wild-eyed killers. Quit portraying them as ignorant zealots. Quit pulling the veils or hijabs off their women in the street and spitting or spilling beer on them. Quit hurling bricks at their mosques and epithets at their children. Quit furthering the same islamophobic mentality that’s been around since the fucking crusades and depicting all Muslims as shifty, devious crooks or dangerous fundamentalists.
JUST FUCKING QUIT IT ALREADY, YOU EVIL BIGOTED PIECE-OF-SHIT FUCKS! :mad:
The show ‘30 days’ did an Atheist living with a Christian family episode a few days back. I know they pick and choose the quotes they play but some on the opinions people expressed were very anti-Atheist (sadly I can’t remember the exact quotes but they were pretty jaw dropping, along the lines of “how can you trust someone that doesn’t believe in something”).
From the Channel4 page for the show :
Some days I fear for the world.
But it’s days like this I know we are all fucked.
SD
God damn it. Whatever happened to the melting pot?
This is an odd thing, and it seems to be the case that many religious people will trust people of other religion - even when those beliefs totally disagree - over athiests. There was an interesting thread a while back when people were trying to convince a theist (I think it was magellan? If i’m wrong, sorry!) that athiests weren’t inherently more untrustworthy. I’ll see if I can find it.
As to the thread; I think what I always think when stuff like this is reported - “This explains so much”.
Well, some people wanted cheese fondue, and some wanted chocolate, and then there was that guy who wanted to use all-natural ingredients, and this one gal was kosher…
Apparently it got switched out for a pot of boiling oil.
Ah, so it was the hippies again, messing things up for the rest of us. Should have known.