In the lingering tension of last week’s Murfreesboro, Tenn., mosque protests, several more indications have risen that Islamaphobia is becoming more than just a flash in the pan issue in this country.
On Friday, two Muslim women were assaulted at a gas station in Tukwila, Wash. The women said 37-year-old Jennifer Leigh Adams approached them, yelling comments like “suicide bomber,” “why don’t you go back to your country,” and eventually slammed one of the women’s legs in her car door and pushed the other.
Fortunately, Adams was arrested and slapped with two felony accounts of malicious harassment.
Other incidents have been less direct, but still perpetuate the ongoing problem with this country’s perception of Islam. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit India next month, and it is not likely he will visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar in fear that wearing the religious head covering required to enter would rekindle the rumors that he is a Muslim.
The President’s decision to avoid visiting the Temple has disappointed the Sikh community here at home and abroad.
For a president that has transcended issues of race, it arguably could be seen as a missed opportunity to confront the issue of Islamaphobia head-on and perhaps create a healthy dialogue opposite to the dialogue of violence and vandalism we have seen so far.
Also making headlines was NPR’s firing of reporter Juan Williams. Williams stated on the O’Reilly Factor that he “gets nervous” when riding on an airplane with passengers who are wearing “Muslim garb.”
The major critic of NPR’s decision has been Fox News, which has decided to hire Williams and highlight the incident as being unfair and even racist.
The opinions given by Williams were unacceptable to NPR due to contract and were the ultimate justification given for Williams’ firing.
NPR Chief Executive Officer Vivian Schiller has acknowledged that the practice of releasing Williams from the reporting staff wasn’t done correctly but still stands by NPR’s decision.
Islamaphobia is a result of an inability to understand something that is foreign to one’s own way of thinking. Just as we’ve seen in the past with any other civil rights issue that has consumed this country, it is up to us to learn the facts.
Acceptance of others and resistance to negativity is something our generation should strive for. Ultimately, it may be up to us to make a difference.
John Gervais is a psychology senior and may be reached at [email protected].
What a nice line: "Islamophobia is a result of an inability to understand something that is foreign to one’s own way of thinking."
The comment arrogantly presupposes that fear of Islam is based on an ignorance of Islam, but it perhaps it is more indicative of the author's own ignorance. After all, what the Quran says about the inferiority of non-Muslims (3:82, 5:52) and the harsh treatment prescribed to them by true followers of Muhammad (48:29) may be 'foreign' to my 'way of thinking', but that doesn’t mean that I can’t understand it.
How accepting should I really be of an ideology that pushes hate and explicitly demands my obedience?
Yeah, John, I also think you've put the cart in front of the horse. And there's a barn in-between the two. Otherwise, you know what you're not talking about.
Wake up, John, and smell the coffee. Didn't you know Islamophobes (that is to say people who see Islam for the hateful, sadistic, totalitarian cult that it is) have been around ever since Mohammed started taking over the world?
Here is what two old-timer Islamophobes had to say about the "Religion of Peace".
Patriarch Cyrus of Alexandria on Islam
"I am afraid that God has sent these men to lay waste the world".
Gregory Palamus of Thessalonica on Islam
"For these impious people, hated by God and infamous, boast of having got the better of the Romans by their love of God…they live by the bow, the sword and debauchery, finding pleasure in taking slaves, devoting themselves to murder, pillage, spoil and not only do they commit these crimes, but even – what an aberration – they believe that God approves of them. This is what I think of them, now that I know precisely about their way of life."
There is no such thing as "Islamophobia", because a phobia is an irrational and baseless fear.
Islam was founded by a violent rapist and pedophile. Consider what Islam has done the world over – the number of Christian churches burned, Buddhist temples burned down in Indonesia and the Phillippines. The rapes and murders committed in the name of Islam in the Sudan. The terrorist acts committed over and over and over again for centuries, from the Barbary Pirates the US fought just after her inception – the ones who would hang our sailors upside down from their boats and offer them the choice to either convert to the violent religion of Islam, or drown.
The religion whose ambassador told Thomas Jefferson "that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise."
ISLAM itself is evil. Not all Muslims are evil, but every DEVOUT Muslim, every one who takes the violence of the unholy Koran seriously, every one who follows the doctrines of "taqiyya" and "kitman" (holy deception of the unbelievers) and the "nasikh" and "mansukh" (abrogated and abrogating verses: for instance, the whole "there shall be no compulsion in religion" lie they often quote is abrogated a dozen times over) – DEVOUT Muslims are following an evil religion.
I shall say it again: there is no such thing as Islamophobia. If someone has apprehensions and reservations regarding the violent religion founded by a sick 7th century pedophile, these apprehensions and reservations are well and truly DESERVED AND LOGICAL.
you are ridiculous
An Islamophobe by any other name is…someone unafraid to speak the truth: a truth teller.
“Qur’an… an accursed book… So long as there is this book there will be no peace in the world.” —William Gladstone (1809-1898) Prime Minister of Great Britain 1868 – 1894
”“I view Islam not as a religion, but as a dangerous, totalitarian ideology—equal to communism and fascism. Aren’t I allowed to say so?” —Geert Wilders Dutch politician
Yikes and wow! I believe these comments perfectly illustrate the titular fuel of angry politics; a certain animosity bordering on hate seems at work as well. The idea of a single homogenized practice of Islam is akin to generalizing Christianity so that Mormons and Quakers, Baptists and Unitarians, Catholics and Snakehandlers are all one and the same — facile and utterly useless.
How many "Christian churches burned, Buddhist temples burned," "rapes and murders," and "terrorist acts" do you lay at the feet of Sufis, UH Alum?
Arafat, history has long witnessed the oppression and hatred of Jews? Does it's multi-milllennial-long tenure in any way validate the Holocaust or a country club's non-jew exclusionary policy?
Gina, "an ideology that pushes hate and explicitly demands my obedience?" How many foes of Christianity have used this tired argument?
Wow and yikes!
Get a reality check, your arguments are pretty piss poor especially the Christianity one. At least Christianity had a change of heart (to an extent if you ignore the fact they don't really do anything and the cases of pedophilia) compared to Islam and it has tried saving face and making progress to adapt to modern time and practices. Iran is a glaring example of everything wrong with Islam. And guess what Sherlock, thats not some radical group, its an entire country basing its laws on their interpretation of Islamic law. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to explain to you all the problems that country has and how backwards it really is and it doesn't take a brain surgeon to deduce that the reason its such a terrible country is most definitely related to the fact they put so much faith and power into Islamic law and Islam itself. Now what does that say about Islam then genius?
The idea of a single homogenized practice of Islam is akin to generalizing Christianity so that Mormons and Quakers, Baptists and Unitarians, Catholics and Snakehandlers are all one and the same — facile and utterly useless.
But thats just it, this is the doing of their interpretation of the religion. The Christian/Catholic theocracy was terrible (Spanish Inquisition immediately comes to mind) but like I said at least they changed to a degree and have made some progress. However Iran and Islam refuses to in that respect, they stone men and women (especially the women) if they have affairs for crying out loud. I could imagine it would be slightly okay to turn a blind eye to this if all societies around the world were just as backwards, but that is not the case. There is no way you can equate and justify such behavior in comparison to other religions in this day and age. They are NOT ignorant of the world around them, and yet they have not changed their practices. Screw tolerance and PC, those kind of acts are barbaric and deplorable and by no means can you honestly justify or condone these practices being committed this day and age in the name of religion and especially considering the context of the situation (that the religion dictates the actual law of the land).
Once again what does this say about Islam in comparison to the other major religions out there right now? The doctrines have remained relatively the same for all of the major religions out there but look at how Islam turned out especially when it is applied to such levels that it rules the government of a country. There may be loonies out there who adhere strictly to what is written in their bibles but they never turn out nearly as bad and usually they're driven by their own moral compass rather the religion itself. However Iran isn't driven by a moral compass, its simply a strict application and interpretation of Islamic law. The rest of them at least attempted to change with the times in wherever they are practiced, Islam obviously has not made such changes in that respect all things considered. What people do in the day and age in this country in the "name of religion" may be deplorable at times yes, but by no means is it ever sanctioned and permitted to such a degree by the government, even the real loonies they don't permit for too long (why do you think law enforcement goes after cults?)
that's a lot of words to say "theocracy is bad". good work though!
islam happens to have a tight hold on the middle east for Historical Reasons. if fundamentalist christianity became the law of the land (again) you'd see the same things(again).
no religion is superior because they're all superstitious garbage practiced by brainwashed imbeciles too entrenched in their retarded fables to overcome their indoctrination.
WWJD? doesn't matter, he never existed.
Fundamentalist Christianity however would never become law of the land again, Catholicism and Judaism basically have the strongest ties to it and these days neither religion is really anywhere close to being anything remotely similar to true Fundamentalist Christianity besides their belief in one supreme being and all that jazz. I can't imagine either one would want to have anything to do with it seeing as they were the ones who decided to make changes to their religion and let their religions adapt with the times.
that didn't have anything to do with what i said. if a fundamentalist religion of any kind took total control over any country, the results would look a lot like the theocracies in the middle east. it would seem we don't disagree on this and that's okay! so that leads us to my point that islam is no better or worse than any religion because it's all regressive medieval hogwash.
ah yes of course we must excuse the cases of pedophilia, how else can we justify allowing the catholic church to exist?
I never said it should be excused I said that if you ignore it's cases of pedophilia and the fact they don't really do anything these days, two of its biggest flaws at the moment besides what some loonies o in its name, its made much more progress than Islam in adapting to modern times.
ah yes, you said to /ignore/ the systemic rape of young children and subsequent covers-up. my mistake, that's totally different and not at all mincing words.
the vatican still stands against birth control, abortion, and AIDS awareness in africa. they are not even trying to adapt to the times. they should be disbanded and all church assets should be auctioned, with funds going to pay reparations to its innumerable victims.
Once again, learn a bit of reading comprehension. I just said it myself: I never said it should be excused. It's pretty much implied in that context that I'm saying if you look at what they haven't done that was terrible they have made much more progress than the other religion in comparison.
As for your other argument whats your point? The Vatican hardly has any actual power besides their monetary funds and support by the public, besides that its not like they can actually try and sentence someone for using birth control or having an abortion. If a woman were to get an abortion at this very second its not like the Swiss Guard would swoop in soon afterward and take her away if someone ratted her out. However that isn't the case with the Mutaween, even for more trivial "offenses."
Sneezing???
"On Friday, two Muslim women were assaulted at a gas station in Tukwila, Wash. The women said 37-year-old Jennifer Leigh Adams approached them, yelling comments like “suicide bomber,” “why don’t you go back to your country,” and eventually slammed one of the women’s legs in her car door and pushed the other."
Do you see no problem with that?
Yes I do see a problem with it. No one should have to live in fear. However, a whole nation should not be branded as having a phobia because of one act of stupidity.
Bart,
Let me help you grasp the difference because despite your relativistic silliness there is a HUGE difference.
thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Jesus-Muhammad.htm
Thanks so much! What an incredibly authoritative site; I hope everyone will visit it. I've now dedicated my life to Jesus. I see the error of my ways and am gripped with a paralyzing fear of all Muslims and all things Islamic. Your name even makes me a little nervous. Now, how's that for silly? Frankly, I find all religions a bit silly. Silliest of all is the pointless and infantile barbarism that thumps its chest and roars about how superior one's favored brand of mythology is to everyone elses…of course there's never any personal bias involved just plain and simple facts. Silly!
Yes Bart, best not to focus on the details. How else to believe that all religions are the same?
John,
Your article could have had a much better title, let me suggest "Angry murdering Muslims Fuel Islamophobia" as the title for your next article.
its a good thing you live in some trashy backwater hole that doesn't matter because if you lived in an actual city, there would be lots of scary minorities to make you all twitchy and scared.
hey lisa, don't move to a real city because i hear there are lots of minorities! better to stay in a southern backwater hole than to expose yourself to the brown menace, right
for the moderators, if you delete this post you are confirming that you oppose harsh invective but support hate speech. this is a Real Thing and is constitutionally-binding so don't screw it up.
I live in New York city with tons of brown people, black people, yellow people… etc. Get your head out of your ass.
JR,
Here are some additional quotes for your arsenal…
Is it just me, or is all of the Middle East (sans Israel) one giant loony bin (laden)?
youtube.com/watch?v=zl12Zqa18Yk
"If I sneeze on a Muslim is it a hate crime?"
It should be. Only jerks sneeze on random people.
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