Wonderful rationalization for distrust and potential racism

[tsukikage]

Listening to a BBC story on (some) Tea Party members who are gathering to protest the planned mosque near Ground Zero, etc.:

"I consider Muslim immigration into this country a threat, I do. So we have to pay close attention to those folks if they want to come live in this country. Not because I have a problem with Muslims, but because those are the, that is the trend that is being set by that particular group of people. I don't see Christians going into mosques and blowing themselves up."

Oh. My. God. So, because all radical Muslims are Muslim, we need to be extremely wary of all Muslims. WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

I can honestly see why people don't want a mosque built near Ground Zero, although I tend to lean towards the idea that it'll build more bridges than it will destroy. However, the fact that this is making general Islamophobia (Islamaphobia?) come further out of the woodworks than it already is... That makes me extremely uncomfortable, and I'm not quite sure what to do/say about it.

Comments

Analogies...

[kelglitter.livejournal.com]

Jesse and I watched the West Wing Season 3 opener again last night. It wasn't a real episode carrying on their storyline; it was an episode wholly crafted outside of the storyline (but still internally consistent with the characters, mostly) delivered to worldwide audiences because the producers felt an obligation to use their influence to educate the post-9/11 public on the issue of terrorism.

I was really struck by the analogy that Josh Lyman (the deputy chief of staff in the show) gave some high schoolers visiting the White House. He said "Fill in the blank: Islamic extremism is to Islam as _____ is to Christianity."

The kids suggested some things including "Christian fundamentalism," and "the Christian Extreme Right," but Josh had a different, surprising answer, but he is surely right: Islamic extremism is to Islam as the KKK is to Christianity.

The episode also describes the origins of modern terrorism (11th century secret brotherhood - origins of the word "assassins"), describes the historical precedent for the success of terrorist goals (100% failure), tells the story of Isaac and Ishmael and even mentions the important takeaway - that they came back together to bury their father Abraham, touches on the problems with racial profiling and oppressing an entire group of people when it is only a subset of that group causing problems. All in the middle of a great episode - oh, and they donated the proceeds of the episode to charitable organizations (NYPD, NYFD, widow(er)s of response teams, victims, etc - all 9/11 related).

The whole episode is fantastic. Really, I love that whole series - it teaches so much stuff in such an entertaining method - you learn both sides to most issues they cover, and you also learn about the internal workings of government, right in the middle of witty dialog and interesting characters.

Re: Analogies...

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely have to check out that episode, at least. Will probably rent the first disc of the series in general as well.

[jupistrahan.livejournal.com]

I've known a few muslims, I have no problem with them. Just as the radical muslims did something terrible that day, radical Christians have done some terrible things as well.

My question is really this: Why does it have to be there? It's basically planting a flag of victory by our enemy, IMO.

If a Christian Cathedral was built on the site where the KKK killed a thousand people in a generally non-Christian nation, it would send a terrible, terrible message of the KKK's victory there. It is the same thing. Let them have their mosque, but build it somewhere else.

Ground Zero should be rebuilt as the WTC, or they should put a park or memorial there. A Mosque is a slap in the face.