As you know, Jeremy, I once felt as you do now. I worked 82nd Floor, Sears Tower, post 9/11. And I deeply regret my reactions, then. This is precisely wrong. An Indian Hindu guy sitting next to you, the Sikh walking his wife to work, the Muslim heading into mosque to prayer: none of them caused the perception, you did. And it is up to you to reverse your bias, if we are to live in a peaceful land.
I'm sure you still do feel that way. You just do not want to admit it. Its not a bias. I just have the balls to admit that the perception is there. Its not intentional. Its reactionary. You know you feel the same way too...
Do not presume to speak for how I feel, Jeremy. I've tried to stay civil, but moving off your shortcomings to imputing them to me is out of line. I have made a journey, and looked inwards to get there - it starts by talking with those you fear. Your choosing to stay with your irrational bias is your problem, literally.
Someone's getting a little emotional and hot and bothered again. Simple fact. OP poses a question about the perception people in the US have of Muslims. I simply offer an explanation as to why that might be. Its an opinion, I think a valid one and pretty spot on. The perception is very real, it exists in everyone I know, even you my friend as previously intimated. I contend that given the right set of circumstances it still exists. I did not say it was right, nor did I say it was something we should be proud of. It is a simple reality and derived from an experience. The experience is very real, and will be difficult to get past for anyone who has experienced it. You may say you are past it, but you're not. Again, given the right set of circumstances the thoughts and perceptions will always be ever present in the back of your mind. Those of us willing to admit that are going to work through changing those perceptions over time much faster than those that deny the reality that they still exist. Now go stomp your feet and get mad.
Jeremy, firstly, of course - prejudices exist in all of us. Precisely why it behooves us to do the work to make them obsolete. This is utterly different from: I say again: the Indian guy, the Sikh guy, the Muslim guy - none of them did anything, in the examples given. Your response is your responsibility. To Grim's point: The Japanese-Americans interned at Manzanar - where they to etch a sign "I don't dig Tojo" into their skin, in order to avoid the concentration camps? Do you understand this? Secondly, if you literally cannot understand the difference between: and Then there isn't anything to say, really. We can all disagree; but once we say, "you don't mean ____," further conversation is useless. Can you understand this? The rest of the insults and appeals to emotion, will have to lie as well.
I agree with you that it is a natural reaction, but this doesn't make it right. Secondly, you can not tell someone how they are feeling. Finally, a guy in a turban is a Sikh - how is he related at all to Islam? How are Hindu's related to Islam? The fact of the matter is that you are victimising a whole race i.e. Middle Eastern and Indian Sub-continent when in fact the people who you should have your reaction to are more commonly found in places like Indonesia. Do you like at an Indonesian and think terrorist? NO Do you look at an African and think terrorist? NO Yet, both Indonesia has a population of 207,000,105 Muslims and Africa has the largest percentage of Muslims than any other region (27% of all Muslims). The Middle East has only 17% of the world's Muslims yet you choose to direct your reaction at people who look like this? One of the London bombers was a Black African Muslim yet no-one seems to bat an eyelid at a Black man. Why is it that your reaction is directed only at certain sections of the Muslim world?
fear and lack of familiarity and knowledge about the other races has always been the basis for predjudice. get over it, it is 21st century.
I never said it was right. Anyway, its only the emotional crowd hear that heard that. (not directed at you btw). Man, I'm being honest. I never said he was related to Islam. In fact I went out of my way to reiterate that point in my original post. What I said, and so many refuse to hear is that regardless of the nationality, someone sees a sheet wrapped around ones head or body, the perception is.... Is that any clearer? I'm not victimizing anyone. Islam is not a race. How long will it take before people understand that? No, but people might think other things. It really depends on two factors: 1. Experience 2. What one has been taught Some people look at Indonesians and think PIRATE.... Some might look at and African and think RACIST (if they are SA "white") and others might think God only know if they are black. Keep in mind people are not looking purely at the skin colour, eyes, etc.. They are looking at dress. Dress a white guy up in the same garb, and a similar perception can be asserted. I've not chosen to do anything. You like many here have missed the point of my original post.
i did not call you racist. i will use begot if i want to call you anything like that. but you are predjudice. swaymedia used the same logic against jewish people a while back. do you remember.
Jeremy is confused between how screwed up it is to tell someone else that what they say they think and feel is not what they think and feel, and honesty. He'll deny it, but he, uh, does. He knows he does. He really, really knows he does. The rest of it was missed, and I guess it will remain missed. The bottom line, if we see a guy sitting on the bus, or sipping tea in a park, or smiling and saying "hi" in the morning, and we shrink back in reactive fear out of prejudice, it isn't the guy in the bus/park/morning greeting who did something, and it is us who needs to dig down to cure the irrational problem.
muslims are treated very well in US and around the world, its called victim mentality think of the best treated group in the US, for example WASP's or republicans, and they still get treated like scum in left wing areas of the US
about people that dress diffrently than you do. I think that is what you said isn't it. hehe i am using the shift .oh shit i forgot on that one.
@OP - I'm sure Muslims in America are treated much better than Americans in certain Arab countries. You said "freedom of religion is a basic human right". Did you know that many Arab countries will have the Bible burnt, if they find one in your luggage or house? Did you know that if you found eating during the day, in the month preceding ramzan, you can be thrown into prison? Did you know that you can be prosecuted for eating pork in certain Arab countires?
In lieu of a credible point, I guess this acts as a palliative, Jer. To recap, I say: Take personal responsibility for one's prejudices. It isn't the guy/lady over there who "causes" it, and it is up to oneself to cure it. Don't presume other people don't believe what they say they believe. To do so is a non-starter to all dialogue. This is never a good argument, to me. This is America, and if we claim certain values, we should live by them. To the thread topic, I would say, from my experience, immediately post-911, the atmosphere was pretty ugly. From what I can tell, things have calmed down, though as this thread evinces, we've got a ways to go.
All very nice claims but absolutely no evidence to back it up. I would say every single one of those claims is 100% incorrect.