acceptance of Islamophobia

[conscious_soul]

Another question I have is: Have any of you ever lived in the States? That too is a huge factor to how this plays out.

Thankfully not for any length of time (no offense.)

Haha, well, I think I do actually take offense to that (just a tad). I have both an American and Canadian citizenship, but I do consider myself more American. A very liberal, open-minded American, at that. I think you may be grouping Americans in one huge group. There are good ones here too!

lol sorry >< When I said no offense, I meant that I didn't mean my particular viewpoint as a personal indictment against you. I hardly know you! My opinion is more of the US in general, so it is very much an over-generalization as well as over-simplification. I'm sure I could write a book on differences in Islamophobia between the US and Europe if I had the time and willpower.

Haha. I'm mostly giving you a hard time! But, I would like to say that America is really Islamophobic and right-winged in comparison to the rest of the world, and I'd much rather live somewhere else than the Bible-belt, conservative, West Texas.

[Minuet]

I used to live in the West Coast, which I'm guessing is supposed to be more open-minded than the rest of America (correct me if I'm wrong), but...not from what I saw.

And a little suggestion on your EE, how about you use Fox News? Research on the methods they use to tarnish the name of the religion

[Sandwich]

My teacher and I have been discussing where exactly this would fit. She wants it to be under Social Anthropology, Sociology or Psychology, depending which route I take. She'll dwell on that for a while. Media is a huge portion of it though. I'm not discussing the people who have a distaste for organized religion, either. That's a different thing. Those that do, dislike Islam for some different reasons.

This may be quite a retarded question, but have you checked the IB Guide for the EE? All subjects have really specific guidelines as to what is or isn't within their subject bracket, and if any topic seems to fit into more than one subject, in terms of succeeding well with your EE, you're not looking good! If it doesn't go down the straight and narrow, it's going to be penalised for it.

I haven't lived in the US. At least not for more than about 8 weeks total in my life on various holidays!

[conscious_soul]

My teacher and I have been discussing where exactly this would fit. She wants it to be under Social Anthropology, Sociology or Psychology, depending which route I take. She'll dwell on that for a while. Media is a huge portion of it though. I'm not discussing the people who have a distaste for organized religion, either. That's a different thing. Those that do, dislike Islam for some different reasons.

This may be quite a retarded question, but have you checked the IB Guide for the EE? All subjects have really specific guidelines as to what is or isn't within their subject bracket, and if any topic seems to fit into more than one subject, in terms of succeeding well with your EE, you're not looking good! If it doesn't go down the straight and narrow, it's going to be penalised for it.

I haven't lived in the US. At least not for more than about 8 weeks total in my life on various holidays!

I'm fully aware of that. Which is why my teacher and I are going to fix it. I know they have really specific things, which is also why I'm getting my brother to check it over for me (IB graduate)

[RBST]

An important point on apostasy: There was recently a case of a man in his early twenties in Saudi Arabia who declared it, and he was immediately sentenced to death, until that was revoked by the king of Saudi Arabia himself for several reasons, mainly because the sentence was incorrect. I'm almost certain that death could only be sentenced if he or she is forcing others to abandon the religion.

By the way, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAFo9-2nyOc&feature=related

What is the video about? For some reason it is blocked here!

[sweetnsimple786]

I've lived in Southern US for 14 years. I spent most of elementary school in a town that had one Muslim family, mine. Before 9/11, we just looked different. After 9/11 we felt isolated, but there was also a great surge of "united we stand, divided we fall" for a couple of years, which got me through most of my innocent childhood years.

My view on the portion of the US that commits hate crimes is whatever. I don't care if you get satisfaction from burning my holy book. What scares the crap out of me is when I look around for relative strangers to find it wrong and see people who feel safer when Muslims are victimized. I feel the victim knowing that some people don't think I should be/am a full American in every sense. It's really scary. But then I realize that a lot of people don't feel that way. A lot of complete strangers are enraged at the acts committed against Muslims. And seeing that some people realize our similarities will always outweigh our differences means, for me, that Islamophobia or whatever you want to call it will not consume us.

Edit: the video's title is "Leader of Jewish settlers Rams Car Into Palestinian Boys and Run."

Edited February 5, 2011 by sweetnsimple786

[IB Gawd]

I guess the only way to correct "islamophobia" is to be out there and show the people around you that not all muslims are crazy. Educating people in America is one of the best ways I think.

[Mort]

I guess the only way to correct "islamophobia" is to be out there and show the people around you that not all muslims are crazy. Educating people in America is one of the best ways I think.

This is true but if only we were able to eliminate the main problem, being the media, there would be no more problems. For the past two years I've been living in Iran, an islamic country where you have to have a hijab and abide to the Islamic rules, and there are people here, mostly teenagers, who don't want to abide the rules, but they have to. This is wrong, because in the Quran itself states that no one is to be forced into doing anything. Iran also has a catfight/quarrel with the US which causes it to always speak negatively about the US in its media. The US does the same thing, making people think of Iran in a completely different view of what it really is. What I'm getting at is that all over the world, the general population is being controlled by the media, whether its news agencies in Iran, America or anywhere else for that matter.

[Sandwich]

I guess the only way to correct "islamophobia" is to be out there and show the people around you that not all muslims are crazy. Educating people in America is one of the best ways I think.

This is true but if only we were able to eliminate the main problem, being the media, there would be no more problems. For the past two years I've been living in Iran, an islamic country where you have to have a hijab and abide to the Islamic rules, and there are people here, mostly teenagers, who don't want to abide the rules, but they have to. This is wrong, because in the Quran itself states that no one is to be forced into doing anything. Iran also has a catfight/quarrel with the US which causes it to always speak negatively about the US in its media. The US does the same thing, making people think of Iran in a completely different view of what it really is. What I'm getting at is that all over the world, the general population is being controlled by the media, whether its news agencies in Iran, America or anywhere else for that matter.

I agree, although I don't think that media spin would actually solve the whole problem. To solve the whole problem, every person should be given a right to religious freedom - and also people should think practically about their religious choices. I mean, people being forced to wear the Hijab etc. is a fact, not wholly spin. There's something fundamentally difficult to connect with if you can't even see another person's face, it makes people suspicious of them. It's exactly the same thing with kids who wear hoodies and baseball caps. Not being able to see people and therefore connect with them on a human level effectively isolates them and makes them very different.

Even if the laws changed but people still chose to wear the Hijab, it's very challenging for somebody not from a strictly Islamic society (do you get used to not seeing people?) to really trust somebody who hides their face. It's not bigotry, it's human nature - exactly like people wearing masks. You have to see people's faces to understand their emotions and therefore establish trust relationships. If you can't see somebody it makes such a relationship a lot harder.

[Mort]

I agree with you sandwich but not being able to trust a woman with hijab and thinking that she's a suicide bomber is completely different. Due to the media, people have started to connect the two together. That is what I'm getting at but I respect and agree with what you saide.

[Keel]

Having been hanged, drawn and quartered the last time I posted in this part of the forum, I won't make any contribution whatsoever to the 'debate'. What did cross my mind when I saw Mort's statements though was the following, he agrees with Mort:

Can be deemed vulgar and racist. Possibly unfunny too.

[Proletariat]

So persistently melodramatic, but to each their own

There is truth to what Sandwich said. Humans are biologically hardwired to recognize faces, and the inability to do so does indeed cause natural unease. However, the difference between the the cloaking hoodie and a hijab is that one is certainly not merely a choice of fashion. I also agree that it's not merely enough to take away media spin. What is needed at the end of the day is more knowledge and recognition of different religions/cultures. Media never can and will be bias-free.

[Mort]

Then maybe we should stop listening to them.

[Muhammad Fiqri]

Islamophobis only happen because the western people really have no idea of what is Islam really is. and to make things worst, the press kindda twist and turn the story to make people believe that this religion is really an extremist religion. The main thing here is the people who didn't know about islam really need to educate themselves with it because frankly, some of my western friends did some research about Islam and found out that Islam is really not what they thought before. Islam is not only a religion which stressed out high morality and itegrity but a way of life

[Proletariat]

Islamophobis only happen because the western people really have no idea of what is Islam really is. and to make things worst, the press kindda twist and turn the story to make people believe that this religion is really an extremist religion. The main thing here is the people who didn't know about islam really need to educate themselves with it because frankly, some of my western friends did some research about Islam and found out that Islam is really not what they thought before. Islam is not only a religion which stressed out high morality and itegrity but a way of life

I am more than willing to say that the West misunderstands Islam, along with a good deal many other things. However, how that has to do with the religion being "a way of life" I don't understand. So is Confucianism. So is a lot of Christian denominations. What is the point that you're trying to get across? I don't think people have trouble understanding that Islam is a religion. How do moderate Muslims reconcile Sharia Law with the classic liberal values that Western democracies are founded upon? There are a lot of areas where the two are in direct conflict. There are extremists in Christianity as well, but the Westboro baptists haven't spread their beliefs into governments that represent hundreds of millions of people.