Colinmac36
03/15/11, 03:51 PM
Okay, we have a blog for my history class amount certain world issues and such, and this week's was Muslim Stereotyping in America. Personally, I feel that many people in my school are quite ignorant on this topic, so i wanted to get your guys opinions on the stereotyping of Muslims in America. Watch This first:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/03/09/exp.am.intv.repking.cnn?iref=allsea rch
Is this another witch hunt in the making? Is this organized discrimination? Or is this a needed tool to prevent future harm to Americans? If you argue against these measures then what would you say to the victims of former attacks? If you argue for these trials then how do you respond to arguments that this is anti-constitutional or a new red scare?
Personally i feel that, Even though most Americans are under a fallacy that we are at war with Islam, that is certainly not the truth. When we invaded Iraq, George Bush made it clear that this was not a war on Islam, rather a war on terrorism. Trying to uncover something like extremists in Islamic mosques in America that probably do not exist is extremely dangerous, and a slippery slope that could lead to open hate crimes and hate speech, that of which should never be accepted in the United States of America, which is the most accepting country in the world. Obviously, this is an extremely touchy subject for various reasons. Reasons such as right to privacy for American born Muslims, freedom to practice any religion, as well as upsetting Islamic countries due to this condemnation of Muslims in America. Just because maybe what, an extremely small and minuscule percent out of over 6 billion people in the world and 1.6 of which are Muslims are Muslims extremist is outrageous. I know this may sound outrageous, but this is similar to saying that we're going to try to find every radical catholic in the United States because the IRA exists. The fact of the matter is that, there always will be nut jobs and extremists out there who will always misinterpret religion, and make it violent. The way to prevent future acts of terrorism is not by spending money to go spy on religious centers such as mosques but to continue to make strides in homeland security, that will ultimately keep us the safest because no matter how hard you try you can never rid the whole world of every single terrorist. Furthermore, is putting Muslims on trial not similar to The Patriot Act? The Patriot Act lets the government, FBI, and CIA look through bank transactions, phone calls, texts messages, and such of suspected terrorists. Is this not different than "putting Muslims on trial" for suspected terrorism, especially if their is no clear cut evidence of someone potentially being harmful to the United States of America. I do agree and can take the Patriot Act and as an American citizen because I do feel the Patriot Act was a necessary evil for protection even if it did take away some of our rights, because government's main job is to keep the people safe.
However, trying to spy or condemn a certain group due to stereotype is to far for me to go, that is pushing the limits of what is necessary and what is not.
Furthermore, I believe our generation is extremely accepting of many things such as gay marriage and rights and things of the nature. With that being said I believe Americans need to be more accepting of Muslims and start to disregarded the extremely false perception that "almost every Muslim is an extremists". However, a clear example of this belief is last year's extremely large debate on the mosque being built two blocks from ground zero. Even though their are many Muslims who live in New York City, about one million to be exact, becasue Muslim extremists committed this brutal crime against America on 9/11 people claimed building a mosque near ground zero was "insensitive" to 9/11 victims, even though just because radicals committed the crime, and have absolutely no similar beliefs to regular good willed Muslims people were still skeptical. This is a clear instance of discrimination. Not only that but their were Muslims who died in the attacks on 9/11, as well as, there was a mosque that was previously there before the 9/11 attacks, and the man looking to build this has appeared on Sixty Minutes and claimed he is not doing it for any reason but to get the Muslims community to come together to build not only a religious center, but also a community center. All these issues need to be brought up because it all of it contributes to the hysteria that Americans have falsely perceived Muslims to be, a large part of it is the media's fault. Overall, this debate clearly stretches through a number of issues, topics, debates, and rights issues which it is why it is so controversial. I do not think we need to take these extreme measures because it is extremely discriminatory against a huge group of people, that becasue a small percent have misinterpreted the religion and made it to be violent.Finally, what I would say to the victims of previous attack is that put yourself in a Muslim person's shoes. Obviously, you would think it would be ludicrous to condemn a huge amount of people because of a couple sour grapes. Not only that but I would mention what the nation was built on a, a feeling of being safe under the constitution as an American citizen, no matter who you are, where you're from, what religion you practice, your sexuality, race, or gender. I would say that the best safety is being proactive not by spying or going against the constitution but by making sure we as a country are as safe and secure as possible, becasue it was extremely apparent on 9/11 we weren't. That is how to prevent another attack, and it has prevented multiple attacks because we have raised our security, and by this 9/11 victims are somewhat heroes becasue when they died they saved many other American lives that could have been in danger of attacks if our security was not as good.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/03/09/exp.am.intv.repking.cnn?iref=allsea rch
Is this another witch hunt in the making? Is this organized discrimination? Or is this a needed tool to prevent future harm to Americans? If you argue against these measures then what would you say to the victims of former attacks? If you argue for these trials then how do you respond to arguments that this is anti-constitutional or a new red scare?
Personally i feel that, Even though most Americans are under a fallacy that we are at war with Islam, that is certainly not the truth. When we invaded Iraq, George Bush made it clear that this was not a war on Islam, rather a war on terrorism. Trying to uncover something like extremists in Islamic mosques in America that probably do not exist is extremely dangerous, and a slippery slope that could lead to open hate crimes and hate speech, that of which should never be accepted in the United States of America, which is the most accepting country in the world. Obviously, this is an extremely touchy subject for various reasons. Reasons such as right to privacy for American born Muslims, freedom to practice any religion, as well as upsetting Islamic countries due to this condemnation of Muslims in America. Just because maybe what, an extremely small and minuscule percent out of over 6 billion people in the world and 1.6 of which are Muslims are Muslims extremist is outrageous. I know this may sound outrageous, but this is similar to saying that we're going to try to find every radical catholic in the United States because the IRA exists. The fact of the matter is that, there always will be nut jobs and extremists out there who will always misinterpret religion, and make it violent. The way to prevent future acts of terrorism is not by spending money to go spy on religious centers such as mosques but to continue to make strides in homeland security, that will ultimately keep us the safest because no matter how hard you try you can never rid the whole world of every single terrorist. Furthermore, is putting Muslims on trial not similar to The Patriot Act? The Patriot Act lets the government, FBI, and CIA look through bank transactions, phone calls, texts messages, and such of suspected terrorists. Is this not different than "putting Muslims on trial" for suspected terrorism, especially if their is no clear cut evidence of someone potentially being harmful to the United States of America. I do agree and can take the Patriot Act and as an American citizen because I do feel the Patriot Act was a necessary evil for protection even if it did take away some of our rights, because government's main job is to keep the people safe.
However, trying to spy or condemn a certain group due to stereotype is to far for me to go, that is pushing the limits of what is necessary and what is not.
Furthermore, I believe our generation is extremely accepting of many things such as gay marriage and rights and things of the nature. With that being said I believe Americans need to be more accepting of Muslims and start to disregarded the extremely false perception that "almost every Muslim is an extremists". However, a clear example of this belief is last year's extremely large debate on the mosque being built two blocks from ground zero. Even though their are many Muslims who live in New York City, about one million to be exact, becasue Muslim extremists committed this brutal crime against America on 9/11 people claimed building a mosque near ground zero was "insensitive" to 9/11 victims, even though just because radicals committed the crime, and have absolutely no similar beliefs to regular good willed Muslims people were still skeptical. This is a clear instance of discrimination. Not only that but their were Muslims who died in the attacks on 9/11, as well as, there was a mosque that was previously there before the 9/11 attacks, and the man looking to build this has appeared on Sixty Minutes and claimed he is not doing it for any reason but to get the Muslims community to come together to build not only a religious center, but also a community center. All these issues need to be brought up because it all of it contributes to the hysteria that Americans have falsely perceived Muslims to be, a large part of it is the media's fault. Overall, this debate clearly stretches through a number of issues, topics, debates, and rights issues which it is why it is so controversial. I do not think we need to take these extreme measures because it is extremely discriminatory against a huge group of people, that becasue a small percent have misinterpreted the religion and made it to be violent.Finally, what I would say to the victims of previous attack is that put yourself in a Muslim person's shoes. Obviously, you would think it would be ludicrous to condemn a huge amount of people because of a couple sour grapes. Not only that but I would mention what the nation was built on a, a feeling of being safe under the constitution as an American citizen, no matter who you are, where you're from, what religion you practice, your sexuality, race, or gender. I would say that the best safety is being proactive not by spying or going against the constitution but by making sure we as a country are as safe and secure as possible, becasue it was extremely apparent on 9/11 we weren't. That is how to prevent another attack, and it has prevented multiple attacks because we have raised our security, and by this 9/11 victims are somewhat heroes becasue when they died they saved many other American lives that could have been in danger of attacks if our security was not as good.