Muslim Americans have been singled out of our society because of the general misconceptions of Islam and the public’s misconception of the culture. We associate Muslims with terrorists and Islam with radicalisms and because of this our society has a rift in its feelings towards Muslim Americans. This schism of thoughts consist of one side discrediting the reputation and name of Muslim Americans, and the other side defending their rights and trying to correct the mistreatment of their culture. This article, 11 things you should know about Islam, essentially summarizes my thoughts on what is needed to bring an end to polarized sides on this issue. This article talks about how key political figures such as Sarah Palin, and Newt Gringrich, who have incredible political influence, are painting a negative image of Muslim Americans. This is an immeasurable problem since many Americans may adopt their philosophies just because of the politicians’ political stature. The media in this way helps facilitate the problems that Muslim Americans face. My solution to the problem is education. I believe that the only way to bring an end to the polarization of the sides is for the general public to educate themselves about Islam and Muslim culture. The public cannot rely on media bias to formulate an opinion of this subject. By self-education, people will learn for themselves what is fact or fiction and be able to make their own decisions about the culture.
The way people have started to fill this way is dead on what you said. The public has adopted it's opinions straight from the politicians. Whatever the leaders of our country have to say and think about the topic, most of the citizens are going to follow. Especially if the citizens like other views that politician has they and going to follow their ideas even more. Everyone has a different opinion on how they feel towards muslims because of how they view and experienced 9/11 differently. Someone that lost close family members is probably going to be a little more frustrated then someone that didn't. Going back on another comment I had, the government helped to influence how people thought of muslims after 9/11. Just like in world war II when all the Japanese Americans were put in camps, the opinions of how they were viewed after Pearl Harbor was different because the government put a huge sign over all the Japanese Americans that said danger, and even if that person had nothing to do with it, the public already had made its mind up. The same thing has happened when it comes to the public making it's mind up about muslims.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very nice post, and I like how you said education is what will bring an end to the misinformed perceptions of Muslims and the Islamic faith. I feel that education will bring an end to a lot of the ignorance out in the world. As you said, they are not all terrorist in a radical cult. I wish that people could see this generalization is just as preposterous as claiming that all Catholic priest are pedophiles, or all Germans are Nazis, or even that all Christians are murders. Even though there have been some cases of these behaviors within the religions, the actions do not blend with the overall ideology and practice of it. If people could understand the basics of Islam, they could see parallels between it and their own faith, and maybe they wouldn’t be so judgmental of it. But in terms of the political figures you mentioned painting Islam as negative, I think that is to control their supporters with fear. If they teach the public that Muslims are violent and a threat to society, they can captivate the uninformed and gain votes. It is a sad political strategy, but it preys on the uninformed. Educating ourselves about the issues will do much.
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