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213168 Responseshttp://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/the-tyranny-of-radical-muslims/The+tyranny+of+radical+Muslims...2010-04-15+18%3A45%3A53Sam+Richards to The tyranny of radical Muslims…
It really is all the same. We're all just people with beating hearts. Geography separates our beliefs, cultures, customs, but on the inside we're exactly the same. Osama bin Laden did a horrible thing and then ran away to hide from it all. Unfortunately, Americans now point the blame at all the people who happen to be of his race and ethnicity. One bad apple spoils the bunch. People are always going to judge. We judge individuals, and we judge groups of populations based off of first impressions by these individuals. Americans may look at the Islam culture with fear and resentment, but they are doing the same thing back to us. Ethnocentrism is bringing us one step closer to peace among our races, among people no different on the inside.
I won’t try and say that I have never done so or am above this in any way, but Americans really do tend to generalize Muslims based on Osama bin Laden’s actions. Osama bin Laden did something horrible, and has ran away from it for the past 9 years leaving the rest of the world to pick up the pieces. However, generalizing Muslims has only led to further hatred between Americans and Muslims because we assume that everyone is the same. But that is ridiculous. Osama bin Laden is one very radical example of a man who hates our country. Yet there are millions of Muslims living in America who are anti-bin Laden and peace-loving citizens of our country.
We really are all the same. It seems to me that most major religions are very peaceful – Christianity, Buddhism, Islam. Isn't the whole point just to be a good person and try to live a good life? Have good karma? It's a shame that words of bin Laden have been misconceived here in the US to represent the beliefs of all Muslims.
Growing up, I probably speak for most Americans in saying that what I knew of the Middle East I learned from news and radio clips. I was 10 when September 11th happened, and for all I knew everyone in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan was a radical terrorist. I wasn't old enough to consider why they might be angry or process the fact that not all Muslims are like that. The lecture on Thursday definitely helped.
I am glad that today in class this issue was brought up, and Sam explained the mentality Muslims have and why we act the way we do. Also I am glad you have a Muslim husband so you have a better understanding of the religion of Islam and what it is. When I see Osama Bin Laden and other people around him on TV I feel they are the ones degrading our religion by spreading the wrong message, nowhere in the religion of Islam does it say killing innocent people is okay. When I turn on the TV and see channels like CNN using terms like Jihad and say it means holy war, which it doesn’t it means to struggle I ask myself are these people stupid or is it just there their lack of knowledge about the religion, Islam is the religion of peace and again nowhere does it say killing innocent people is right. I am glad that you having a Muslim husband and you know that Islam is not preaching what people like Osama Bin Laden are showing to the rest of the world as Islam. Overall I am glad that in class today hopefully the class got to understand and actually put themselves in the seats of the Middle Eastern people, and understand the perspective of what people in Iraq or Afghanistan see Americans as. All I have to say is that I am not a fan of people who kill innocent people and use the name of Allah in it.
I agree with you, as will most other muslims, about how Osama Bin Laden and people who "follow" him have given Islam such a bad reputation. And like you said, Islam is the religion of peace and nowhere does it tell its followers to indulge in any sort of violence. A lot of people are misled into believing that Islam is exactly what the "terrorists" portray it to be because of all the stuff that is shown on television. It's very sad to see that stations like BBC and CNN do not know what they are talking about when they describe Jihad as "holy war" etc, because they're supposed to be "credible" resources, but really, they have no idea what they're saying – all they're doing is provoking a lot of muslims. Islam is not what they tell you it is on television, and definitely not what the terrorists show it to be. I'm glad that Sam is doing lectures about this – they may be helping some people, they may not be, but definitely, something is better than nothing, because, really, I don't see a way that people can be taught about it as a group when credible resources like CNN and BBC are wrong themselves.
You made one extremely good comments in your video. You stated that "whatever you call it, Allah or God; it is still the same thing. I believe that a lot of Americans do not that they serve the same God, just in a different way. People mostly believe "Allah" is some different entity, while is just the Arabic for the word "God" in English. Even one of the leader of the Pentagon, our powerhouse of security said that "our God is greater than theirs". This just show how much stupidity still exist in the so called greatest country in the world. Osama Bin Laden is not a Muslim. Why, because he do not follow the rules of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace and do not encourage violence against innocent people. However, of course our media will address him as a Muslim. It just a way to turn the people against the reality of Islam, and it seems to be working,
I feel that when people think about Muslim’s they group them into one single category; which is the radical one and they believe that they all believe in and follow Osama Bin Laden. It’s sad that it has to be this way because there are plenty of Muslim’s that are peaceful and are against the war and against all of the beliefs of Bin Laden. But Americans can’t seem to get past all the media representations of these radical Muslim’s killing American soldiers with guns. In my own personal experience it took me actually working with Muslim’s to realize that there are plenty of peaceful Muslims who are against the war and Osama Bin Laden.
I’m glad you shared this with us. I think that many people, including myself thought that most people of the Muslim faith were all the same. Through this last class however, I realize how different these people really are. It opened up a whole new box for me. I feel as though now I really understand that there is a huge difference. The thing that pushed me over the edge was when Sam told us to pretend that we were Muslims. He showed us videos of Christian Americans that were extremely misrepresentative of that group of people. That is exactly what I am like towards Muslims. I’ve only ever gotten bits and pieces of information. I never really knew how different Muslims could be from each other. Now I see how much we don’t understand each other because of a few people extremely misrepresenting Christianity or Islam.
I haven't looked up any polling information on the subject but I'm sure most Muslims are moderates, and I hope that most people realize this. However, I do think that some people of Arab descent would still likely sympathize with the cause of the extremist, not because of the religious aspect, but instead because of the injustices done to the Arab people. As Sam stated in class, America is exploiting their land, and it is Muslims and people of Arab descent who are likely aware of this fact. I'm not really sure what I am trying to say, maybe I'm just trying to point out that it is not all about religion. It is a political war, that is often justified through religion, but it really isn't a religious war. People connect Islam to the war, but it is also about geo-political boundries, resources, culture, and various other things that are really behind the war and the mistrust of our groups.
Grouping people together in categories is the real issue here. This girl’s husband is just a person. He is a human being who has become who he is today through his family, experiences, cultures, and religions. But aside from everything, he is just a guy just like anyone else. You cannot say that all Muslims are out to kill Americans. That’s one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever heard. The fact that people fear all Muslims or Arabs because of 9-11 or a suicide bombing or something of the sort, is simply asinine. Being Muslim or Arab is just a common trait between this girl’s husband and Osama Bin Laden. The common trait between them is not malicious intent or killing Americans; it’s the fact that they are both Muslim. Where do people make the connection of malicious intent?
Think of this all as if you are a white redneck from Kentucky. You are a perfectly kind and caring person, with two sisters, a mother, and a father. You are very gracious of other people and respectful to nearly everyone, as long as they provide you with respect as well. Now, consider that a boy you went to high school with, whom is a white redneck much like yourself, decided to highjack a plane and fly it into the world trade center.
Now, would you immediately consider yourself a malicious person with intent to harm others? Would people in society look at all white rednecks and think to themselves, “oh, I shouldn’t go by him, he may want to kill me”. If that is the case, then all hope is lost. If we as a world are no longer looking at individuals anymore, but are instead racially profiling and stereotyping all of the time, then there is no hope left at all. However, I do not think that everyone does that; I think the stupid people who are amazingly narrow-minded do that. But you need to look at everything from a couple of different points of view.
If you think of everything in the way you usually would, and then you proceed to think about it in the exact opposite of your original opinion or idea, you will learn a lot more about your topic or subject. So, going back to this girl’s husband, I hope that he can realize this as well. Just because someone is like you, it does not mean that their actions are your actions. Everyone can make any decisions they want. At the end of the day, when it is all said and done, all that you have is yourself. Everything else is just an add-on, but an individual can always do whatever they see as fit, it’s something important to remember.
Wow. I wonder what was going through her mind throughout this class period. I was trying to think from a Muslim point of view throughout the class period but there is really know way that I could know what it really feels like to be a Muslim. I do not know any Muslim people very personally, I am not very knowledgeable on the subject of the Muslim faith or the Muslim people. But what I just felt was bad. I felt bad for the people but this is the reality. This is what is going on. As sad as it is to say that.
To the girl in the video: thank you for sharing this with us.
It’s unfair to have a whole group of people represented by a few extremists. It’s even worse, I think, when it’s a group that claims to be “fighting” on behalf of a religious belief. There are so many ways to interpret any kind of religion that one small sect cannot represent the entire contingent of followers. But sadly, that’s what happens, due to a human fear of the unknown and a general disinterest to be proven wrong in one’s perception of a people. We like it when we’re right, and we like it even more when our assumptions are correct because then we can say “I told you so”.
I don’t like that your husband is bombarded by things like that, misrepresenting his beliefs. For anyone to see that, whether they are Christians, Muslims, or Pagans (like me), it’s not easy to take it sitting down. When I see things that are so extreme and just wrong in fatual information, whatever they are, I want to just punch the person spreading the misconceptions. Sometimes I feel like that’s the only thing that will stop people from spreading lies: physical violence. But then I remember that the person I’m mad at can crush me with their fist or has enough extremist followers to crush me that way.
One thing that I try to do in particular, on campus, is to tell people what Paganism is. Recently, I gave a presentation at the library on campus to a small audience about the differences between Paganism and witchcraft, because the common misconception is that they are the same thing. They’re completely separate and different in their own ways. But that’s something that the group I’m involved with, Silver Circle, tries to do.
Also, I feel like if we educate children when they’re young, and actually talk about religion in a secular setting, we would enable them to learn about so many other things. A lot of practices, politics, and life in general are dictated by what higher power (or lack thereof) that we believe in.
But seeing something you love, your religion, slandered and represented wrongly on television everyday in the news and in other media is hurtful and causes a lot of pain. Most of the time, it would probably just make you feel helpless if you hear it enough. It seems like your husband might feel this way, but I don’t want to assume that I could know how he feels. I just hope that one day he won’t have to feel that way anymore.
As I said earlier in this post, people don’t like to be wrong. Being wrong can make people feel like they’re stupid, but it’s really not a matter of intelligence all the time. It’s a matter of doing your research. We don’t seem to encourage learning just for the sake of learning here in the US. That’s something that I want to change, if not in my classroom, then with my own children.
I think that is really the overall problem with religion. It was something created in part out of fear and in part looking for answers. It is good that people can find something to believe in that comforts them and at least kind of gives them a set of rules I guess you could call them to live by. The problem is when people have major differences in these religious beliefs the disagreements can be very dangerous. People don't want to hear that something they basically live by is wrong or in a way not real. Especially when this is something so important to them. I wouldn't want to hear that one of the most important aspects of my life is a joke. I would take serious offense to that and would probably fight whoever said that.
I think it is a shame that people are perceived and looked at in a certain way because of huge figures like Osama bin Laden. These Muslims will never really be looked at as equal when living in this country because there is such a negative image of them because of past experiences. I cannot really blame people for not looking at them the same because of what has happened in this country. It sucks that because one person does awful things that anyone like him is looked at the same way. Everyone is different and just because your Muslim does not make you a bad person.
I agree with you on this statement. I think it is really sad that many of us see all Muslims as people like Osama bin Laden. This religion in general has gotten a very bad reputation because of Jihad and their actions. I do not think we should be putting the blame of the attacks of September eleventh on all the people of the Middle Eastern countries. We do not know a lot about this part of the world so we generalize. Like you said just because a person is Muslim he or she should not be looked down upon.
This is the idea that I think a lot of Americans and Westerners in general need to understand. It is so easy to sit in our little world and claim that we are the good guy and everyone over there is the bad guy. If people took the time to educate themselves, this world would be a lot better off. I studied abroad in Spain for 4 months. In those 4 months, I changed so many stereotypes about people for the better and it opened my eyes to other views in the world. I think it should be required for every college student to spend time in a foreign country to educate themselves. Imagine if groups of Americans went to the Middle East and groups of Middle Easterners came here?
I think that everyone needs to see this video because a lot of people are ignorant to the fact that Osama does not represent the entire muslim population. The amount of racial profiling that goes on in our country is pathetic. I feel for the people who have to go through that every single day. It's obvious that Bin Laden doesn't give a shit about his faith because if he did, he wouldn't put his fellow brothers and sisters in that kind of light.
I understand what you are saying and it is truly terrible for people to just automatically associate Osama Bin Laden and his actions with the muslim faith, especially since there are so many different types of muslim faiths and so many different people who follow the muslim religion. Yet it is the same with this as it is with just about everything else. People always associate stereotypes of groups with everybody in that group whether it applies to them or not and it is quite a shame that that happens but there isn't really much we can do. People just have to be open minded and accepting of others and not just immediately judge them when they first see them.
I think this girl presents a good perspective to the ignorance of many people. I'm sure there are a lot of people who think that what Osama Bin Ladin represents is the same thing that all Muslim people believe. This is very much not the case. As with any religion, there are radicals who claim to represent a certain group, but don't necessarily think or behave as the majority of the group does. There have definitely been Christians in the past, and there are currently Christians that don't act the same way as the majority and are public figureheads, very similar to Bin Laden.
I completely agree with this woman. It is awful that people in the world think that all Muslims are about Jihad and killing innocent people and taking down America. It simply is not true. Living in America as a Muslim is certainly not an easy thing to do nowadays. People see a turban or a burka and immediately think the worst things that anyone can possibly think. We need to realize as people that Osama Bin Laden does not represent the entire Muslim faith. In fact he represents the smallest portion of radical ass holes that are so deeply confused and disturbed that they try to use their own faith as an excuse. There is no excuse for what they are doing.
This is a great comment! I’m glad that someone who is personally intertwined with the Muslim religion spoke up and said how they view the radical Muslims. I think it is important for us as United States citizens to realize that not all Muslims are like Osama bin Laden. That’s also like saying, not all Americans are like George W. Bush. Not matter what culture or religion we identify with, there is unfortunately going to always be those radicals. As a Christian, I was appalled at the vacation Bible school boot camp that Sam showed in class. I found it incredibly insulting that there are people out there giving a bad name to the religion that I live by. I think that by this woman saying that her husband doesn’t identify with Osama bin Laden even though he is Muslim, is an important fact that we should all remember.
I think this is a really interesting comment because I think it shows how ignorant many of us are. We have a tendency in the United States to group people together based on their looks, religion, etc. The majority of Muslims are not like Osama Bin Laden, nor do they believe the same way he does, yet we just assume. For example, even in the airports, I still see extra background checks on Middle Eastern men and women just because they are dressed a certain way, so they are automatically assumed "suspicious." We have to remember that everyone is different and not one view or person represents an entire group of people.
It is not hard to understand what this student is saying. Within every race, religious group, economic status, you name it, there are those outliers and extremists that draw all of the attention and yet have the least support within the respected groups. I think that this lesson can be applied to so many things in life simply because what you see is not always what you get. The “normal” and common, non-extreme people are not going to be the ones that make the news or the front page of the paper. It will more than likely always be those who have gone over the top in some way or another, that most people in that group feel is not a good representation of what they stand for. It just sucks to know that so many people don’t “get this.” They don’t take it and remember it and keep it as a tool under their belt, preparing themselves for other encounters throughout life. Some of us let it go in one ear and out the other. But the key is, the sooner we open our ears and listen, the easier it will be to appreciate others. It’s probably much harder to put the guards down than to keep them up forever. But that’s what this is all about, taking the hard way out to make the future easier.
I agree! I do not think Osama Bin Laden is a terrorist because he is Islamic. He is just a bad person. No matter what religion or God we worship, all religious people believe in being a good person, and that is obviously not what Bin Laden is about. I think it is crucial that we stop pinpointing terrorists based on religion. All religions are united in some way based on everyone’s belief in the afterlife. No matter how different the religion, they all are based on the idea of living you life as a good person, following in the footsteps of a higher power. It is unfair to look at Osama Bin Laden and think that all Islamic people are what he represents.
I can understand why you husband "dies a little" when he sees how Muslim culture is portrayed through the media. These discussions just lead back to "don't judge a book by it's cover." The cover would be all the idiots that represent us in a bad way. That's what people do, they judge before they meet and so that is why there are so many misunderstandings and in the big world, they lead to war. War can be prevented if people talk but I saw a documentary about war and it talked about how the U.S gets an economy booster after every war and I feel like that may be why we're at war and I'm sure it's for oil as well.
I can only sympathize with what this woman’s husband must feel, to have your religion associated with men of such violence. It’s not fair in any sense of the word. I mean, it’s nothing new for perfectly peaceful religions to be poorly represented. Look at Pat Robertson, if I were on the outside looking in and thought Pat Robertson was typical of Christians I’d think they were all crazy too. It’s especially sad to see the support some of these men have. Certainly the more mundane crazies like Robertson are a more successful at amassing a following, but radical muslims aren’t without support themselves. Honestly I can’t levy the responsibility on the followers to do anything, any muslim in their right mind probably already distances themselves. Really I think the problem lies in the media who seems fit to throw these extremists in our faces 24/7.
I think that it is really upsetting what Osama Bin laden did and it is not fair that we should be against Islam. I think that just because of what he thought of America, doesn’t mean that everyone thinks that in his country. It is just so terrible that we have to fight over oil and maybe eventually we will all realize it’s not worth it to kill so many lives. One day I hope for there to be no war in the world and we will have peace. I think that we may one day realize we are all the same just because we have different beliefs doesn’t mean anything, it’s all the same.
I agree with this post. Allah and God are the same. I have recently started saying ‘OMA’ instead of ‘OMG’ to emphasize my feelings on this subject to my friends. We all feel that the way we think is right. This is a natural borne thing to every person in the world. We are all egocentric and it is hard to realize it in most cases. We all think we have the best personality, the best family, our group of friends is the funniest, but everybody else in the world has these same feelings of superiority. I feel that this closely parallels how we all feel about religion. We all see religion as a black and white type of phenomena that has specific rules and regulations one must obey to be a true Christian/Buddhist/Muslim, but what if all of our gods are the same person? What if the extra rules and regulations are all man-made? It is hard to consider ourselves as in the wrong, but with recent views on this war, I feel that we should all consider ourselves in the wrong. My opinion on religion is that if one is going to believe in something, whether it is different than or the same as what you yourself believe in, they should be respected. We are all under this mindset of being right and never wrong, but if we look around at the world, we are all wrong.
To go along with what this girl said about her husband being very against the beliefs Osama Bin Laden has, many people don’t realize that he is not voicing the opinions of the masses. He has his own beliefs and a small group of followers. There are so many other people that believe in the Muslim religion who do not follow the words of Osama Bin Laden.
I think it's human nature to remember people for their wrongdoings more so than their positive qualities. In the case of Osama Bin Laden, the average American does not know much about the Islam faith and therefore generalizes his horrible actions onto everyone of his religion. Obviously Osama Bin Laden is not a "spokesperson" for Muslims, rather a radical extremist. It is neither fair nor intelligent of us to characterize every Muslim similarly, just as we as Americans would not want to be characterized like members of the Ku Klux Klan. I admit I'm no scholar on the Islam faith, but I know it is a beautiful religion that deserves to be recognized as so.
This is one of the few posts that I was happy to see. Unfortunately the other people commenting on this post went the route of we are all the same people, all one, should all love each other, but still does not take away from the original point of the post. I think what the girl in the video was trying to get across was that her husband is unfairly grouped in this category of radical Muslims and terrorism just because he is Muslim. I think it goes without saying that this is unfair and completely wrong. I found it interesting that the girl said her husband died a little inside every time he saw Bin Laden. This shows that her husband understands the world’s misconception about Muslims and often, albeit wrongly, associates Bin Laden as the poster boy for all Muslims.
On the other hand, it cannot be ignored that many of the conflicts, both present and past, that plague world history deal with Muslims fighting against other religions. Eventually, even if the Muslims are right, the world comes to see the entire Muslim people as the “little brother” who keeps getting picked on in a hypothetical family. He cannot stand up for himself against some of his “big brothers” and so he keeps seeking out help, but eventually this cry for help becomes too burdensome and instead of gauging the need these people are ignored.
It should be said that not everyone associates Bin Laden with being the voice of Muslims. I feel that a majority of individuals, especially in the United States, have come to the realization that Bin Laden represents an extreme minority of Muslims who hold extremist radical views. Muslims cannot be held responsible for what a select few crazy individuals do. Sometimes in this world some people are just genuinely nuts. Had there been a reverse situation, I would certainly not want to be blamed for the actions of a crazy American or Jew just because we shared a similar background or religion.
If there is one thing I would hope to get through with this blog it would be that the best way to fight ignorance such as blaming all Muslims for the actions of Bin Laden is through intelligence and learning. If the average person could just be educated enough to know about the different beliefs and opinions of others then problems such as this can be avoided. Unfortunately, this is a rather unrealistic solution to this global problem since there are a number of things people still need to be educated about, and more importantly most people don’t care enough to learn about this. For now the best any Muslim can do, in my opinion, is to be as good a person as possible, maybe even more so than the average person, to start laying down the groundwork for a change in national and global perception of your people.
I'm from Bombay, India and I am a Hindu. Since the early 90's there have been many riots in my city between Hindu's and Muslim's. I have been brought up in circumstances where everyone around me really hates Muslims. I personally believe in the philosophy of one god and would not like to discriminate anyone on the basis on religion. Islam is one of biggest religions in the world, u cant really account the actions of a minority of people to set the image for the entire religion.
I can understand why her husband dies a little inside whenever he sees someone of his faith doing things that are terrible like Osama Bin Laden. Its the same way for me when I see someone that I could identify with, or someone that other people identify with me, that does something wrong and is shunned by the world. It is probably to a much greater degree than me because not much is known about Muslim culture by most Americans. I know it's not right but when most Americans hear the words Islam or Muslim, they immediately think about terrorists. It is a big problem, and it's a shame that a lot of good people are unfairly treated because of a few radicals, but I don't really know what can be done to fix it. I mean if it were possible for a world wide PR campaign to make everyone understand what Islam is really all about, then I'd suggest doing it. But who has the resources for something like that? Bottom line is the Islamic radicals and terrorists have ruined the image of Muslims everywhere and people need to know that its not true of everyone.
I think that what this girl said is a very good thing. It pains me to see when people constantly generalize Arab looking people and immediately call them out and think that they are radical and are going to blow themselves up. You know, my uncle was once called a “terrorist piece of shit” out in Michigan shortly following 9/11. My family isn’t even Arab, we’re Italian so naturally darker complected with darker features. That’s when you know things have gone wrong. I’m also happy that in class we saw the slides and watched the videos of that church in the Dakotas. That right there shows a lot about Americans and our never dying hypocrisy.
I am glad that this perspective was shard on this website. I mean, most of us know that that is not what Muslims represent, the extremists, etc. But there are a few ignorant people out there that see bin Laden and group every Muslim to be like him. Hell, people even group all brown people to be like him, ignorant people, that is. One of my best friends is Muslim and of course I know how she practices her religion, and it is not by blowing things up. Your husband should be comforted by the fact that there are people out who do not have their heads up their asses and they know how real Muslims practice their religion.
I used to be guilty of generalizing a group of people based on the actions and words of even just one person in that group. Although I knew it was wrong and I knew that not all are like that person, the thought still did cross my mind, unfortunately. One evil person does not count for all of the people in the same religion or culture. It’s just that the bad is what we look for, and all of the good things are looked through as if they don’t make up for the chaos that the other one caused. I hope that your husband doesn’t get any hate for this.
There are very few people who are recognized in the world for living normal lives. In order to be acknowledged and known to the world you have to be an extremist. There has to be something about your life and your actions that set you apart from everyone else in order for it to be news. This creates a feeling of uncertainty and biases towards certain groups of people. Every country is going to report when there was a major event in another country, not just when everything is running smoothly. Average people rarely show up on the news, especially not on international news. This girl’s husband is one of those normal people who is practicing his religion. He was brought up to be of the Islamic faith just as many of us were brought up to live as a Christian. Most of us do not question our religions or follow the teachings to the word absolutely and consistently. There are just as many crazy Christians in the world, but because we are surrounded by normal Christian families it is easy to realize who the radical people are. They are not part of the majority. Muslims have the same issues. There are always going to be people who take their religion to the extreme and follow their holy book word for word. Unfortunately when you do this you find that there are many different interpretations of holy books and what they are really trying to represent. Everyone takes away something different from what is written. Then you have those who feel that it is their responsibility to make everyone around them and even people on the other side of the world believe what they believe. They need to save them from the wrong path. This way of thinking is pretentious and arrogant. As the girl in the video said, Allah or God or whatever you worship they are all the same. You may feel that your religion is the only religion, but there has to be some part of your mind telling you that there is a chance you are wrong. When people are missing this part of their conscious thinking, they decide to destroy those who are not following their path. When these people are broadcasted on the news they become the representative for that religion to people who have no other experience with it. There is always going to be an association made and they are hard to ignore. This is why people like the girl’s husband die a little inside when they see Osama bin Laden. They know that this terrible person is going to be the representative of their beloved religion to all those who are not familiar with it.
Its very hard to grow out of stereotyping the Muslim faith. people see Osama bin Laden, and automatically connect them with terrorists. that was a huge issue when 9-11 came around. people don't see good people, they see problems all the time. its like tunnel vision. just like how we saw the United States Marines messing around with the locals, and how Sam clearly put it. They are just a bunch of nuckle heads that don't know any better. it goes both ways, they are just a bunch of nuckle heads that don't know the proper way to spread the word of their god. It happens, people are afraid of what is different.
I think this is really reassuring for people of the west because I think that often people characterize muslims under the same category are Osama BIn Laden or Saddam Hussein because we are often quick to judge as a result of them. I know that when I hear about muslim culture those are the first two people I think of. I like the fact that what Sam was saying had some truth to it. I was worried that he was just on one of his tangents to shock me but really if muslims feel that way about the people of their culture that we despise the most then i think that gives me more faith in the muslim culture as a whole.
I feel bad for her husband and the other Muslims who have to deal with these generalizations. I think a lot of it is the media's portrayal of the religion. You never hear anything about the peaceful messages in the Qur' an or about the correlations between The Bible and The Qur' an. The only passages you ever see are the ones talking about" waging war against the infidels". Unfortunately, this is what the majority of the public sees and what the majority of Muslims who are peaceful are subjected to. The best I can say to her husband is that it's ok, we don't all see Muslims that way. I know it must be hard on him to have to see images like that and to see his people portrayed that way.
I really never thought much about how deep the feelings toward Osama Bin Laden run in a lot of Muslims I do have friends that are Muslim and I know that they don’t support him but we have never talked about their specific feelings toward him. I can understand how the feelings could run so deep. When a lot of Americans see any radical Muslim they see all Muslims and Arabs not the individual person. When a lot of Americans see a radical Christian leader they tend to see that person as radical not all of Christianity. I think this is because most Americans either are Christians or have a better understanding of Christianity than they do of Islam. I personally have generalized Muslims It took me a while to realize just how crazy this was I don’t think it was until I was in Iraq and got the chance to meet a lot of different Arabs that were both Muslim and Christian and also Kurdish people and it did change my outlook on an entire population and realize that there are individual people that do not speak for an entire people.
This is a great example of how a certain religious or national leader can misrepresent an entire nation or faith. The way that someone such as Osama Bin Laden is able to represent an entire religious group to those of us who don't understand or know anything about Islam is not only wrong but dangerous. I can't imagine how this woman's husband must feel seeing bin Laden saying such things and then having American's like us think that that's how the entire religion works. Also I agree with the statement that no matter what religion you are or what god you worship, it's really all the same and our goals are truly exactly the same, live a good life and earn your way to heaven or whatever your religion might believe about life after death.
I definitely think that Americans, and and Western Europeans in general, generalize about Muslims, Arabs, Islamics, and everything else. It's just in our nature to generalize and stereotype; However, that does not make it correct. Especially when these generalizations and stereotypes transform into hate and violence. I mean, Osama Bin Laden lead an attack on the twin towers and killed thousands of American citizen, it's hard to not "feel some sort of way" about that. So I can "understand" why Americans generalize and stereotype people of the middle east. And people of the middle east, generalize and stereotype about Americans and Westerners. Like I said, I think it is just simply in our nature. Though, Americans and Muslims alike need to acknowledge this nature of generalizing, and learn more about what is really going on between us. If we all atleast try to understand people of different cultures, we may not so easily jump to radical conclusions and actions.
Its a shame what has happened to the Muslim society as a whole at cause to radical Muslims. Nowadays, when the word Muslim is mentioned people automatically or sometimes thinks of terrorism and bombs. Its crazy walking through an airport and when people see Muslims, dudes especially, they do the sign of the cross of say some prayer. I think it is uncalled for. Sure most bombings were done by people of Muslim background but that doesn't mean everyone is a bomber or terrorist. Its just stereotypes that we collect and movies don't make things any better. No all Muslims are bad and not all at good. There will always be a sour apple in any group. We just need to take that and stop treating the good ones with disrespect. The only problem in that we don't know how to sort the good one from the bad.
I also agree. Most Muslims do not hold the radical beliefs that we hear about on the news and are very rational, peaceful people. You always hear about the extremists because they are the ones who are causing the most upset, whether it be by force or movement. It is a shame that the general population comes to the thought that all Muslims must be violent or terrorists just because a few individuals hold these extremist beliefs. I have no doubt there are many Muslims and Muslim-Americans who hold the same sentiments towards Osama Bin Laden that a white American holds.
You can’t blame an entire group of people for one individual acts. It is not logical and it not fair. Who wouldn’t “die inside” every time the media portrays “your people” out to spiteful murderers who have nothing else on their minds but to kill? I honestly think that our ignorance fuels this. Like we saw in class, we know only what we see and hear through the media. It is a shame how misinformed everyone is because the media has created Muslims out to be extremist terrorists and that we cannot trust any of them.
I can understand that people forget that Muslim is a faith and all faiths have strong believers that do good for their faith and ones that do evil in the name of the faith simply so they can get followers Osama is a man who manipulates people into believing that they are doing god/Allah's work and we all know that is not the way of the Muslim people as a whole. we are seen around the world as fat lazy Americans because of our T.V. shows and yet we know that's not true. the idea that Osama is the archetype of his faith is a massive disservice to the Muslim faith. if you are Christian would you want the world to look at Hitler as an archetype of Christian faith for his hatred of the Jewish faith. I think not.
I completely agree with you, we are all the same. I don’t believe at all that one religion and culture has it right, that one culture is supporting and following the right way at all. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely believe that there is an ultimate purpose and a god, but the question is who is that god, and ultimately why are we here? Shouldn’t it all be to be good people no matter who you’re following? We’re all completely the same and so is our theories about the life after, before, and during when you put aside all of the details that don’t matter. Just believe.
I actually can understand what she is saying because I know Muslims who have said that this is not what is taught. This is not what Islam is all about. This is why when Sam says they are fighting a war against Christians I have to disagree. I do agree with one thing Sam said, it is all about power. Power and Religion are two different things, and should not be viewed as one. If we all knew what the Muslim religion entailed we would not believe that. I have never heard a single Muslim person who was not a radical say, I need to kill in the name of Allah. So I hate the stigma that is being attached to the religion because of what those misguided people did to our country on September 11, 2001, and to countries across the world. That is not Islam, that is hate and thirst for control.
I totally understand this sentiment…and it definitely sucks. I think it is so ignorant when someone sees a person of a specific group and then assume that they represent everyone that belongs to that group. I have plenty of Muslim friends and they are obviously nothing like Osama or Saddam. It is really unfair that these amazing people are represented so poorly, but when you think about it, people are represented poorly all over the world. I mean, look at how Americans are portrayed in different parts of the world. We’re usually seen as either rich, fat pigs or scantily dressed sluts.
I get that not all Muslims are terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslim. The problem is that some Muslims interpret the Quran in a different way, concluding that they need to stop corruption in the world and tell everyone about the Islamic religion. I know that a lot of Muslims don’t approve with that ad would rather live peacefully instead, just like in Christianity some blow up abortion clinics and some are against it. That how It is in all religions I am sure, people interpret their holy bible in different ways. I know that most Muslims are peaceful people but Osama Ben laden and the terrorist attacks don’t help at all.
Some Muslim is extremists but some are normal people the problem with the extremists is that they go too far on mass murder sprees or suicidal bombing locations which is true for any religion. Catholic religion has known to have some extremists who have done a lot of damage to other people, killing many. The best way for Muslim to resolve some of their issue would be to fix their Qur’an so that if a person does not want to convert to Muslim that they don't have to be killed. But the difference between our culture and theirs is the rights of each of the people here are different than there. Here we have women's rights; there women's rights are very limited. There are faults for every religion but the best way to deal with them is to find a peaceful resolution both sides can agree to.
After the lecture on Thursday, I can understand why some Muslims would decide to help with the insurgency. When we voted whether we would join after hearing the lecture, I voted that I probably would support the insurgency from the Middle East. At the beginning of class, when Sam posted a question on the front projection screen asking what we think about the radicals who commit terroristic acts, I responded by saying that I think they are mislead. . I get really frustrated when I hear people talk about Islam being some crazy violent religion. I do not think that the Muslim religion is some crazy, radical violent religion…and I think a lot of Americans are ignorant to that fact that the religion is not based on those aspects. I think that many people are uninformed of the fact that Islam and other religions like Christianity and Judaism are closely related. For example, both religions are monotheistic. Islam worships Allah, which means God in Arabic. Christians also worship God! Also, both religions believe that a messiah ascended to heaven. Although the messiah ascended to heaven in different ways, the beliefs are extremely similar here. Both Islam and Christianity believe in a second coming of Yeshua (Jesus Christ). After death, both religions believe that an individual is sent either to Heaven/Paradise or Hell…the only difference here would be that Catholics believe in a third, temporary state, Purgatory. I do not think this is a war based solely on religion…obviously there is the whole oil issue. I honestly do not follow the issue surrounding oil that often, but I think if the United States focused on creating another form of fuel, our country would not be so dependent on oil in the Middle East. The wider spread use of different systems of energy could possibly ease up the situation a bit. Not being so dependent on the oil would mean less interference in the area. A lot of our problems today with the Middle East I think are due to the United States’ support of the state of Israel in 1948. As previously mentioned in the beginning, I can understand why Middle Easterners would easily support the insurgency. Sam said that many do not support it, which is nice to hear, but like I said, I can see why someone might want to support it. If we lived in the Middle East and were shown only negative images of the United States, I would not think that the United States was so great. Americans might be shown to be just as cruel. In the end, I just wish there was some way where we could all coexist peacefully. Hopefully in the near future that will occur. Lastly, I would just like to say that I pray for those who are in the military fighting in this war and I pray for their families.
The mentality Muslims have is very similar to the mentality we have. It is us against them. They feel that they are being attacked by a single race and single religion and we feel the same way. This hatred is driven by fear. We feel unsafe especially after being attacked and it makes the country as a whole feel safer when we have extensive military over in the middle east. If there was military here everywhere I walked shooting innocent civilians I would hate not only them but who they represent as a whole. This would make me hate an entire group of people with out even knowing them. This seems to be understandable basic human instinct.
I think that people blow the whole situation out of proportion. There are many Muslim extremists, but there are just as many Christian extremists. People make a bigger deal about the Muslim extremists, such as Osama Bin Laden, because the news and media seem to publicize them more. The media never seems to make any commotion over Christian and Jewish extremists. Additionally, the majority of Muslim people are not extremists, rather they are purely following their religion much like those who are Christian. Furthermore, the God that Muslim people believe in is the exact same God that Christians believe in, they just know him by a different name.
I think these feelings are natural. Osama Bin Laden gave a horrible name to Muslims. I think that it is a problem in our society that we associate one person’s wrong doings with a whole country. I will admit that after the events on 9/11 that I associated most Muslims with the terrible events that happened to the people in this country. Our society sets it up for us to think that way. Of course not all Muslims have the same ideals as he did, most do not. But when the news only reports the bad side, that is all we see and it is easy for us to feel hatred. It is the same in their country how most of what they see on the news is radicals, while most of us in the United States are not.
I believe everyone is the same, just with different cultures, and it's neat how this girls husband is Muslim and she is actually able to tell us how he feels about Osama Bin Laden, because the way the whole culture is portrayed isn't how it is to everyone of the Muslim culture. Everyone is the same person, all living people, and that is how it should be.
It really is all the same. We're all just people with beating hearts. Geography separates our beliefs, cultures, customs, but on the inside we're exactly the same. Osama bin Laden did a horrible thing and then ran away to hide from it all. Unfortunately, Americans now point the blame at all the people who happen to be of his race and ethnicity. One bad apple spoils the bunch. People are always going to judge. We judge individuals, and we judge groups of populations based off of first impressions by these individuals. Americans may look at the Islam culture with fear and resentment, but they are doing the same thing back to us. Ethnocentrism is bringing us one step closer to peace among our races, among people no different on the inside.
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jholzberg8 Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
I won’t try and say that I have never done so or am above this in any way, but Americans really do tend to generalize Muslims based on Osama bin Laden’s actions. Osama bin Laden did something horrible, and has ran away from it for the past 9 years leaving the rest of the world to pick up the pieces. However, generalizing Muslims has only led to further hatred between Americans and Muslims because we assume that everyone is the same. But that is ridiculous. Osama bin Laden is one very radical example of a man who hates our country. Yet there are millions of Muslims living in America who are anti-bin Laden and peace-loving citizens of our country.
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flippyfloppies Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 1:42 am
We really are all the same. It seems to me that most major religions are very peaceful – Christianity, Buddhism, Islam. Isn't the whole point just to be a good person and try to live a good life? Have good karma? It's a shame that words of bin Laden have been misconceived here in the US to represent the beliefs of all Muslims.
Growing up, I probably speak for most Americans in saying that what I knew of the Middle East I learned from news and radio clips. I was 10 when September 11th happened, and for all I knew everyone in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan was a radical terrorist. I wasn't old enough to consider why they might be angry or process the fact that not all Muslims are like that. The lecture on Thursday definitely helped.
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I am glad that today in class this issue was brought up, and Sam explained the mentality Muslims have and why we act the way we do. Also I am glad you have a Muslim husband so you have a better understanding of the religion of Islam and what it is. When I see Osama Bin Laden and other people around him on TV I feel they are the ones degrading our religion by spreading the wrong message, nowhere in the religion of Islam does it say killing innocent people is okay. When I turn on the TV and see channels like CNN using terms like Jihad and say it means holy war, which it doesn’t it means to struggle I ask myself are these people stupid or is it just there their lack of knowledge about the religion, Islam is the religion of peace and again nowhere does it say killing innocent people is right. I am glad that you having a Muslim husband and you know that Islam is not preaching what people like Osama Bin Laden are showing to the rest of the world as Islam. Overall I am glad that in class today hopefully the class got to understand and actually put themselves in the seats of the Middle Eastern people, and understand the perspective of what people in Iraq or Afghanistan see Americans as. All I have to say is that I am not a fan of people who kill innocent people and use the name of Allah in it.
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keane Reply:
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I agree with you, as will most other muslims, about how Osama Bin Laden and people who "follow" him have given Islam such a bad reputation. And like you said, Islam is the religion of peace and nowhere does it tell its followers to indulge in any sort of violence. A lot of people are misled into believing that Islam is exactly what the "terrorists" portray it to be because of all the stuff that is shown on television. It's very sad to see that stations like BBC and CNN do not know what they are talking about when they describe Jihad as "holy war" etc, because they're supposed to be "credible" resources, but really, they have no idea what they're saying – all they're doing is provoking a lot of muslims. Islam is not what they tell you it is on television, and definitely not what the terrorists show it to be. I'm glad that Sam is doing lectures about this – they may be helping some people, they may not be, but definitely, something is better than nothing, because, really, I don't see a way that people can be taught about it as a group when credible resources like CNN and BBC are wrong themselves.
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akeem10 Reply:
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 pm
You made one extremely good comments in your video. You stated that "whatever you call it, Allah or God; it is still the same thing. I believe that a lot of Americans do not that they serve the same God, just in a different way. People mostly believe "Allah" is some different entity, while is just the Arabic for the word "God" in English. Even one of the leader of the Pentagon, our powerhouse of security said that "our God is greater than theirs". This just show how much stupidity still exist in the so called greatest country in the world. Osama Bin Laden is not a Muslim. Why, because he do not follow the rules of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace and do not encourage violence against innocent people. However, of course our media will address him as a Muslim. It just a way to turn the people against the reality of Islam, and it seems to be working,
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I feel that when people think about Muslim’s they group them into one single category; which is the radical one and they believe that they all believe in and follow Osama Bin Laden. It’s sad that it has to be this way because there are plenty of Muslim’s that are peaceful and are against the war and against all of the beliefs of Bin Laden. But Americans can’t seem to get past all the media representations of these radical Muslim’s killing American soldiers with guns. In my own personal experience it took me actually working with Muslim’s to realize that there are plenty of peaceful Muslims who are against the war and Osama Bin Laden.
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I’m glad you shared this with us. I think that many people, including myself thought that most people of the Muslim faith were all the same. Through this last class however, I realize how different these people really are. It opened up a whole new box for me. I feel as though now I really understand that there is a huge difference. The thing that pushed me over the edge was when Sam told us to pretend that we were Muslims. He showed us videos of Christian Americans that were extremely misrepresentative of that group of people. That is exactly what I am like towards Muslims. I’ve only ever gotten bits and pieces of information. I never really knew how different Muslims could be from each other. Now I see how much we don’t understand each other because of a few people extremely misrepresenting Christianity or Islam.
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I haven't looked up any polling information on the subject but I'm sure most Muslims are moderates, and I hope that most people realize this. However, I do think that some people of Arab descent would still likely sympathize with the cause of the extremist, not because of the religious aspect, but instead because of the injustices done to the Arab people. As Sam stated in class, America is exploiting their land, and it is Muslims and people of Arab descent who are likely aware of this fact. I'm not really sure what I am trying to say, maybe I'm just trying to point out that it is not all about religion. It is a political war, that is often justified through religion, but it really isn't a religious war. People connect Islam to the war, but it is also about geo-political boundries, resources, culture, and various other things that are really behind the war and the mistrust of our groups.
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Grouping people together in categories is the real issue here. This girl’s husband is just a person. He is a human being who has become who he is today through his family, experiences, cultures, and religions. But aside from everything, he is just a guy just like anyone else. You cannot say that all Muslims are out to kill Americans. That’s one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever heard. The fact that people fear all Muslims or Arabs because of 9-11 or a suicide bombing or something of the sort, is simply asinine. Being Muslim or Arab is just a common trait between this girl’s husband and Osama Bin Laden. The common trait between them is not malicious intent or killing Americans; it’s the fact that they are both Muslim. Where do people make the connection of malicious intent?
Think of this all as if you are a white redneck from Kentucky. You are a perfectly kind and caring person, with two sisters, a mother, and a father. You are very gracious of other people and respectful to nearly everyone, as long as they provide you with respect as well. Now, consider that a boy you went to high school with, whom is a white redneck much like yourself, decided to highjack a plane and fly it into the world trade center.
Now, would you immediately consider yourself a malicious person with intent to harm others? Would people in society look at all white rednecks and think to themselves, “oh, I shouldn’t go by him, he may want to kill me”. If that is the case, then all hope is lost. If we as a world are no longer looking at individuals anymore, but are instead racially profiling and stereotyping all of the time, then there is no hope left at all. However, I do not think that everyone does that; I think the stupid people who are amazingly narrow-minded do that. But you need to look at everything from a couple of different points of view.
If you think of everything in the way you usually would, and then you proceed to think about it in the exact opposite of your original opinion or idea, you will learn a lot more about your topic or subject. So, going back to this girl’s husband, I hope that he can realize this as well. Just because someone is like you, it does not mean that their actions are your actions. Everyone can make any decisions they want. At the end of the day, when it is all said and done, all that you have is yourself. Everything else is just an add-on, but an individual can always do whatever they see as fit, it’s something important to remember.
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Wow. I wonder what was going through her mind throughout this class period. I was trying to think from a Muslim point of view throughout the class period but there is really know way that I could know what it really feels like to be a Muslim. I do not know any Muslim people very personally, I am not very knowledgeable on the subject of the Muslim faith or the Muslim people. But what I just felt was bad. I felt bad for the people but this is the reality. This is what is going on. As sad as it is to say that.
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To the girl in the video: thank you for sharing this with us.
It’s unfair to have a whole group of people represented by a few extremists. It’s even worse, I think, when it’s a group that claims to be “fighting” on behalf of a religious belief. There are so many ways to interpret any kind of religion that one small sect cannot represent the entire contingent of followers. But sadly, that’s what happens, due to a human fear of the unknown and a general disinterest to be proven wrong in one’s perception of a people. We like it when we’re right, and we like it even more when our assumptions are correct because then we can say “I told you so”.
I don’t like that your husband is bombarded by things like that, misrepresenting his beliefs. For anyone to see that, whether they are Christians, Muslims, or Pagans (like me), it’s not easy to take it sitting down. When I see things that are so extreme and just wrong in fatual information, whatever they are, I want to just punch the person spreading the misconceptions. Sometimes I feel like that’s the only thing that will stop people from spreading lies: physical violence. But then I remember that the person I’m mad at can crush me with their fist or has enough extremist followers to crush me that way.
One thing that I try to do in particular, on campus, is to tell people what Paganism is. Recently, I gave a presentation at the library on campus to a small audience about the differences between Paganism and witchcraft, because the common misconception is that they are the same thing. They’re completely separate and different in their own ways. But that’s something that the group I’m involved with, Silver Circle, tries to do.
Also, I feel like if we educate children when they’re young, and actually talk about religion in a secular setting, we would enable them to learn about so many other things. A lot of practices, politics, and life in general are dictated by what higher power (or lack thereof) that we believe in.
But seeing something you love, your religion, slandered and represented wrongly on television everyday in the news and in other media is hurtful and causes a lot of pain. Most of the time, it would probably just make you feel helpless if you hear it enough. It seems like your husband might feel this way, but I don’t want to assume that I could know how he feels. I just hope that one day he won’t have to feel that way anymore.
As I said earlier in this post, people don’t like to be wrong. Being wrong can make people feel like they’re stupid, but it’s really not a matter of intelligence all the time. It’s a matter of doing your research. We don’t seem to encourage learning just for the sake of learning here in the US. That’s something that I want to change, if not in my classroom, then with my own children.
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Kyle_Rosenthal Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
I think that is really the overall problem with religion. It was something created in part out of fear and in part looking for answers. It is good that people can find something to believe in that comforts them and at least kind of gives them a set of rules I guess you could call them to live by. The problem is when people have major differences in these religious beliefs the disagreements can be very dangerous. People don't want to hear that something they basically live by is wrong or in a way not real. Especially when this is something so important to them. I wouldn't want to hear that one of the most important aspects of my life is a joke. I would take serious offense to that and would probably fight whoever said that.
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I think it is a shame that people are perceived and looked at in a certain way because of huge figures like Osama bin Laden. These Muslims will never really be looked at as equal when living in this country because there is such a negative image of them because of past experiences. I cannot really blame people for not looking at them the same because of what has happened in this country. It sucks that because one person does awful things that anyone like him is looked at the same way. Everyone is different and just because your Muslim does not make you a bad person.
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erika4179 Reply:
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:58 am
I agree with you on this statement. I think it is really sad that many of us see all Muslims as people like Osama bin Laden. This religion in general has gotten a very bad reputation because of Jihad and their actions. I do not think we should be putting the blame of the attacks of September eleventh on all the people of the Middle Eastern countries. We do not know a lot about this part of the world so we generalize. Like you said just because a person is Muslim he or she should not be looked down upon.
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This is the idea that I think a lot of Americans and Westerners in general need to understand. It is so easy to sit in our little world and claim that we are the good guy and everyone over there is the bad guy. If people took the time to educate themselves, this world would be a lot better off. I studied abroad in Spain for 4 months. In those 4 months, I changed so many stereotypes about people for the better and it opened my eyes to other views in the world. I think it should be required for every college student to spend time in a foreign country to educate themselves. Imagine if groups of Americans went to the Middle East and groups of Middle Easterners came here?
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I think that everyone needs to see this video because a lot of people are ignorant to the fact that Osama does not represent the entire muslim population. The amount of racial profiling that goes on in our country is pathetic. I feel for the people who have to go through that every single day. It's obvious that Bin Laden doesn't give a shit about his faith because if he did, he wouldn't put his fellow brothers and sisters in that kind of light.
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I understand what you are saying and it is truly terrible for people to just automatically associate Osama Bin Laden and his actions with the muslim faith, especially since there are so many different types of muslim faiths and so many different people who follow the muslim religion. Yet it is the same with this as it is with just about everything else. People always associate stereotypes of groups with everybody in that group whether it applies to them or not and it is quite a shame that that happens but there isn't really much we can do. People just have to be open minded and accepting of others and not just immediately judge them when they first see them.
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I think this girl presents a good perspective to the ignorance of many people. I'm sure there are a lot of people who think that what Osama Bin Ladin represents is the same thing that all Muslim people believe. This is very much not the case. As with any religion, there are radicals who claim to represent a certain group, but don't necessarily think or behave as the majority of the group does. There have definitely been Christians in the past, and there are currently Christians that don't act the same way as the majority and are public figureheads, very similar to Bin Laden.
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I completely agree with this woman. It is awful that people in the world think that all Muslims are about Jihad and killing innocent people and taking down America. It simply is not true. Living in America as a Muslim is certainly not an easy thing to do nowadays. People see a turban or a burka and immediately think the worst things that anyone can possibly think. We need to realize as people that Osama Bin Laden does not represent the entire Muslim faith. In fact he represents the smallest portion of radical ass holes that are so deeply confused and disturbed that they try to use their own faith as an excuse. There is no excuse for what they are doing.
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This is a great comment! I’m glad that someone who is personally intertwined with the Muslim religion spoke up and said how they view the radical Muslims. I think it is important for us as United States citizens to realize that not all Muslims are like Osama bin Laden. That’s also like saying, not all Americans are like George W. Bush. Not matter what culture or religion we identify with, there is unfortunately going to always be those radicals. As a Christian, I was appalled at the vacation Bible school boot camp that Sam showed in class. I found it incredibly insulting that there are people out there giving a bad name to the religion that I live by. I think that by this woman saying that her husband doesn’t identify with Osama bin Laden even though he is Muslim, is an important fact that we should all remember.
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I think this is a really interesting comment because I think it shows how ignorant many of us are. We have a tendency in the United States to group people together based on their looks, religion, etc. The majority of Muslims are not like Osama Bin Laden, nor do they believe the same way he does, yet we just assume. For example, even in the airports, I still see extra background checks on Middle Eastern men and women just because they are dressed a certain way, so they are automatically assumed "suspicious." We have to remember that everyone is different and not one view or person represents an entire group of people.
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It is not hard to understand what this student is saying. Within every race, religious group, economic status, you name it, there are those outliers and extremists that draw all of the attention and yet have the least support within the respected groups. I think that this lesson can be applied to so many things in life simply because what you see is not always what you get. The “normal” and common, non-extreme people are not going to be the ones that make the news or the front page of the paper. It will more than likely always be those who have gone over the top in some way or another, that most people in that group feel is not a good representation of what they stand for. It just sucks to know that so many people don’t “get this.” They don’t take it and remember it and keep it as a tool under their belt, preparing themselves for other encounters throughout life. Some of us let it go in one ear and out the other. But the key is, the sooner we open our ears and listen, the easier it will be to appreciate others. It’s probably much harder to put the guards down than to keep them up forever. But that’s what this is all about, taking the hard way out to make the future easier.
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I agree! I do not think Osama Bin Laden is a terrorist because he is Islamic. He is just a bad person. No matter what religion or God we worship, all religious people believe in being a good person, and that is obviously not what Bin Laden is about. I think it is crucial that we stop pinpointing terrorists based on religion. All religions are united in some way based on everyone’s belief in the afterlife. No matter how different the religion, they all are based on the idea of living you life as a good person, following in the footsteps of a higher power. It is unfair to look at Osama Bin Laden and think that all Islamic people are what he represents.
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I can understand why you husband "dies a little" when he sees how Muslim culture is portrayed through the media. These discussions just lead back to "don't judge a book by it's cover." The cover would be all the idiots that represent us in a bad way. That's what people do, they judge before they meet and so that is why there are so many misunderstandings and in the big world, they lead to war. War can be prevented if people talk but I saw a documentary about war and it talked about how the U.S gets an economy booster after every war and I feel like that may be why we're at war and I'm sure it's for oil as well.
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I can only sympathize with what this woman’s husband must feel, to have your religion associated with men of such violence. It’s not fair in any sense of the word. I mean, it’s nothing new for perfectly peaceful religions to be poorly represented. Look at Pat Robertson, if I were on the outside looking in and thought Pat Robertson was typical of Christians I’d think they were all crazy too. It’s especially sad to see the support some of these men have. Certainly the more mundane crazies like Robertson are a more successful at amassing a following, but radical muslims aren’t without support themselves. Honestly I can’t levy the responsibility on the followers to do anything, any muslim in their right mind probably already distances themselves. Really I think the problem lies in the media who seems fit to throw these extremists in our faces 24/7.
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I think that it is really upsetting what Osama Bin laden did and it is not fair that we should be against Islam. I think that just because of what he thought of America, doesn’t mean that everyone thinks that in his country. It is just so terrible that we have to fight over oil and maybe eventually we will all realize it’s not worth it to kill so many lives. One day I hope for there to be no war in the world and we will have peace. I think that we may one day realize we are all the same just because we have different beliefs doesn’t mean anything, it’s all the same.
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I agree with this post. Allah and God are the same. I have recently started saying ‘OMA’ instead of ‘OMG’ to emphasize my feelings on this subject to my friends. We all feel that the way we think is right. This is a natural borne thing to every person in the world. We are all egocentric and it is hard to realize it in most cases. We all think we have the best personality, the best family, our group of friends is the funniest, but everybody else in the world has these same feelings of superiority. I feel that this closely parallels how we all feel about religion. We all see religion as a black and white type of phenomena that has specific rules and regulations one must obey to be a true Christian/Buddhist/Muslim, but what if all of our gods are the same person? What if the extra rules and regulations are all man-made? It is hard to consider ourselves as in the wrong, but with recent views on this war, I feel that we should all consider ourselves in the wrong. My opinion on religion is that if one is going to believe in something, whether it is different than or the same as what you yourself believe in, they should be respected. We are all under this mindset of being right and never wrong, but if we look around at the world, we are all wrong.
To go along with what this girl said about her husband being very against the beliefs Osama Bin Laden has, many people don’t realize that he is not voicing the opinions of the masses. He has his own beliefs and a small group of followers. There are so many other people that believe in the Muslim religion who do not follow the words of Osama Bin Laden.
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I think it's human nature to remember people for their wrongdoings more so than their positive qualities. In the case of Osama Bin Laden, the average American does not know much about the Islam faith and therefore generalizes his horrible actions onto everyone of his religion. Obviously Osama Bin Laden is not a "spokesperson" for Muslims, rather a radical extremist. It is neither fair nor intelligent of us to characterize every Muslim similarly, just as we as Americans would not want to be characterized like members of the Ku Klux Klan. I admit I'm no scholar on the Islam faith, but I know it is a beautiful religion that deserves to be recognized as so.
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This is one of the few posts that I was happy to see. Unfortunately the other people commenting on this post went the route of we are all the same people, all one, should all love each other, but still does not take away from the original point of the post. I think what the girl in the video was trying to get across was that her husband is unfairly grouped in this category of radical Muslims and terrorism just because he is Muslim. I think it goes without saying that this is unfair and completely wrong. I found it interesting that the girl said her husband died a little inside every time he saw Bin Laden. This shows that her husband understands the world’s misconception about Muslims and often, albeit wrongly, associates Bin Laden as the poster boy for all Muslims.
On the other hand, it cannot be ignored that many of the conflicts, both present and past, that plague world history deal with Muslims fighting against other religions. Eventually, even if the Muslims are right, the world comes to see the entire Muslim people as the “little brother” who keeps getting picked on in a hypothetical family. He cannot stand up for himself against some of his “big brothers” and so he keeps seeking out help, but eventually this cry for help becomes too burdensome and instead of gauging the need these people are ignored.
It should be said that not everyone associates Bin Laden with being the voice of Muslims. I feel that a majority of individuals, especially in the United States, have come to the realization that Bin Laden represents an extreme minority of Muslims who hold extremist radical views. Muslims cannot be held responsible for what a select few crazy individuals do. Sometimes in this world some people are just genuinely nuts. Had there been a reverse situation, I would certainly not want to be blamed for the actions of a crazy American or Jew just because we shared a similar background or religion.
If there is one thing I would hope to get through with this blog it would be that the best way to fight ignorance such as blaming all Muslims for the actions of Bin Laden is through intelligence and learning. If the average person could just be educated enough to know about the different beliefs and opinions of others then problems such as this can be avoided. Unfortunately, this is a rather unrealistic solution to this global problem since there are a number of things people still need to be educated about, and more importantly most people don’t care enough to learn about this. For now the best any Muslim can do, in my opinion, is to be as good a person as possible, maybe even more so than the average person, to start laying down the groundwork for a change in national and global perception of your people.
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I'm from Bombay, India and I am a Hindu. Since the early 90's there have been many riots in my city between Hindu's and Muslim's. I have been brought up in circumstances where everyone around me really hates Muslims. I personally believe in the philosophy of one god and would not like to discriminate anyone on the basis on religion. Islam is one of biggest religions in the world, u cant really account the actions of a minority of people to set the image for the entire religion.
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I can understand why her husband dies a little inside whenever he sees someone of his faith doing things that are terrible like Osama Bin Laden. Its the same way for me when I see someone that I could identify with, or someone that other people identify with me, that does something wrong and is shunned by the world. It is probably to a much greater degree than me because not much is known about Muslim culture by most Americans. I know it's not right but when most Americans hear the words Islam or Muslim, they immediately think about terrorists. It is a big problem, and it's a shame that a lot of good people are unfairly treated because of a few radicals, but I don't really know what can be done to fix it. I mean if it were possible for a world wide PR campaign to make everyone understand what Islam is really all about, then I'd suggest doing it. But who has the resources for something like that? Bottom line is the Islamic radicals and terrorists have ruined the image of Muslims everywhere and people need to know that its not true of everyone.
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I think that what this girl said is a very good thing. It pains me to see when people constantly generalize Arab looking people and immediately call them out and think that they are radical and are going to blow themselves up. You know, my uncle was once called a “terrorist piece of shit” out in Michigan shortly following 9/11. My family isn’t even Arab, we’re Italian so naturally darker complected with darker features. That’s when you know things have gone wrong. I’m also happy that in class we saw the slides and watched the videos of that church in the Dakotas. That right there shows a lot about Americans and our never dying hypocrisy.
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I am glad that this perspective was shard on this website. I mean, most of us know that that is not what Muslims represent, the extremists, etc. But there are a few ignorant people out there that see bin Laden and group every Muslim to be like him. Hell, people even group all brown people to be like him, ignorant people, that is. One of my best friends is Muslim and of course I know how she practices her religion, and it is not by blowing things up. Your husband should be comforted by the fact that there are people out who do not have their heads up their asses and they know how real Muslims practice their religion.
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I used to be guilty of generalizing a group of people based on the actions and words of even just one person in that group. Although I knew it was wrong and I knew that not all are like that person, the thought still did cross my mind, unfortunately. One evil person does not count for all of the people in the same religion or culture. It’s just that the bad is what we look for, and all of the good things are looked through as if they don’t make up for the chaos that the other one caused. I hope that your husband doesn’t get any hate for this.
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There are very few people who are recognized in the world for living normal lives. In order to be acknowledged and known to the world you have to be an extremist. There has to be something about your life and your actions that set you apart from everyone else in order for it to be news. This creates a feeling of uncertainty and biases towards certain groups of people. Every country is going to report when there was a major event in another country, not just when everything is running smoothly. Average people rarely show up on the news, especially not on international news. This girl’s husband is one of those normal people who is practicing his religion. He was brought up to be of the Islamic faith just as many of us were brought up to live as a Christian. Most of us do not question our religions or follow the teachings to the word absolutely and consistently. There are just as many crazy Christians in the world, but because we are surrounded by normal Christian families it is easy to realize who the radical people are. They are not part of the majority. Muslims have the same issues. There are always going to be people who take their religion to the extreme and follow their holy book word for word. Unfortunately when you do this you find that there are many different interpretations of holy books and what they are really trying to represent. Everyone takes away something different from what is written. Then you have those who feel that it is their responsibility to make everyone around them and even people on the other side of the world believe what they believe. They need to save them from the wrong path. This way of thinking is pretentious and arrogant. As the girl in the video said, Allah or God or whatever you worship they are all the same. You may feel that your religion is the only religion, but there has to be some part of your mind telling you that there is a chance you are wrong. When people are missing this part of their conscious thinking, they decide to destroy those who are not following their path. When these people are broadcasted on the news they become the representative for that religion to people who have no other experience with it. There is always going to be an association made and they are hard to ignore. This is why people like the girl’s husband die a little inside when they see Osama bin Laden. They know that this terrible person is going to be the representative of their beloved religion to all those who are not familiar with it.
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Its very hard to grow out of stereotyping the Muslim faith. people see Osama bin Laden, and automatically connect them with terrorists. that was a huge issue when 9-11 came around. people don't see good people, they see problems all the time. its like tunnel vision. just like how we saw the United States Marines messing around with the locals, and how Sam clearly put it. They are just a bunch of nuckle heads that don't know any better. it goes both ways, they are just a bunch of nuckle heads that don't know the proper way to spread the word of their god. It happens, people are afraid of what is different.
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I think this is really reassuring for people of the west because I think that often people characterize muslims under the same category are Osama BIn Laden or Saddam Hussein because we are often quick to judge as a result of them. I know that when I hear about muslim culture those are the first two people I think of. I like the fact that what Sam was saying had some truth to it. I was worried that he was just on one of his tangents to shock me but really if muslims feel that way about the people of their culture that we despise the most then i think that gives me more faith in the muslim culture as a whole.
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I feel bad for her husband and the other Muslims who have to deal with these generalizations. I think a lot of it is the media's portrayal of the religion. You never hear anything about the peaceful messages in the Qur' an or about the correlations between The Bible and The Qur' an. The only passages you ever see are the ones talking about" waging war against the infidels". Unfortunately, this is what the majority of the public sees and what the majority of Muslims who are peaceful are subjected to. The best I can say to her husband is that it's ok, we don't all see Muslims that way. I know it must be hard on him to have to see images like that and to see his people portrayed that way.
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I really never thought much about how deep the feelings toward Osama Bin Laden run in a lot of Muslims I do have friends that are Muslim and I know that they don’t support him but we have never talked about their specific feelings toward him. I can understand how the feelings could run so deep. When a lot of Americans see any radical Muslim they see all Muslims and Arabs not the individual person. When a lot of Americans see a radical Christian leader they tend to see that person as radical not all of Christianity. I think this is because most Americans either are Christians or have a better understanding of Christianity than they do of Islam. I personally have generalized Muslims It took me a while to realize just how crazy this was I don’t think it was until I was in Iraq and got the chance to meet a lot of different Arabs that were both Muslim and Christian and also Kurdish people and it did change my outlook on an entire population and realize that there are individual people that do not speak for an entire people.
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This is a great example of how a certain religious or national leader can misrepresent an entire nation or faith. The way that someone such as Osama Bin Laden is able to represent an entire religious group to those of us who don't understand or know anything about Islam is not only wrong but dangerous. I can't imagine how this woman's husband must feel seeing bin Laden saying such things and then having American's like us think that that's how the entire religion works. Also I agree with the statement that no matter what religion you are or what god you worship, it's really all the same and our goals are truly exactly the same, live a good life and earn your way to heaven or whatever your religion might believe about life after death.
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I definitely think that Americans, and and Western Europeans in general, generalize about Muslims, Arabs, Islamics, and everything else. It's just in our nature to generalize and stereotype; However, that does not make it correct. Especially when these generalizations and stereotypes transform into hate and violence. I mean, Osama Bin Laden lead an attack on the twin towers and killed thousands of American citizen, it's hard to not "feel some sort of way" about that. So I can "understand" why Americans generalize and stereotype people of the middle east. And people of the middle east, generalize and stereotype about Americans and Westerners. Like I said, I think it is just simply in our nature. Though, Americans and Muslims alike need to acknowledge this nature of generalizing, and learn more about what is really going on between us. If we all atleast try to understand people of different cultures, we may not so easily jump to radical conclusions and actions.
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Its a shame what has happened to the Muslim society as a whole at cause to radical Muslims. Nowadays, when the word Muslim is mentioned people automatically or sometimes thinks of terrorism and bombs. Its crazy walking through an airport and when people see Muslims, dudes especially, they do the sign of the cross of say some prayer. I think it is uncalled for. Sure most bombings were done by people of Muslim background but that doesn't mean everyone is a bomber or terrorist. Its just stereotypes that we collect and movies don't make things any better. No all Muslims are bad and not all at good. There will always be a sour apple in any group. We just need to take that and stop treating the good ones with disrespect. The only problem in that we don't know how to sort the good one from the bad.
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I also agree. Most Muslims do not hold the radical beliefs that we hear about on the news and are very rational, peaceful people. You always hear about the extremists because they are the ones who are causing the most upset, whether it be by force or movement. It is a shame that the general population comes to the thought that all Muslims must be violent or terrorists just because a few individuals hold these extremist beliefs. I have no doubt there are many Muslims and Muslim-Americans who hold the same sentiments towards Osama Bin Laden that a white American holds.
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You can’t blame an entire group of people for one individual acts. It is not logical and it not fair. Who wouldn’t “die inside” every time the media portrays “your people” out to spiteful murderers who have nothing else on their minds but to kill? I honestly think that our ignorance fuels this. Like we saw in class, we know only what we see and hear through the media. It is a shame how misinformed everyone is because the media has created Muslims out to be extremist terrorists and that we cannot trust any of them.
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I can understand that people forget that Muslim is a faith and all faiths have strong believers that do good for their faith and ones that do evil in the name of the faith simply so they can get followers Osama is a man who manipulates people into believing that they are doing god/Allah's work and we all know that is not the way of the Muslim people as a whole. we are seen around the world as fat lazy Americans because of our T.V. shows and yet we know that's not true. the idea that Osama is the archetype of his faith is a massive disservice to the Muslim faith. if you are Christian would you want the world to look at Hitler as an archetype of Christian faith for his hatred of the Jewish faith. I think not.
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I completely agree with you, we are all the same. I don’t believe at all that one religion and culture has it right, that one culture is supporting and following the right way at all. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely believe that there is an ultimate purpose and a god, but the question is who is that god, and ultimately why are we here? Shouldn’t it all be to be good people no matter who you’re following? We’re all completely the same and so is our theories about the life after, before, and during when you put aside all of the details that don’t matter. Just believe.
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I actually can understand what she is saying because I know Muslims who have said that this is not what is taught. This is not what Islam is all about. This is why when Sam says they are fighting a war against Christians I have to disagree. I do agree with one thing Sam said, it is all about power. Power and Religion are two different things, and should not be viewed as one. If we all knew what the Muslim religion entailed we would not believe that. I have never heard a single Muslim person who was not a radical say, I need to kill in the name of Allah. So I hate the stigma that is being attached to the religion because of what those misguided people did to our country on September 11, 2001, and to countries across the world. That is not Islam, that is hate and thirst for control.
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I totally understand this sentiment…and it definitely sucks. I think it is so ignorant when someone sees a person of a specific group and then assume that they represent everyone that belongs to that group. I have plenty of Muslim friends and they are obviously nothing like Osama or Saddam. It is really unfair that these amazing people are represented so poorly, but when you think about it, people are represented poorly all over the world. I mean, look at how Americans are portrayed in different parts of the world. We’re usually seen as either rich, fat pigs or scantily dressed sluts.
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I get that not all Muslims are terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslim. The problem is that some Muslims interpret the Quran in a different way, concluding that they need to stop corruption in the world and tell everyone about the Islamic religion. I know that a lot of Muslims don’t approve with that ad would rather live peacefully instead, just like in Christianity some blow up abortion clinics and some are against it. That how It is in all religions I am sure, people interpret their holy bible in different ways. I know that most Muslims are peaceful people but Osama Ben laden and the terrorist attacks don’t help at all.
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Some Muslim is extremists but some are normal people the problem with the extremists is that they go too far on mass murder sprees or suicidal bombing locations which is true for any religion. Catholic religion has known to have some extremists who have done a lot of damage to other people, killing many. The best way for Muslim to resolve some of their issue would be to fix their Qur’an so that if a person does not want to convert to Muslim that they don't have to be killed. But the difference between our culture and theirs is the rights of each of the people here are different than there. Here we have women's rights; there women's rights are very limited. There are faults for every religion but the best way to deal with them is to find a peaceful resolution both sides can agree to.
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After the lecture on Thursday, I can understand why some Muslims would decide to help with the insurgency. When we voted whether we would join after hearing the lecture, I voted that I probably would support the insurgency from the Middle East. At the beginning of class, when Sam posted a question on the front projection screen asking what we think about the radicals who commit terroristic acts, I responded by saying that I think they are mislead. . I get really frustrated when I hear people talk about Islam being some crazy violent religion. I do not think that the Muslim religion is some crazy, radical violent religion…and I think a lot of Americans are ignorant to that fact that the religion is not based on those aspects. I think that many people are uninformed of the fact that Islam and other religions like Christianity and Judaism are closely related. For example, both religions are monotheistic. Islam worships Allah, which means God in Arabic. Christians also worship God! Also, both religions believe that a messiah ascended to heaven. Although the messiah ascended to heaven in different ways, the beliefs are extremely similar here. Both Islam and Christianity believe in a second coming of Yeshua (Jesus Christ). After death, both religions believe that an individual is sent either to Heaven/Paradise or Hell…the only difference here would be that Catholics believe in a third, temporary state, Purgatory. I do not think this is a war based solely on religion…obviously there is the whole oil issue. I honestly do not follow the issue surrounding oil that often, but I think if the United States focused on creating another form of fuel, our country would not be so dependent on oil in the Middle East. The wider spread use of different systems of energy could possibly ease up the situation a bit. Not being so dependent on the oil would mean less interference in the area. A lot of our problems today with the Middle East I think are due to the United States’ support of the state of Israel in 1948. As previously mentioned in the beginning, I can understand why Middle Easterners would easily support the insurgency. Sam said that many do not support it, which is nice to hear, but like I said, I can see why someone might want to support it. If we lived in the Middle East and were shown only negative images of the United States, I would not think that the United States was so great. Americans might be shown to be just as cruel. In the end, I just wish there was some way where we could all coexist peacefully. Hopefully in the near future that will occur. Lastly, I would just like to say that I pray for those who are in the military fighting in this war and I pray for their families.
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The mentality Muslims have is very similar to the mentality we have. It is us against them. They feel that they are being attacked by a single race and single religion and we feel the same way. This hatred is driven by fear. We feel unsafe especially after being attacked and it makes the country as a whole feel safer when we have extensive military over in the middle east. If there was military here everywhere I walked shooting innocent civilians I would hate not only them but who they represent as a whole. This would make me hate an entire group of people with out even knowing them. This seems to be understandable basic human instinct.
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I think that people blow the whole situation out of proportion. There are many Muslim extremists, but there are just as many Christian extremists. People make a bigger deal about the Muslim extremists, such as Osama Bin Laden, because the news and media seem to publicize them more. The media never seems to make any commotion over Christian and Jewish extremists. Additionally, the majority of Muslim people are not extremists, rather they are purely following their religion much like those who are Christian. Furthermore, the God that Muslim people believe in is the exact same God that Christians believe in, they just know him by a different name.
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I think these feelings are natural. Osama Bin Laden gave a horrible name to Muslims. I think that it is a problem in our society that we associate one person’s wrong doings with a whole country. I will admit that after the events on 9/11 that I associated most Muslims with the terrible events that happened to the people in this country. Our society sets it up for us to think that way. Of course not all Muslims have the same ideals as he did, most do not. But when the news only reports the bad side, that is all we see and it is easy for us to feel hatred. It is the same in their country how most of what they see on the news is radicals, while most of us in the United States are not.
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I believe everyone is the same, just with different cultures, and it's neat how this girls husband is Muslim and she is actually able to tell us how he feels about Osama Bin Laden, because the way the whole culture is portrayed isn't how it is to everyone of the Muslim culture. Everyone is the same person, all living people, and that is how it should be.
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