Comments on: The tyranny of radical Muslims…

By: dahlia2891

dahlia2891 — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:57:42 +0000

It was sad to hear that the young lady’s husband would feel so embarrassed by Osama Bin Laden’s behavior. And to hear that he dies within himself is sad. This world is just filled with plenty of stereotypes and misconceptions about each and every race and ethnicity. It seems like ever since the 9-11 attack, the whole country looked at Muslims as the bad guys. Muslims started to get so many verbal attacks. I understand the country is fearful and upset but you can not punish all of those who are of Muslim background with such an attitude. Just because one person from a race does something terrible does not mean the rest of that culture are like that. For example, many people look at African-Americans as “gangstas”. In Crossing The Blvd, Elke Walcher said that where she is from, Austria, the teachers are too afraid of receiving a teaching opportunity in Bronx, New York because they think that it is so rough. They think of it as a dangerous place because they are too many blacks. Movies gave them the impression that all blacks are criminals and live in the Bronx. The media always have African-Americans in gangs and illiterate. So many people assume that all African-Americans are up to no good, uneducated, and dangerous. So I understand why the young ladies husband feels that way.
God, Allah, they are all the same omnipotent higher being. If you actually think about it, they really are the same. Because it is still following the same idea of finding that one true ultimate concern. The only difference is that the religions require different traditions and rituals in order to seek their ultimate concern. We should not have to judge and have issues with the Muslims because of their religions and also because of unresolved issues. Instead of using extreme violence to prove a point we all just need to come up with a positive compromise so that no innocent lives are getting involved in the predicament and putting innocent lives into death. Obviously violence is not helping if we are still seeing reoccurring issues over and over again.

By: Zenabella7

Zenabella7 — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:25:28 +0000

I am so, so glad that you brought this up because people need to really understand that a whole society cannot be blamed for something one person or a couple of people did wrong. We all have a mind of our own but at the end we all worship one God (Allah). I am Muslim myself, and violence is the last thing on my mind, I love all my fellow brothers and sisters wither they are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Irish…You name it…I don’t care!!! All that matters to me is your personality, the type of person you are. Speaking of Christianity, like I stated earlier I am Muslim, but so far in my life I have dated nothing but Christian men, and it’s not like I do it on purpose, it just happens because I love their personality, because that’s what counts more than anything else. Not every Muslim Discriminates against other religions, I said that because I know that there are some that do. But it’s the same case for Christians, Irish….This society found a way to make religion become more of a political issue than faith or anything. Religion is supposed to be a Spiritual thing, it’s supposed to help us stay on the right path and get closer to God (Allah), find a way to make our sins be forgiven, love one another, forget about the negative and only think positively… but it seems like it’s not the case in this society anymore. There has always been a separation when it comes to gender, age, political parties, cultures, race, color, ethnicity, tribes, countries… I mean you name it…But I believe that the one thing that definitely should have never been divided is “Religion” because it’s so powerful, it’s one thing that we all (Humans) have in common on this earth because we were all created by one and only God (Allah) and we are all connected through God. But it’s very Sad and unfortunate that we (Humans) always try to find a way to segregate each other no matter what. I mean don’t get me wrong, I do understand that some people don’t have the same view as me, and that’s fine by me, because we all have our own opinions, and own beliefs and again, I don’t discriminate against others beliefs or anything, as a matter of fact I am very open to any diversity, as long as it’s not forced up on me, I am fine!!! Because I don’t force anything up on people. I just really want people to understand that we can’t blame one another for someone else’s wrong doing, it’s very hurtful, to tell you when I first came to the USA I was 13 yrs old and it was right after 9/11 so at the airport when they saw in my passport that I was born and raised in an Arabic country and I was Muslim, they took my passport away from me to go check all types of things with the security for like 2 to 3 hours while I was waiting for them scared that something was going to happen to me. I was not allowed to go see my family until they came back with my passport to tell me that my record was clear and that I could now enter their country. Honestly it made me hate this place for a while because I thought that’s how people here would treat me like a (Terrorist) just because of my religion and background. It really HURT!!! But I learned to live with it I guess. I just hope that people will stop generalizing a whole group of people and just try 2 open up some more before they judge. PEACE & LOVE.

By: kmp5031

kmp5031 — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:39:26 +0000

I am really glad that this woman posted this. I can’t generalize for everyone, but for me, deep down I know this. Just because certain people do horrible things it does not mean that that is how all Muslims are. A lot of us want to get angry and generalize this and I feel like this woman put a face to the truth that we all know deep down. It was an awakening that I think we all need to keep in mind more often. We don’t want to be grouped with people who do something simply because we have one similarity with them such as religion.

By: ler172

ler172 — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:43:47 +0000

I first hand also know that Osama Bin Laden does not represent the Muslim faith. A few of my very close friends are Muslim, and are among the nicest people that I have ever met. Many people in the United States just do not understand the Muslim faith, and they perceive Muslim's to be terrorists and people similar to Osama Bin Laden. This is far from the truth, and I am so glad that Sam talked to the class about this. The views that people have of Muslim's are just dumb stereotypes since so many of us here in the United States are ignorant of Muslim beliefs. I also think that she made a very good point when she said Allah and God, whatever you want to say, it's the same thing. Allah is just the meaning for God in Arabic.

By: akeem10

akeem10 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:41:16 +0000

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,

By: keane

keane — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:03:15 +0000

Another interesting question/comment, you guys are doing a great job. It's great to know that you have a muslim husband because that means that you definitely understand what Sam has been trying to say better than a lot of the people in the class. The stuff about how the Muslims in the middle eastern countries feel about the whole "oil war" and the all the stuff that Sam talked about in that awesome lecture. It's really sad to see how so many people believe Islam to be everything that Osama Bin Laden and his pals portray it to be. Islam is the religion of peace and nowhere in its teaching does it tell its followers to indulge in any sort of violence. 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. The terrorists have no religion, and they definitely have done, and do a lot of damage to Islam's reputation. I mean, to be honest, they do not really care about who they are attacking, because in their eyes, their war is not only against the white people and christians. There are suicide bombs everyday in muslim countries and innocent, muslim civilians die because of the terrorists. They believe that the muslims in muslim countries are not real muslims and therefore qualify as enemies, and more and more innocent people die everyday because of these terrorists, which is extremely sad. I wish there was a better way to tell everyone about what Islam really is, to tell all the people who believe everything that the television stations tell them, or the ones who believe that Islam is really all that the terrorists portray it to be, but for now, to tell everyone as a group seems almost impossible. But it is very heartening to see the way that Sam is taking this topic up about muslims and the middle east and the war etc, and talking about it in lectures and trying to get people to see how things really are, trying to make them think, trying to tell them both points of views.

By: rlevin66

rlevin66 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:22:21 +0000

I am glad that sam brought this topic up in class. I know far too many people who are quick to judge other people on the basis of looks due to things they say on the news. The photos that have been shown through out this entire war have been effecting the muslims of this country in a horrible way, and this should not be happening. I cant imagine how upsetting it is to get searched just a little more in an airport or get denied service liek that woman in the movie played in class did because of their race. being a white american girl i have never really encountered any racism other than the snide little "jew " remarks being that i am jewish. I know that can be a little hurtful but that is not written on my face. People from afar dont know that about me and while i am not ashamed of it i would find it difficult to have to hear that all day every day or get looked at differently because my race/nationality/religion is obvious based upon my looks. For people liek this womans husband i cant even imagine how frusttrating it is that stupid people stereotype all people in a religion or take one public figure such as osama and decide to portray that personality and psycho mentality onto an entire race of people! I have muslim friends and i would never ever look at a muislim woman or man and think to myself terrorist. That is just the most close minded ridiculous thing i have ever heard. I really do feel for these people and all the people that are persecuted in this country for being different since at one point , since america is built upon immigration, our peoples were the ones that stood out when we got off the boat or became residents in a new town. Hopefully after this lecture and seeing videos like this people will realize not to be so quick to judge. Im sure the muslim people in other countries are only getting the worst ideas of us from the things that they see and from how closed minded we must look to them. Is thar the way we want our country to be portrayed? This entire war has just been a huge disaster in my opinion, instead of helping a culture create a democracy we are dividing two religions on the basis of stupid media propoganda and making a mockery of our country. Now that we have began this war tho I would like to see something come out of it. If anything just the realization from the two countries that each other are not in fact bad and while governemtns might be corrupt or certain people ignorant, the majority of both countries are far from that.

By: keane

keane — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:21:29 +0000

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.

By: erika4179

erika4179 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:58:54 +0000

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.

By: tve5009

tve5009 — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:23:00 +0000

As a Nigerian person I am starting to feel how she may feel. After the alleged attack on Christmas day by a Nigerian person, a lot of disrespectful of Nigerians have been floating around. It’s sad that the majority of people see the image of Osama Ben Laden and automatically tie that Muslim/Islamic people. It’s sad because to my knowledge Islam is actually one of the most peaceful religions. But what are these people to do when they are pushed to the edge. You can’t blame everybody of Islam/Muslim belief on whatever certain extremist may do. Just the same way I don’t blame every white person for what white supremacist and KKK members might have done to African Americans. People need to stop being ignorant and closed minded about things like this. Not every person that are Muslim/Islamic are not extremists and don’t believe in the suicide bombings.
On another side I can remember clearly right after the September 11 attack the summer after that my cousin and I were 11 at the time and we were traveling to Nigeria by ourselves. I remember seeing a few Arabs wearing their traditional clothing and being pretty scared and even praying. But I was 11 at the time and was just sacred because of the things I heard and watched on TV. I didn’t know any better. But as someone that is 19 and being a frequent flyer and having friends who are Muslim/Islam I couldn’t imagine ever being scared of the “Osama Ben Laden” image. That is their culture they all can’t be looked down upon just because they are Islamic.
I remember being in the airport and certain people being singled out for more searches because of the way they looked and where they were flying to. I went to Nigeria recently for Christmas 09 break and when the attempted suicide bombing took place I was watching CNN and I was like damn Nigerians already have a bad name for scamming people and now this, I hope my family and I don’t have problems flying back into the States. We actually didn’t have any problems because we are all American citizens. When conversations of this Nigerian bombing came up I would always say that guy doesn’t represent Nigeria in any type of way because we have never been known to take out such acts and I ended any comments that would come after.
There will always be ignorant people in the world that will never want to be understanding and open their eyes to see things as a bigger picture. It’s sad that those ignorant people have a huge impact and it’s totally not their fault I blame the media for that too. When the media is putting up pictures all day and people are hearing and reading into things like this they start to feed into it more.