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Muslim WFU Law Student Writes...

You forgot to add "if the Amish grew from a small community located mainly in PA and the midwest to a religion of 1.6 billion spread all across the world." Which basically turns the argument into "if the Amish were Mulsim, would you listen to them complain of prejudice and poor treatment?" And, for me, the answer is yes, yes I would.

What a weird analogy. Though, as a PA native, I appreciate the love for the Amish.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
That religion is way, way too big for them to be all lumped in together. You say Muslims like it's this street gang with a bad reputation. All the events you listed were perpetrated by splinter groups of extremists. When you hear about Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church pickiting funerals, do you just attribute that to "Christians"? No. Yet, people still keep attributing these acts of terrorism to a religion of over a billion people.
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When the extremists elements of Christianity get powerful enough that people start censoring history to avoid inflamming "The Christian World", and extremist Christian groups take over 21st century sovereign governments and slaughtering people by the thousands, then why wouldn't I?

I have this theory that if the planet were the ACC, then the Islamic faith would be the Statefans. Sure, we all know that the crazies don't represent the whole group, but they can run off Herb Sendek just the same. The Lunatic Fringe is lunatic, but they're more powerful than fringe.
 
jhmd2000 said:
When the extremists elements of Christianity get powerful enough that people start censoring history to avoid inflamming "The Christian World", and extremist Christian groups take over 21st century sovereign governments and slaughtering people by the thousands, then why wouldn't I?
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Because you're rational and educated, and not lazy and stupid, that's why you wouldn't. The same reason that African Americans in LA, NYC, or Cincinnati don't believe that every police officer they meet is going to beat or shoot them. The same reason that people in Oklahoma City don't believe that every white guy in a van is going to blow up a government building.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
Because you're rational and educated, and not lazy and stupid, that's why you wouldn't. The same reason that African Americans in LA, NYC, or Cincinnati don't believe that every police officer they meet is going to beat or shoot them. The same reason that people in Oklahoma City don't believe that every white guy in a van is going to blow up a government building.
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That might be a fair point, but if an L.A. cop wonders why not everybody on Crenshaw Blvd. likes him on first encounter, should he blame the innocently accused person for being skeptical, or the prior officers who abused their authority? That's my point.
 
RaleighDevil said:
I also don't see the Amish crying to the UN about "defamation of religion."
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Because they aren't interested in anything past their little world.

Like Avalon said, it's bizarre to compare a couple hundred thousand homogeneous people (at most) to 1.6BILLION people in hundreds of nations.
 
jhmd2000 said:
That might be a fair point, but if an L.A. cop wonders why not everybody on Crenshaw Blvd. likes him on first encounter, should he blame the innocently accused person for being skeptical, or the prior officers who abused their authority? That's my point.
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This law student doesn't wonder why American's feel the way they do about Muslims. The question is why people attribute Islam with all the negative acts of Al Qaeda or the Taliban.
 
PhDeac said:
Muslim-Americans have a pretty tough task dealing with ignorant Americans. They're almost powerless to do anything about how they're perceived. They have a different problem than other racial and religious groups. Americans don't base their opinions of Jews solely on what's happening in Israel. They don't base their opinions of Mexicans based on what's happening in Mexico. They don't base their opinions of blacks based on Africa. Yet Muslim-Americans are primarily judged based on what happens in the Middle East, a region that is home to only 20% of Muslims. What's a guy living outside of Winston supposed to do about the public perception of his religion by people who are content to judge based on limited information?

And Muslims who are working to build better relations between Muslim-Americans and the larger American population have to endure enhanced security to get on planes if they can get on at all and people telling them they can't build mosques were they already live and worship. There's nothing they can do to combat these stereotypes. They're just living their lives.
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Do Muslims even have a positive stereotype in the US? Every major ethnic group has both positive and negative stereotypes, and the positives are well earned. The Mexican is a hard worker, the black guy has my back if I'm ever in trouble, the Asian is great at mathmatics, the Jewish guy is a hell of a lawyer, the Pakistani guy knows how to run a gas station, Brazilian women have great butts, Mennonites bake yeast rolls that are better than crack, Jamacians have Red Stripe and spicy chicken and laugh whenever you say "hey mon", Indians cook a mean goat curry, etc. What positive attributes do the Muslims have? They need to find their niche, earn it, and play it for all its worth.
 
BoogityBoogity said:
Do Muslims even have a positive stereotype in the US? Every major ethnic group has both positive and negative stereotypes, and the positives are well earned. The Mexican is a hard worker, the black guy has my back if I'm ever in trouble, the Asian is great at mathmatics, the Jewish guy is a hell of a lawyer, the Pakistani guy knows how to run a gas station, Brazilian women have great butts, Mennonites bake yeast rolls that are better than crack, Jamacians have Red Stripe and spicy chicken and laugh whenever you say "hey mon", Indians cook a mean goat curry, etc. What positive attributes do the Muslims have? They need to find their niche, earn it, and play it for all its worth.
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:rulz:
 
I'm aware there are a lot of Muslims in Pakistan (as well as parts of India and other countries), but when I go to the local gas station Mr. Patel is never wearing traditional Muslim attire. Hes normally wearing a Georgia Lottery tshirt, and his prices on petroleum and beer are very competitive.
 
BoogityBoogity said:
Do Muslims even have a positive stereotype in the US? Every major ethnic group has both positive and negative stereotypes, and the positives are well earned. The Mexican is a hard worker, the black guy has my back if I'm ever in trouble, the Asian is great at mathmatics, the Jewish guy is a hell of a lawyer, the Pakistani guy knows how to run a gas station, Brazilian women have great butts, Mennonites bake yeast rolls that are better than crack, Jamacians have Red Stripe and spicy chicken and laugh whenever you say "hey mon", Indians cook a mean goat curry, etc. What positive attributes do the Muslims have? They need to find their niche, earn it, and play it for all its worth.
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I'm going to treat this post somewhat seriously even though I know Boogity is joking.

If there was no such thing as terrorism committed my Muslim extremists, the stereotypical Muslim would be known for being somewhere between Aladdin and a rich Arab prince with tons of oil money.

And now that I think about it, I have just fulfilled Boogity's stereotype of a black man.
 
BeachBumDeac said:
Were all right wing Christians subjected to this kind of prejudice after the Oklahoma City bombings?
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Are you able to distinguish individual acts such as McVeigh and Kasczynski (sp?) from those of entire organizations issuing fatwahs and preaching widespread jihad? Are you unable to tell the vast difference in scope? Since you like data I suggest you print out a worldwide terrorist activity list for the last 25 years and then let me hear back from you.
 
Lectro said:
Are you able to distinguish individual acts such as McVeigh and Kasczynski (sp?) from those of entire organizations issuing fatwahs and preaching widespread jihad? Are you unable to tell the vast difference in scope? Since you like data I suggest you print out a worldwide terrorist activity list for the last 25 years and then let me hear back from you.
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So you're just unaware of the fact that Kaczynski has absolutely nothing to do with anything being discussed anywhere on this thread, right?

Regardless, what exactly is the threshold for number of acts committed in the name of _____ before suspicion can be raised?
 
PhDeac said:
I think you helped make my point. It depends on what you see in the media. It's not like white people are called financial terrorists whenever there is an Enron type scandal. And if there was, people know plenty of white people to dispel the stereotype.

That's not true for Muslims. There's little they can do to combat negative stereotypes from a world away.

Shorty, I owe you two pos reps.
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I agree with you that the media shapes a lot of it. But I also think that Muslims can use the media to show a more visible peaceful presence if they want to dispel the stereotypes. Seeing a black southern baptist church picnic on a sunday or a youth center during the week is a practical way to break down stereotypes of black violence. Throw some Mosque BBQs (swine-free, of course) and i think it would be a step in the right direction.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
As long as a large percentage of Americans want to think and act like bigoted idiots toward Muslims, this guy has plenty of room to bitch about it. People need to stop using 9/11 as an excuse to stereotype 1.5 billion people.
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Spoken like someone who has never experienced the intense dislike many Muslims have for western culture. Having lived for years in Lyon, France I experienced first hand the layers of dislike and resentment the Algerians express for the French. Some of the complaints the Algerians have are certainly valid but to see them, day in and day out displaying their contempt was an eye opener. I was in Paris when the sirens wailed in 1994 as the subway system was bombed... I observed 'satisfaction' among the Algerian community and neither saw nor heard any type of 'strong condemnation' of the act. Upon leaving in 1995 the train track on which I was scheduled to depart Lyon was blown apart.

When I had arrived in France it was in the spirit of the left-bank and the ex-patriots who had inhabited Montmarte were my spiritual guides...by the time I was ready to leave my mind-set was more akin the great short story writer Paul Bowles ("The Sheltering Sky"). I realized that in terms of what I thought of as life, liberty and purpose there existed a great gulf between the cultures. The problem lay deep in philosophy...epistemology, technological progress, the role of humankind and the importance of free will. I am not promoting one way of thinking over another and tend to adopt Michel De Montaigne's classic aphorism that "what's true on this side of the Pyrenees is not necessarily true on the other". That having been said,it is further my observation that many Muslims struggle with assimilation into a western society and feel that "doing in Rome what Romans do" is strictly forbidden by Allah. Who am I to say!? Perhaps Allah does not approve and that opinion is as valued as any other...in Tangiers... but not in Rome.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
This law student doesn't wonder why American's feel the way they do about Muslims. The question is why people attribute Islam with all the negative acts of Al Qaeda or the Taliban.
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Probably becuase the jihadist elements within Islam have co-opted the religion and with very little protest from the other factions.

V.S. Naipaul is a very great man of letters from India...he received a Nobel for literature. Have any of you ever taken the time to read his 'highly controversial' opinions of the Muslim community? I doubt many of you have any real 'on the ground experience' and instead see the issue from behind the pages of the New York Times or over a mixed drink looking out on Big Sur, or perhaps from within the cozy cloistered walls of the academy...but you ain't really (to quote James Hendrix) "Experienced".
 
fuckin' a, there are some seriously resentful Judeo/Christian white people posting on this thread. some seriously fucked up attitudes, IMO

what I have learned is that this Muslim WFU law student, who has peacefully practiced his religion in the US for many years, has no room to complain about ANYTHING because some people around the world who happen to practice the same religion as he are violent murderers. it's tough titty for him, because innocent Americans died and, well, that's how it works pal - you shoulda been more vocal.

wow
 
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