Muslim Like Me by canttakesky

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Muslim Like Me

POSTED BY: CANTTAKESKY
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 14:28
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VIEWED: 2201
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Monday, October 22, 2012 2:43 PM

http://imperfectwriting.tumblr.com/post/33933007179/i-went-to-the-mall
-and-a-little-girl-called-me-a

Quote:
I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

My name is Ela. I am seventeen years old. I am not Muslim, but my friend told me about her friend being discriminated against for wearing a hijab. So I decided to see the discrimination firsthand to get a better understanding of what Muslim women go through.

My friend and I pinned scarves around our heads, and then we went to the mall. Normally, vendors try to get us to buy things and ask us to sample a snack. Clerks usually ask us if we need help, tell us about sales, and smile at us. Not today. People, including vendors, clerks, and other shoppers, wouldn’t look at us. They didn’t talk to us. They acted like we didn’t exist. They didn’t want to be caught staring at us, so they didn’t look at all.

And then, in one store, a girl (who looked about four years old) asked her mom if my friend and I were terrorists. She wasn’t trying to be mean or anything. I don’t even think she could have grasped the idea of prejudice. However, her mother’s response is one I can never forgive or forget. The mother hushed her child, glared at me, and then took her daughter by the hand and led her out of the store.

All that because I put a scarf on my head. Just like that, a mother taught her little girl that being Muslim was evil. It didn’t matter that I was a nice person. All that mattered was that I looked different. That little girl may grow up and teach her children the same thing.

This experiment gave me a huge wakeup call. It lasted for only a few hours, so I can’t even begin to imagine how much prejudice Muslim girls go through every day. It reminded me of something that many people know but rarely remember: the women in hijabs are people, just like all those women out there who aren’t Muslim.

People of Tumblr, please help me spread this message. Treat Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Taoists, etc., exactly the way you want to be treated, regardless of what they’re wearing or not wearing, no exceptions. Reblog this. Tell your friends. I don’t know that the world will ever totally wipe out prejudice, but we can try, one blog at a time.

Reminds me of a book about a white guy in the 50's who darkened his skin and went down South. He wrote it all up in a book called "Black Like Me."

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Monday, October 22, 2012 3:31 PM

PEACEKEEPER

Keeping order in every verse

Unfortunately, it proves that you are judged according to the worst elements of your group. "One bad egg spoils the batch!" And unfortunately, it is something that will prevail throughout eternity.

With the grace of age, commander, we learn to accept.

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Monday, October 22, 2012 3:34 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Thank you, CTTS. Hurt to read, but there are those among us who, if they could get in touch with their humanity, might learn something from it. One could wish.

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Monday, October 22, 2012 4:57 PM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by peacekeeper:
Unfortunately, it proves that you are judged according to the worst elements of your group.

Only when people are prejudiced.

The worst elements of white people might be neonazis or the Westboro Baptist Church. But when white people go out in the States, almost no one assumes they are neonazis or Westboro Baptist Church. That is because people in the States are not prejudiced against white people.

-----

Don’t waste your life not making amazing things with equally amazing people.

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Monday, October 22, 2012 5:02 PM

PEACEKEEPER

Keeping order in every verse

But, surely, if white people were to walk the streets advertising their persuasions by wearing certain associated insignia, they are drawing attention to thier differences and also to the connotations implied by the more radical among them.
The English St george cross has been hijacked by the far right in our country, and unfortunately, when everyday people sport the flag, the same response is construed.
I'm not condoning it,and I don't agree with it. I'm not sure that it's a conscious prejudicial response, either, More a knee jerk, gut reaction, that happens before the considered mind kicks in.

With the grace of age, commander, we learn to accept.

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Monday, October 22, 2012 5:29 PM

BYTEMITE

People will always be prejudiced, and to a chaotic alignment, trying to force tolerance on anyone feels wrong. But at the same time, not sure prejudice can just be handwaved as "there's bad people in their group and so they deserve suspicion for being associated with them."

People can be prejudiced, be suspicious, but they should always be aware they're acting like that, and know that it is unfair to the person they are mistrusting. As someone who is very judgmental, I don't make excuses for myself, I don't tell myself that I'm justified or that my feelings are good. I just am, and all it means is that I have to force myself to be more objective.

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Monday, October 22, 2012 7:22 PM

OONJERAH

Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Gregory Peck.
IMDB "A reporter pretends to be Jewish in order to
cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally
discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred."

Perhaps we like the Jews as long as they are NOT Here.

I believe bigotry stems from denial of our own
culpability. Thus those with high self esteem (&
low shame) tend to be more objective and fair.

.
.
.

That's the Lefties, BTW.

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Monday, October 22, 2012 7:59 PM

HKCAVALIER

I'll never understand how otherwise sensible people, when faced with an issue like prejudice, will hang their heads and say "yeah, it's a shame, really, but people will always be like this."

I want to ask them, "ARE YOU? Like this, I mean?" And if you're not, how did that happen? Luck? Why don't your own accomplishments give you hope for the race as a whole???

I'm not "like this." None of my friends are. And a lot of other people I know aren't either. Y'know what we do for fun? Take a road trip to see the site of a Japanese internment camp in Idaho and cry for a few hours as we walk around. Lady Cavalier and I took that trip last month, as part of her "Forgiveness Tour 2012." She's been visiting the sites of all the major battles faught by the Nez Perce against the U.S.A., making offerings and grieving. The internment camp was by the way. We also saw the Heart of the Monster out on the Nez Perce Reservation. You should check it out. It was pretty profound. We also slept in a field and were awakened at 2 in the morning by a dozen or more coyotes singing. It went on for hours.

People don't have to be "like this." Plenty of people aren't "like this." Some people are. If you folks can't imagine a better world, why the hell go on living, y'know? Why go on living if the freakin' race has no future, If we peaked somewhere back in the Neolithic? That is the fundamental thing I do not get.

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Monday, October 22, 2012 11:23 PM

OONJERAH

If we learn & believe in prejudice from an early age,
most of us will keep it with no thought that it might be
wrong, unfair, unjust. To create a harmonious society,
we should be taught to respect others from our toddler
days ... before our minds close.

Long Digression

When I was a Very young, naive child, I figured out
that some truths are self-evident, are facts. And that
if we all learned the same truths and facts, we'd all
form the same opinions, be in happy agreement, and
there would be peace & harmony.

As I got older, I slowly saw how many variables form &
instruct the human mind. That we all had somewhat dif-
ferent input, and with the best of intentions, we can't
always agree. Thus diplomacy, negotiation, compromise.

I am quite retarded about most things, but smart about
a few things, so I always counted myself among the smart
ones. One of my family's values was: it is very important
to be able to think for yourself.

I have a lot of respect for my HS history teacher & still
recall a few of his lessons. He was talking about the
Korean War and the brainwashing of US POWs in it.

The Koreans had long studied the arts of appeal, per-
suasion and coercion. One of their concerns was that to
change a man's mind, you had to separate him from
support of his current belief: specifically his great love
of the American way. This meant the leaders, the guys
who could think for themselves, those who had a philo-
sophy & understood the basis for laws, customs, & prin-
ciples of behavior. i.e, the Koreans first determined which
prisoners could be brainwashed & which ones could not.
Those who could not would be removed from the main
population.

Our Teacher asked us to guess, "What percentage of our
POWs had to be removed from those that their captors felt
were more maleable?

Blank stares. We didn't know.

"10%," he told us. "Only 10% of our men were strong
enough in their believes to resist the reconditioning
process."

Later, whenever I'd be involved in a debate, I quickly
saw how many people could back up their opinions with
reasoning, and how many would fall back on, "Because
that's just the way it is." I came to believe that 10% of
people can think; 80% cannot, & nothing can awaken
the ability in them to do it. We call them Sheep, the
followers. I put the other 10% on the fence -- I hoped
and assumed that 10% would tire of dogmatism and
aspire to become thinkers.

Maybe my teacher was just an intellectual snob; maybe
I am too. Maybe everyone does consider the pros and
cons before -- joining a lynch mob, for example.

Ten per cent of people think, born to it; the rest of them
don't, because they can't.

Social evolution perhaps. If 100% of us were thinkers
& also had leadership ability, if there were no followers
... would that work?

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012 3:04 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:
The worst elements of white people might be neonazis or the Westboro Baptist Church. But when white people go out in the States, almost no one assumes they are neonazis or Westboro Baptist Church. That is because people in the States are not prejudiced against white people.

Ever see folks react to skinheads with Swastika and Iron Cross tattoos? Klansmen in their regalia?

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012 3:33 AM

BYTEMITE

The human race is numerous and the problems of individual humans are vast. One person really CAN'T give hope for the accomplishments of the species in the future. Even religions centered around single humans have problems they introduce, and religions are sometimes regressive. In time, every ideal becomes corrupt.

Anger and hatred and fear are three of the most fundamental emotions, essential to survival. They're not going away any time soon. And they shouldn't. Little lobotomized people trotting around always smiling and being nice to each other is NOT my idea of paradise.

Humans are, simply, human. We can't really be "better" than what we are, and anyone trying to change that is kinda denying their own humanity IMO. So life will always pretty much be terrible and painful in any age. But that's not an excuse for not trying. So I stand by what I said - people can't control what they've been taught or how they feel, but they can be AWARE of it.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012 3:39 AM

BYTEMITE

Quote:
Social evolution perhaps. If 100% of us were thinkers
& also had leadership ability, if there were no followers
... would that work?

Yes. Otherwise the human race wouldn't have survived it's early years. Even if cavemen lived in clan systems, if one person got separated from the clan and could not make a decision without the go-ahead of the chief, they would die. I doubt very much that most humans have died because we evolved enormous brains to not even USE them.

The belief that someone always has to be in charge or that only a few people think and have to direct others is one that I fight against. We are living in a society with a vested interest in turning a significant number of the population OFF from thinking. Our society does not represent natural human inclinations.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012 5:22 AM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.

Quote:
Originally posted by Geezer:
Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:
The worst elements of white people might be neonazis or the Westboro Baptist Church. But when white people go out in the States, almost no one assumes they are neonazis or Westboro Baptist Church. That is because people in the States are not prejudiced against white people.

Ever see folks react to skinheads with Swastika and Iron Cross tattoos? Klansmen in their regalia?

Huh? Is your point that the majority of skinheads with Swastika and Iron Cross tattoos, and Klansmen, are decent, peaceful people? If not then I don't think you've countered CTS's point.

The article was interesting, and sad. Thanks for posting CTS.

ETA: Geezer, maybe you could've given the example of people being prejudiced against white teens in hoodies? They certainly are where I live.

It's not personal. It's just war.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012 2:19 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Thanks for posting that CTS, good for Ella doing an experiment to see what happens in the world. Its important to step out of one's comfort zone to understand the hardships others face. Its not fair and its not right what she discovered.

Peacekeeper, I remember my first encounter with you was on a variant of this issue and because you're not around enough that encounter still sticks in my mind because it hasn't been replaced by much new input. I remember you were of the belief that its okay for the government to ban dressing in certain ways. I was opposed to the government doing that.

I feel really bad about what the mom did, I know she was probably just embarassed about what her kid said so she booked it out of there, but it would have been better to say no to her kid and apologize to the girl in question. I suspect that afterwords the mom probably felt bad that she hadn't handled it right, that her embarassment of her kid took over her rational thinking abilities.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012 2:28 PM

PEACEKEEPER

Keeping order in every verse

I remember that thread Rioneire. I believe it was to do with The French banning the Burkha? I cant remember my exact words, but I think it's fair to say that I agreed with it, as it was causing a cultural issue at the time. Not that I'm particularly troubled by it, myself. Maybe I was having a "Knee jerk reaction", which brings me back to the point here??

With the grace of age, commander, we learn to accept.

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