Islamaphobia and Stealth Jihad
There is a terrific article in Newsweek by Lisa Miller that attempts to make sense of the anger over a proposed mosque near (not on) ground zero. So good was the article that it inspired me to pass along her thoughts and to expand on her amazing insights.
First, Miller points out that many on the far right led by Newt Gingrich and others are sure of a 'stealth jihad'. Apparantly the idea of 'stealth jihad' is running like wild fire through Fox News and other extremist media. So what is it? According to Gingrich, this is the secret plan for Muslims to take over America. The Muslims will exploit our weakness and slowly inflitrate all levels of government and society. What exactly is our weakness? Freedom of religion, speech, and all the other first amendment mumbo jumbo.
Many in America our just absolutely sure that the Muslims are well on there way toward doing this. The Cordobo Project may look innocent and benevolent enought, but you must trust the right wing, it is all a ploy.
Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, pointed out in the same issue that
In 1957, President and Mrs. Eisenhower attended the popining of the Islamic
Center on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington. "And I should like to assure
you my Islamic Friends," the president said, "that under the American Con-
stitution, under American tradition, this place of worship, is just as welcome as
could be a similar edifice of any other religion. Indeed, America would fight
with her strength for your right to have here your own shurch and worship
according to your own conscience. This concept is indeed a part of America,
and without that concept we would be something else than what we are."
I wonder what would happen if President Obama attended the opening of the Cordoba Project?
As Miller points out, this is extreme paranoia, pure and simple. I thought about it and concluded that there are two reasons for this paranoia. One, they believe that all Muslims are terrorists. Second, they believe all Muslims are the same. How could people so completely ignore the facts as to come to these conclusions. It is amazing how the mind works. It will completely shut out what is obvious and logical once someone has come to preconcieved conclusions especially when they feel it is a threat to them.
The Newsweek article also quotes Gingrich speaking on Fox News as saying, "We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor." Lisa Miller then reminds us and hopefully Gingrich that this is not true. "Fourteen percent of Hawaiians call themselves ethnically Japanese, according to the U.S. Census, and dozens of Japanese temples stand near Pearl Harbor - as they have for decades." One of them, the Buddhist Aiea Hongwanji Mission, is less than a half a mile away." Miller then reminds Gingrich of the Japanese internment during this period of hysteria.
An additional focus of the article was the power of language to instill fear. Words like 'jihad' and 'sharia' "reinforce the sense among Americans that Muslims in general have an unfathomable world view."
This insight also rings very true. I had a friend in college who every time he heard something foreign or saw a foreign person, he would get excited and angry and make fun of them. One time while moving to OKC University, he saw a number of foreign students that were of eastern origin. He actually yelled out the window mocking their language saying, "A YA YAAA, PUNG CHOQ!" He then came back in the care and laughed and said something to the effect that the 'f-ing foreigners need to go home'. I was embarrassed, shocked and angry. But I was also baffled as to what would provoke such a reaction at just the sight of foreigners.
Well, it is the same reaction that Gingrich, Beck, Palin, Boehner and others have to the mosque and Muslims in general. It is an unfortunate human instinct in some people to be ethnocentric and to automatically react to people who are different from themselves in a negative way. I like to think that most of us think twice before reacting in such a manner but sometimes I wonder.
First, Miller points out that many on the far right led by Newt Gingrich and others are sure of a 'stealth jihad'. Apparantly the idea of 'stealth jihad' is running like wild fire through Fox News and other extremist media. So what is it? According to Gingrich, this is the secret plan for Muslims to take over America. The Muslims will exploit our weakness and slowly inflitrate all levels of government and society. What exactly is our weakness? Freedom of religion, speech, and all the other first amendment mumbo jumbo.
Many in America our just absolutely sure that the Muslims are well on there way toward doing this. The Cordobo Project may look innocent and benevolent enought, but you must trust the right wing, it is all a ploy.
Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, pointed out in the same issue that
In 1957, President and Mrs. Eisenhower attended the popining of the Islamic
Center on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington. "And I should like to assure
you my Islamic Friends," the president said, "that under the American Con-
stitution, under American tradition, this place of worship, is just as welcome as
could be a similar edifice of any other religion. Indeed, America would fight
with her strength for your right to have here your own shurch and worship
according to your own conscience. This concept is indeed a part of America,
and without that concept we would be something else than what we are."
I wonder what would happen if President Obama attended the opening of the Cordoba Project?
As Miller points out, this is extreme paranoia, pure and simple. I thought about it and concluded that there are two reasons for this paranoia. One, they believe that all Muslims are terrorists. Second, they believe all Muslims are the same. How could people so completely ignore the facts as to come to these conclusions. It is amazing how the mind works. It will completely shut out what is obvious and logical once someone has come to preconcieved conclusions especially when they feel it is a threat to them.
The Newsweek article also quotes Gingrich speaking on Fox News as saying, "We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor." Lisa Miller then reminds us and hopefully Gingrich that this is not true. "Fourteen percent of Hawaiians call themselves ethnically Japanese, according to the U.S. Census, and dozens of Japanese temples stand near Pearl Harbor - as they have for decades." One of them, the Buddhist Aiea Hongwanji Mission, is less than a half a mile away." Miller then reminds Gingrich of the Japanese internment during this period of hysteria.
An additional focus of the article was the power of language to instill fear. Words like 'jihad' and 'sharia' "reinforce the sense among Americans that Muslims in general have an unfathomable world view."
This insight also rings very true. I had a friend in college who every time he heard something foreign or saw a foreign person, he would get excited and angry and make fun of them. One time while moving to OKC University, he saw a number of foreign students that were of eastern origin. He actually yelled out the window mocking their language saying, "A YA YAAA, PUNG CHOQ!" He then came back in the care and laughed and said something to the effect that the 'f-ing foreigners need to go home'. I was embarrassed, shocked and angry. But I was also baffled as to what would provoke such a reaction at just the sight of foreigners.
Well, it is the same reaction that Gingrich, Beck, Palin, Boehner and others have to the mosque and Muslims in general. It is an unfortunate human instinct in some people to be ethnocentric and to automatically react to people who are different from themselves in a negative way. I like to think that most of us think twice before reacting in such a manner but sometimes I wonder.
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