02-07-2004, 12:33 AM
"Today, most Americans and other Westerners avoid to have a second look at faces with traditional Muslim beard or heads with a headscarf."
Perhaps people "avoid a second look at faces with traditional Muslim beards or head scarves" because ... staring at someone is considered rude in my culture! A quick glance is permissable but taking a second look at someone is rude. If you see an American looking at your beard or headscarf and then quickly looking away more then likely they are trying to be polite by not staring. A beard and headscarf is something unique to some Americans and they will look with curiosity but not stare impolitely. We are incredibly sensative about staring. We have many social taboos against such a thing.
If anyone thinks that *most* American eyes are diverted from a Muslim beard or scarf out of prejudice then you are wrong. There are ignorant racist people in every country and America certainly has her share. Please do not spead such broad generalizations about Americans because all it will do is breed hatred. I can tell you from experience that when we Americans heard about the hate crimes against Muslims in our country after 9/11 we were FURIOUS. Many good people, myself included, were ready to defend any Muslim we saw being tormented. Did you notice how the attacks and hate crimes were stopped rather quickly? We would not tolerate such nonsense.
Please, do not think that "most Americans" accept such behavior or harbor such hatred. It would be better to say "a few Americans" or "some Americans" are prejudiced against a person wearing a traditional Muslim beard or head scarf. They would be the exeption, not the rule.
"Placards saying "Jews not admitted" and "Jews enter this place at their own risk" began to appear all over Germany in less than five years time. In some parts of the country Jews were banned from public parks, swimming-pools and public transport. History is on the way to repeating itself _— this time for Muslims."
No it is not. We will not allow such a thing. The minute a placard appears in a window saying, "Muslims not allowed" the offending establisment will certainly hear about it from the rest of us Americans!!!!!! Do you know why? Because a lot of us Americans are Muslims! And the ones that are not Muslim enjoy the religious freedoms granted to us on American soil. If one Religion is being attacked then all Religions are under attack and we won't tolerate that! I cannot speak for Europe but I deffinately know America will not tolerate such idiocy. If this kind of stuff is taking place right now it certainly will not spread.
If anyone feels the need to educate others about hate crimes then that is acceptable. Education keeps ignorance from spreading. Posting individual instances of hate crimes is an excellent way to keep people informed and active against such things. But please do not assume that "most Americans" are against Muslims. That entire article (I visited the link) is very insulting. It assumes so much about us Americans.
"From now on, Islam is both an identity and a crime. It makes a person’s citizenship and his rights totally irrelevant. Eighty percent of the Jews in Germany held German citizenship. The so-called racial profiling in the US is nothing but a refined term for pure racism. The US Supreme Court has legalised detention of thousands of Muslims on mere suspicion."
What about the non-Muslim Americans that are accused of terrorism and detained, questioned, and profiled? What about all of the other Muslims that come and go freely and unhindered? This article seems like a good case of "The glass is half-empty" to me. Why whip up unnessesary fear by comparing apples to oranges? But to compare us with Nazis?????????
Yes, there are injustices in the system. No system is perfect. It's hard not to be suspicious when terrorists are broadcasting all over the world, "It's every Muslim's job to kill Americans.". Can you blame American authorities for being careful? Wouldn't you do the same if terrorists were saying, "It's every American's job to kill Muslims." That'd be kinda scary don't you think? If I was in charge of security I'd be checking out every American that came into my country!
And those ID cards with x-amount of pages of information: everyone would have one, not just the Muslims. So how can this be "we are out to get the Muslims"? This is not the same as pinning the Star of David onto every Jew's coat.
I'd take that whole article with a big grain of salt.