By Coming out of London this week, is some classic and very explicit English prejudice. Allow me to set the scene. We’re on a crowded bus going through town, there’s a pregnant Muslim woman, there’s a belligerent non-Muslim woman — action!
In other iterations, the video varies in length but the message is unchanging. An unidentified woman screams obscenities at the pregnant Umm Lina, a Muslim woman riding the bus with her 3-year-old daughter and 52-year-old mother.
The bus screamer accused Umm Lina of being an “ISIS bitch” and even threatened to kick her in the stomach so that she could “never have a kid again.”
Umm Lina is an Italian national, originally from Morocco, and speaks fluent Italian, French and Arabic. During the rant, she did not fully understand what her abuser was saying but was afraid for her safety. She tried saying “Please, shhh” in English, but the bus screamer only raised her voice. When Umm Lina asked the bus driver to call the police, he told her she could do that herself.
As equally shocking as the rant itself, is that no one on the bus seemed to care. Bystanders witnessed the gruesome harassment and chose to remain silent even after the bus screamer threatened to “donkey kick” Lina’s pregnant belly. Perhaps donkey kicking is a traditional English greeting that we are not aware of, but it seems a little…hmm…violent?
The Metropolitan Police are aware of the footage and claim that they are investigating the situation.
This absolutely ridiculous attack is yet another case of the growing anti-Muslim sentiment infecting large portions of the world. The entire world, not just America, not just England, but the planet Earth. Let the immensity of that sit with you for a moment.
The media’s obsession with ISIS, which is technically the product of American insurgence, has served as fuel to the fire of Muslim haters. Throwing the term ISIS around serves as a cover all for why people just can’t trust having Muslims in their neighborhood or country. The climate has become so dangerous for all Muslims that we can barely step outside without having to worry about hate crimes, anti-Islam protests, mosque vandalism, and in extreme cases: murder — just like in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
According to FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, hate crimes against Muslims are still five times higher than before the Sept. 11 tragedy. This means that children who were not even alive for that event will be reaping the bitter fruit of Islamophobia for something that, to them, will have to be learned in a history class.
Umm Lina is a drop in an enormous bucket of fear and intolerance. But her case shows us the true extent of the damage. No one stood up to defend her. No one said, “stop.” No one offered to switch places with her so she didn’t have to stay so close to the bus screamer. No one had the decency to recognize a pregnant woman in distress. Some of the people on that bus might have even agreed with what was taking place.
So, why? Why can this happen? Because hating Muslims isn’t just common, it’s become trendy. It’s something that people can bond over in the way that we bond over hating specific movies or TV shows. Oh you didn’t like the first season of Gotham? Me neither, let’s be best friends and start a blog about all of the canonical flaws of the series!
Oh you don’t like Muslims? Me neither, let’s be best friends and apply to be volunteers at the next Pam Gellar event!
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Written by Shayreen Izoli
Image from Video
Sadness
Here in Australia we have the Islamophobia Register: http://www.islamophobia.com.au/
It’s all well and good to shame this woman on social media, but has this incident been reported to the authorities??
“The entire world, not just America, not just England, but the planet Earth. Let the immensity of that sit with you for a moment.” ok, I’ve sat with that for a moment. and I’ve watched the video. I’ve also watched videos of people actually being beheaded. but muslims don’t want to ‘sit with that for a moment’.
so this woman rants and raves, yet does nothing violent, while 10s of thousands of muslims actually kill people and enslave yazidi girls and sell them as sex slaves. talk about a giant bucket.
As if! Muslims are constantly both indirectly and directly being punished for ISIS’s actions. We deal with much more than just ‘sit with that for a moment’. Islamophobia is rampant, and Muslims are being murdered by ISIS everyday–much more often than any other group, might I add. And yet, we’re the ones to blame. You aren’t seeing the bigger picture, Just Saying.
I see the bigger picture. I see 1.5 billion muslims who keep claiming that islam is a religion of peace. I see thousands of muslims going to fight FOR the Islamic State and none going to fight against it. 1.5 billion, can’t take on 50,000, lol.
“much more often than any other group, might I add” the yazidi might have an argument there, at least as a percentage of their overall world wide population.
you think islamophobia is rampant, maybe so. but let me ask you this, if say the copts in Egypt or the jews in iran, carried out a 9/11 type attack. do you think there would be a copt left in Egypt or a jew in Persia?
y’all are the biggest hypocrites on the planet. woe is me, a woman on a bus screamed at me. meantime muslims are blowing things up all over the world.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34647186
but wait, the turks are finally fighting IS. oh my bad, they shelled the kurds. lol.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34645462
Well Mike, just a thought occurred to me while going thru your conversation here. Maybe, just maybe…you’re not familiar with the concept of invoking sympathy for religion in Asian countries or culture. In most of Asia except maybe in China, North Korea or countries part of erstwhile USSR but part of Asia now, story-telling is often used to inculcate the love for religion or the need for it. Story-telling here means, emotional characterisation or heightened up emotional appeal in the narrative. Often the religious propagators, the priest, the Mullahs, the pundits use emotional narrative to buttress the religious narrative or incidents. If you’ve seen on tv, there might be so many Mullahs, Hindu preachers (Gurus) who’re giving emotional sermons and even the Christians on God Tv. going through the charade of inciting emotions so as to gain sympathy for their favored religion. And often in these congregations, you might see people going thru some kinda emotional trance, uncontrollable tears flowing and sobbings and even dancing in ecstasy at some point of narrative when they feel elated at some esoteric joy.
Now, coming to the context of this article, this is written in the same spirit of invoking emotions among women readers. No impeccable rational logic could be found in such sort of emotionally made up/heightened up incidents only the aim that there’s injustice being done on the religious/pious followers. Often this sort of emotional tales are lapped up by the women and in some cases men too primarily Asians but in societies (mostly western) this might be frowned upon as reckless over-dramatization of things as rational sense is much appreciated there.
yeah, I understand sales. and propaganda.
just asking for a little honest perspective from the muslims. clearly I ask for too much.
Somehow, this sort of persuasive sales pitch is not limited to only the Islam religion, Hinduism and other religions to some extent also takes recourse to such antics. Basically, it got lot to do with culture and people’s mindset. People who get emotional (especially women) are targeted with such emotional narratives by these Gurus, Mullahs and Priests. Regarding menfolk, they are also targeted for their emotions or just the harping of it.
Nevertheless, consider it as my personal observation, I’m not familiar with western society or culture as never been to West or experienced different culture but as I’ve seen over the years, the people both (men-&-women) who generally get engrossed with such sort of emotional charade of stories, rants and other nuisances with the aim of igniting religiosity/emotions/motives are generally themselves too cruel in their personal behavior and concrete craniums in their thoughts with no chances to changing their personal ego’s. Strange it may seem as an accusation but the more cruel the person, the more likelihood that he/she may be giving ears to these nondescript emotional narratives. It’s a fit case for some psychologist to explain, I’m not that one but still insist that it’s just my personal observation.
the west has our share of con-men too. and the religions con is and old, tried and true one. I thought you have mentioned tv evangelicals before? there used to be traveling tent revivals. like carnivals they would go town to town and bilk people out of their money, often with a ‘faith healing’ con. now they have mega-churches and don’t often do the ‘healing’ part. although in the 70s and 80s there was a guy who would go to Africa and claim to heal people, elmesly? oral Roberts once said that god was going to kill him if he didn’t raise 5 million, or maybe 10. and that was back when that was a lot of money. the money poured in. you know what they say, ‘a fool and his money is soon to be departed’.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing
funny thing, I watched ‘man on the moon’, the movie about Andy Hoffman last night. it ended with him going to the Philippines to have the no knife ‘surgery’. he sees the guy with the chicken parts in his hand and smiles about the scam.
As you may know that in India we have hundreds of Gurus. They often teach religious discourses to their so-called blind followers. Often they have females drooling over them in great numbers and most of them are lecherous fellas in every sense, privately. They’re psychopaths of highest order, can give all your data (mental, physical and whatever the senses) with just a glance and use you to the fullest. Often the tactics used by them in narrative verses of religion is full of these emotional incidents. I can even say that Muslims are catching up on them, they’re picking up the nuances of being a Guru. You might face in future, Muslim gurus who will give history, geography, chemistry of your entire DNA (thoughts) in no-time.
But as they say, as long as there are gullible people there will be people out there to exploit them and unfortunately, religion is the most likely tool that people prefer to con others. And one more thing personally, the reason I prefer to be atheist/realist is due to the fact that I’ve to overcome new challenges every time which I wouldn’t have encountered earlier if I’m just faithful to some mumbo-jumbo faith. As long as the Gurus are there, I’m also alive for them.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/25/us/bikram-yoga-sex-assault-lawsuits/index.html
“There’s a sucker born every minute” is a phrase most likely spoken by David Hannum, in criticism of both P. T. Barnum, an American showman of the mid 19th century, and his customers. The phrase is often credited to Barnum himself. It means “Many people are gullible, and we can expect this to continue.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_sucker_born_every_minute
Glad I saw this. I just cued P.T. Barnum yesterday. I guess I should have cued David Hannum. Oh, well. I’m sure people got my point anyhow.
yeah I never heard that it was wrongly attributed. everyone thinks barnum said it, so I’m sure they got it.
It’s amazing that US does attract so many Gurus to its shores not only from India but from so many other places. It also does produces so many plethora of home-grown Gurus too. I think, you may have heard about one earlier Guru Rajneesh (Osho), the Oregon resident I presume. He was also lecherous in quite a weird sense. In fact, we have so many Gurus in India caught these days and languishing in Jail for being rapist (Child or serial) and many female Gurus too exploiting the sexuality in the garb of practicing some puritanical form of religiosity. The more you hear about them, the more you’ll be perplexed about their pervert/hidden/evil desires and agenda but this is all religion and one can commit any number of things/crimes with sure shot ideas of getting atonement for their fallibilities.
And you might also be amazed at the number of people who’re in search of spirituality, hope in situation of being clueless or just the desire to feel/sense something unique or out of the world experience. Basically, it is all part of our nature to be gullible at some time in our life and I do wonder sometimes that how these religions mystique keeps them lulled into their fold or even attracts them.
lots of people ‘in search’ of something greater them themselves. we have lots of cults in America. from the big well established ones, catholics and evangelicals, to the new, scientology and the small. did you ever hear of the branch davidians or hevens gate? or bad to the 70s jim jones? to the in between, the (fundamental) Mormons just had a guy jailed because they like to marry 13 and 14 year old girls.
a woman a used to date had a brother that was a ‘deprogrammer’ back in the 80s and 90s. not sure if he still does it, but rich people would hire him to kidnap their college aged kids back from cults and “un brain wash” them. look at what Charles Manson got seemingly normal people to do.
Well, that was informative, I haven’t heard most of them, though I did have heard of that scientology word during news sometime back when one actress divorced that guy Tom Cruise for being under the influence of some Scientology Guru. Didn’t know what that sorta stuff is.
However, could you be more informative about why the American are going for this weird cults and all so many Gurus, Creeps and all that? Is there something that is lacking in life esoteric (whatever) which the Americans in search of always…!
dude I don’t want to leave you with the impression that most americans are in crazy cults. I did call the catholics and evangelicals cults, but they general don’t demand the type of loyalty that these smaller cults do. the average America gets up, goes to work and raises their kids. most do consider themselves to be religious (Christian), but as the muslims like to say, most Christians don’t take their religion seriously. I think most are going with the old theory, ‘better to believe in god and there not be one, then to not believe in god and there be one’. I think death is what drives most people to religion. and of course their upbringing. as for people who join cults of different religions then the one they were raised in. or ‘born again’ Christians who leave and come back with greater fervor, I imagine their reasons are diverse.
some people are addicts and religion helps them. some are molested. some may just like to belong to a larger group. some people probably join cults as a rebellion against their religious upbringing.
I think religion or spirituality is a pacifier to most people. it comforts them.
Well, that was impressive description of things. You do think seriously sometimes. However, there are thoughts in my mind, as you know when you say “It comforts them.” then, it does have repercussion as well. When people tend to think of their comforts all the time or more often then, somehow the tendency to be selfish creeps into their persona. Although, they may try to be as polite, gentle but there’ll be always lurking the selfishness.
Do you think that the American society in general is quite selfish or do they acts as somewhat mature enough to avoid giving the impression of being selfish..?
I do however feels that, most of these religious nut-jobs are actually quite selfish themselves and in case of mature women, religiosity is just some hidden charade in real life to hide their evil nature. We do have so many running battles between mother-in-laws with their daughter-in-laws all the time in case of joint families, if you happen to see the subcontinental serials then you’ll see full of this drama.
American society is selfish. it is designed to be selfish, it is capitalistic. if everyone just managed to take care of themselves (and dependents of course) everything would be fine. yet at the same time we spend $80 billion a year on food stamps. we have public housing projects. we are a walking self contradiction. we as a society love the underdog and like to give people second chances. but we also love the rich and aspire to be them. as I’m sure you know, we only have two main political parties in America. at the core they aren’t too different. the only real difference is in government re-distribution of wealth. the democrats want to tax the rich to feed (and cloth and house and educate) the poor. the republicans want the poor to feed themselves.
yeah, mother-in -laws. pretty much universally hated. or at least joked about being hated and usually good for some drama. I think y’alls problem is most likely, you put too many people in the same house.
As I’ve learnt over the years and from experiences on chatting, being selfish or whatever the faults or good qualities do also have their repercussions only when they’re in excess/obsession. Repercussion for being too selfish/obsessive might come in the form of accepting any religion, ideology or whatever cult. Somehow, the obsession with being selfish is likely to turn into a corner sometime and the fella will seek help (religion, guidance,spirituality blah..blah…blah). I do see so many examples of that in everyday life. Not denying that everybody is selfish somewhat but it gotta be up to a point, excess of anything lead to bad.
Regarding subsidies or whatever doles that America gives out to its citizens, I think it can afford that so no problem with that. Every other country do try to keep its flock happy with their own version of doles, nothing new in that. Regarding having two main parties, it can be good in the sense that it doesn’t intend to enlarge govt. with any number of parties. We have huge govt. with so many parties, so many leaders, so many local toughies, so many this or that, Indian govt. is huge affair so, if having a leaner govt. then just like US, it can be good for us too.
Regarding joint families, there’re various pros-n-cons, since in poor countries, there aren’t that much old-age homes, nor the caring for elderly available, it can work for good in situations. What if the situation improves and people live longer maybe, 100-110 yrs. who’s going to take care of these elderly, so joint family is necessity in poor countries. However, do agree that joint family means constant bickering and jealousy, fight, ill-will and what not angry retorts at each other but people adapt if they see the reason or need as they age. Unfortunately, to be reasonable towards each other often comes in times of desperation/something bad happening among the members of joint family but what to do…as sensible thoughts-n-lectures are only the things to be mocked at when you’re capable/young/independent.
fyi, your English is really good, but ‘did have’ – don’t really go together. they pretty much mean the same thing. both are in the past so no need to but them in the same sentence. it would be, ‘I did hear’ or ‘I have heard’.
I think some of the girls who were in the manson family have gotten out of jail? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson
Nah…my english is just a learnt guess from online chats. I used to chat online for hours but now-a-days online chats died because of perverts, Kik, Whatsapp….application. All they want is the usual s** which is never my forte ever. I can’t go on doing the same thing over-n-over with everyone on the planet.
Regarding the new-age Gurus, here we have these lady Guru hogging the limelight these days. She (Radhe Maa) used to offer her special services to all-n-sundry (especially the celebrities) mixed with spiritual enlightenment along with the usual s** that’s hogging the tv time. Everybody is extolling the virtues of morality these days while none have it. There’s quite a bit of tendency among the high-n-mighty to cultivate these female Gurus who offer personalized services. Male Gurus are passe now, it’s the females who’ll take the lead now. And the male Gurus are now reduced to wheeler-dealers of whatever sorts, doing whatever sorts of deal (arms, money-laundering, trafficking..you name it).