By Muslim Americans became the topic of discussion during the second Presidential debate last night, when the elections reaffirmed that our country only sees value in us as superhuman thwarters of terrorism; as Muslims who report stuff, because obviously we have exclusive access to magical information that could be of use to the global War on Terror; as people to whom our lawmakers should be kind to only because otherwise we won’t comply with law enforcement, and thus we would harbor said important information and whatnot.
Let me be clear in saying that, first off, yes, we are superhuman thwarters of terrorism: Muslims have foiled countless potential terrorist plots to date, in addition to being victims of terrorist attacks, and first responders during terrorist attacks. But that’s just because we’re good people, if you care to acknowledge the 99.08% of Muslims around the world who aren’t blowing things up.
Second, framing our only use to society as being informants against terrorism is a perpetuation of baseline Islamophobia that contains terrorism within religious lines, and implicates an entire people as a result of it.
Regardless, I would like to do my part in contributing to society in the best way I’ve been told I can. I would like to report a terrorist that has presented a threat to me and my fellow Americans on an everyday basis. I’d like to report The White Guy.
Every single time I’ve been harassed, verbally attacked, and even physically assaulted for my religion, it’s always been at the hands of The White Guy.
Regardless, I would like to do my part in contributing to society in the best way I’ve been told I can. I would like to report a terrorist that has presented a threat to me and my fellow Americans on an everyday basis. I’d like to report The White Guy.
When I walk down the street in New York, it’s not extremists that I fear, unless you count the Bible thumpers I have to dodge on the subway who really want to convert a hijabi. In my day to day life, as a Muslim woman who equally fears ISIS just like my non-Muslim counterparts, it’s not them I unrealistically worry about encountering, as our hyperbolic media would have us assume. When I avoid the edge of the subway platform for fear of getting pushed onto the tracks, or I defensively turn my headphones off to stay alert to anti-Muslim tension around me, the person I am always fearing is The White Guy.
By the logic of our esteemed laws, and our American affinity for racial profiling, The White Guy really, really needs to get banned from our country. And it’s not just because he has a taste for attacking Muslims, even though anti-Muslim hate crimes have been on the rise since this election began, especially targeting veiled Muslim women like me. It’s also because The White Guy really loves playing with weapons, and justifying his globally outlandish behavior by citing a Constitutional amendment or something.
CNN reports that a whopping two-thirds of mass shootings in America are committed by — drum roll, please — The White Guy.
According to a report last year, based on statistics provided by the U.S. State Department itself, gun violence has claimed over 100 times more lives than terrorist attacks over the past decade.
Let me think about all the various ways I can say this: In 2001 alone, gun violence claimed ten times as many lives as the Sept. 11 attack. If you add up all the lives lost to terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from then until 2013, they still don’t add up to the lowest calendar year of gun casualties during that time.
CNN reports that a whopping two-thirds of mass shootings in America are committed by — drum roll, please — The White Guy.
It’s the question I posed to The White Guy on the street who asked me if I was part of ISIS while I was walking home in Brooklyn this summer: I retorted, “Well, are you a part of the KKK?”
If you can see the latter being ludicrous and not the first, then you are an example of the type of bias that our American politics both inspire and affirm. Both ways, it neglects the most paramount violence afflicting not just Muslim Americans, but Americans as a whole.
I would like to call on white Americans to take responsibility for The White Guy. We can’t contain this terrorist ourselves — we really need your help to identify, report, and foil. Surely you know more about his ways than we do. I’d ask for a collective apology on his behalf, but I wouldn’t want to offend any white people, lest they continue to choose to not comply with law enforcement.
Bravo! As a resident of Colorado, where we have mass shootings every 22 months or so (I believe all by white men, so far), where Timothy McVeigh was tried and convicted of murdering 168 and wounding over 600, and where his co-conspiritor, Terry Nichols, resides in the SuperMax prison, I’m not worried about my neighbors who might worship in one of our local Mosques. I just hope my other neighbors heed your call because that 22 month clock continues to tick in our open carry state….
Most mass-shooters in the US are non-white. Most shootings in the US are committed by black men with illegal handguns.
Blacks are about 12.5% of the US population, and commit over 50% of homicides.
Seriously, there are too many logical fallacies and conflations of ideas to react effectively to this article, apart from to ask are you serious or is this sarcasm.
Good to see your still relying on that 99% figure, how about discussing or dealing with the real problem the primary cancer within Islam – Islamism Jihadist/Fundamentalist like ISIS are the secondary cancer only.
Why not honestly and frankly confront the issue head on if boldness is truly your style.
I’m queer. I’m in far more danger every day from white US lawmakers than any Muslim I have ever met. I’m sorry for the hate you’re getting and I try to be a pleasant presence in the lives of the Muslim families I help at the library I work at.
As a queer Muslim, I definitely feel much more afraid of people because of my Muslim identity than from being queer. It may be relative to where we both live and possibly different cultures in those places, so I’m not negating that being queer may be much more difficult for you where you live. But at least where I am, it’s much easier to be out in the LGBTQ community than it is to wear hijab or admit to your coworkers that you are Muslim.
I’m sorry, I think I expressed myself poorly! I meant that I’m in more danger from white lawmakers than I am *from* Muslims. The Islamophobia rampant in the US absolutely would have me believe that Muslims are the major danger I face and they – the Islamophobic lawmakers and populace – are “trying to protect me”.
I’m queer. I’m in far more danger every day from white US lawmakers than any Muslim I have ever met.
Then clearly you’ll much safer right now in a Muslim, non-white country than one bound by the vestiges of patriarchal white hegemony.
So, when are you moving?
Yeah, that’s gonna be a long wait.
It’s remarkable how many declarations by the Far Left seem to be intended purely for signaling purposes, like Savinien’s above. It doesn’t seem possible that he could in any way intend that statement to be evaluated in terms of its direct real-world implications. Self-delusion, or at least the outward denial of reality, seems to be something that leftists view as a positive “virtue.” I’m going to go ahead and evaluate whether there appears to be any empirical support for what his feelz tell him anyway.
Let’s look at what some prominent Muslim countries have to say about the wonders of the diversely-sexually-preferenced:
“Gays should be tortured and hanged, says Iranian minister meeting British MPs”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-493570/Gays-tortured-hanged-says-Iranian-minister-meeting-British-MPs.html
OK, but that’s a neocon tabloid. Maybe they just made it up, or something.
Let’s check what those ebil white supreeemist not-sees at the Puffington Host have to say about how Saudi Arabia, home of Mecca, center of the Muslim world, treats those who engage in the love that dare not speak its name:
“Saudi Arabia Beheads Gays, but Marco Rubio Has No Problem With You Traveling There”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/saudi-arabia-beheads-gays_b_6354636.html
Hmm… How about wikipedia? Surely Jimmy Wales’ minions — good progressives all — would strive to avoid even the faintest taint of “Islamophobia?”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia
“LGBT rights are not recognized by the government of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi social mores and laws are heavily influenced by Arab tribal customs and ultra-conservative Wahhabi Islam. Homosexuality and transgenderism are widely seen as immoral and indecent activities, and the law punishes acts of homosexuality or cross-dressing with execution, imprisonment, fines, corporal punishment, or whipping/flogging.”
It’s not looking good for the chances for peaceful coexistence between Mohammedans, and those whose loafers lack density. Maybe he should just claim that Muslims are only fond of homosexuals in Muslim-minority (or perhaps white-majority) countries? So as long as the demographics don’t change too much, his vacuous virtue signaling should carry no direct personal cost.
The other possibility is that his hatred for normal white men outweighs all other considerations, so that he is willing to disregard a certain amount of personal risk. That’s a possibility, too.
Indeed, it’s almost as if his comment were not anchored in any sort of objective reality.
and those whose loafers lack density
Comic gold!
(He might be a she of course)
Lol.
Person actively trying to protect my rights and safety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilhan_Omar
Person actively trying to erode my rights and safety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
Let me be clear in saying that, first off, yes, we are superhuman thwarters of terrorism: Muslims have foiled countless potential terrorist plots to date
None of which would have occurred without the presence of Muslims in the first place.
On a related note, speaking of terrorism, it’s remarkable how ISIS drives Arabs out of the ‘Greater Israel’ region into the West (where Israel officially welcomes them in Greece) and drives Jews out of the West into ‘Greater Israel.’
A cohencidence no doubt.