Why Islamophobia Is Bad
We’ve all heard about Islam, the religion that is widely practiced in the Middle East, parts in Asia and even a minority of the religion’s believers reside in the USA. However, to most people, when the word “Islam” is mentioned, only terrorism, war and heinous crimes come to mind.
The truth, however, is that not all people who hold steadfast to the Islamic faith are bad. As with every religion, there will be a share of both good and bad people, because ultimately, we are all only human. For the Muslims, unfortunately, the media perpetuates the negative media coverage and causes Islamophobia to be even more deeply rooted in society. A study by researchers proved that nearly 2/3 of news reports on Muslims are negative, especially after the 9/11 attacks.
The main reason for the Islamophobia we see today is what we see and hear from the media, and now that it’s proved that the media only magnifies the handful of terrorists and crimeophiliacs that are of the Muslim faith, the whole idea of being against an entire religion seems absurd. Aside from that, having such hatred to a single group of people within our society can also affect us in many ways.
4 Main Reasons Of Islamophobia
#1 Unwanted Prejudice
Where there is hate, there will be prejudice. And vice versa. It is an endless, self-destructing cycle. The thing with hate is that, while we simmer in it, we fail to give the other party a chance to uncover their real selves. The lady in the burqa across the street is not attempting an attack on the Empire State Building, she’s just a regular mom, that sends her kids off to school, goes to work, does the chores, just like you and me.
#2 Living In Fear
If you do not know something well, you will live in fear of it. The same applies in this context. People rarely take the opportunity to stop and actually get to know the Muslims that are within their community, but quickly lap up what the media says about them. It is always better to get the story first-hand, so if you have Muslim neighbors or friends, take any opportunity you get to get to know them, get to know their culture, the do’s and don’ts. This will give you better insight on what kind of people they really are and you can make your own, informed conclusions then.
#3 Hate Crimes
Hate crimes affecting Muslims have been filling the news, yet such things still keep happening. The motivation for such hate crimes are due to the lack of understanding of how Muslims live within a society and also the generalization that “all Muslims are terrorists”. And the victims of this can range from adults to even young teens, just like the latest issue where two teenagers were run over because they were believed to be Muslims . Read more on why such hate crime can be a major issue.
#4 Social Segregation
When you live in fear of a certain race or religion, and you have very little understanding on how they actually live their life, their culture and their beliefs, you will have the tendency to socially segregate them. Muslims all over the world face this issue and this can be particularly damaging in shared, public spaces such as schools. At such young ages, Muslim children are sbeing subjected to isolation and taunting due to a factor that they have no control of. Not only is this sad, but this can cause the child permanent emotional scarring.
Islamophobia is definitely a damaging problem. It creates a divide in an otherwise harmonious community and creates tension over things that can be solved by just getting to know each other a little better. Muslims are people too and if we can see that, issues such as Islamophobia would never be seen in the diverse racial landscape of America. Have you been a victim of Muslim hate mail or nasty text messages targeted to people who hold fast to Islam? Our email lookup and phone number search would be able to uncover the details of your harasser in just minutes.
Disclaimer:
The above is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute a legal advice or specific recommendations in any way.
