BLAME THE MUSLIMS (part deux)

Anders Breivik’s attacks in Oslo make the single largest act of terror & violence Norway has seen since World War II. The shockwaves of fear, sadness & angers will undoubtedly leave the victims’ families with far more questions than answers. As we find out more details, people will point fingers & voices will be raised, but there’s an important lesson in something that, I wager, will not happen.

Amid all of the passionate debate for solutions on how to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again, you won’t find the suggestion that airport security should suspect every Nordic-looking person wearing a cross of terrorist sympathies. If a Christian announced plans to build a church across the street from the Norweigian Prime Minister’s office, you’d be confused at suggestions that the building was an affront to the 7/22 victims’ memory. Muslims, unfortunately, were never afforded such considerations after 9/11. Americans of all colors & creeds quickly embraced the idea that Islamic ideology & not an atypical breed of hatred & violence were at the heart of the attacks on the World Trace Center.

The evidence of this fear is all too fresh. I’m sure you’ll recall about this time last summer when American politicians bashed Park51, the Muslim community center which will open a few blocks from Ground Zero later this year, as insensitive & disrespectful to the 9/11 victims & their families. Of course, the creators of the project, like many Muslims in their everyday life, did everything in their power to distance themselves from the extremists who carried out the 9/11 attacks, but it was not good enough. A symbol of Islam was a symbol of the 9/11 attack & you couldn’t tell some New Yorkers anything else.

Here is the crux of the issue: white(s &) Christians will never feel the need to distance themselves from the Brievik’s behavior (nor should they) & that’s because no one would think to clump them together in the first place. Whites & Christians have the luxury of being taken as individuals. Breivik’s madness is the result of his extremist ideas, not the result of his religious/cultural austerity. This logic doesn’t hold for Muslims. Many Westerners conceive of Muslims, despite being as diverse & individual as those of any other religion, as a monolithic whole. Most Americans know few, if any Muslims & even less about the nuances of Islam. Thus, blaming all Islam for the actions of an infinitesimal minority is not only easy, but goes without consequence to the perpetrators.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot. Any American can imagine how belittling & infuriating it would feel to be assumed to support Brievik’s acts when his beliefs are as foreign & noxious to you as they are to the rest of the country. Times like these are telling about our “progressive” Western society; they illicit very different responses to what are, at the root, very similar tragedies – & the only differences will be color & creed.

At a moment like this, I call on all those who love democracy & freedom to get your picketing signs & march on the nearest church – preferably one with a majority white congregation (don’t worry, you won’t have to look far). After all, it’s the American way.

Astagfiru limomo [MdG]