Crian PadayacheeFear Of Islam
June 20th 2008 19:40
Some people may not know it, but there is an underlying fear of Islam and Muslim people in America, that is to be expected to a certain extent given the events of 9/11 and 7/7 in England. The Media are also to be blamed as they have sensationalized the “War on Terror” always making sure that some people never step down from that hyper-awareness of Muslim = Violence=Terror=War. Is this true though? I don’t think so and I believe the majority of Americans do not thinks so however it has become a major issue in this campaign with many in the Obama and McCain camps afraid to sit down with the various Muslim organizations in America.
Why is that? The simple answer, that no one wants to talk about is that it is not politically correct in America to be associating with people of the Islamic faith. This is because at this very moment in time, the religious right in America have been increasing their control of various media outlets (Yes Fox News!)since the inception of the Bush presidency.
This control has allowed them to paint America as a mono-theological nation when it is actually a multi-theological nation. One of the things I miss about Worcester, MA is that within that small city there was one Greek Church, two Buddhist Temples, one Episcopalian Church, one Islamic Center, one Methodist Church and probably many other religious places that leave my memory at the moment. The point is that being multi-religious is something that Americans should celebrate as opposed to denigrate because I certainly brag about this to my European friends here in Ireland. Ireland is predominantly a Christian nation and that is to be expected given the giant Cross in Phoenix Park (Yes it really is that big…) therefore I encourage my friends to at least explore other faiths through literature since they cannot experience them at the relevant institutions.
Theophobia is defined as the fear of gods or religion; this is a word that I believe will become synonymous with American if Senator McCain is elected . If you were not aware already, Senator Obama’s camp told two woman that they could not sit behind him wearing a hijab on Monday (the reason for this post). What the volunteer’s on Senator Obama’s camp did was inexcusable and I hope the Senator will make a concerted effort to sit down with Arab-Muslim leaders in America as well as leaders of other religious faiths to demonstrate how different he is from Senator McCain.
That being said, 23% of Democrats who view Senator Obama negatively believe he is Muslim according to a March 27 poll by the PEW Research Center. This data might provide people and insight into the actions of Senator Obama’s volunteers but are still not an excuse given the principles of the campaign . I imagine these numbers have decreased but there is still a significant portion of Americans who believe he is Muslim and might not vote for him because of that deception. I blame Fox News and other right-wing media sources for this but I believe this incident as played to the benefit of Senator Obama who is a stand-up guy and personally called the women in question to apologize.
Why is that? The simple answer, that no one wants to talk about is that it is not politically correct in America to be associating with people of the Islamic faith. This is because at this very moment in time, the religious right in America have been increasing their control of various media outlets (Yes Fox News!)since the inception of the Bush presidency.
So far this year, ratings leader Fox News is up 22% in total viewers in primetime compared to a similar period in 2006 and 2% from 2004, according to Nielsen rating data provided by MSNBC. - 2 June 2008
This control has allowed them to paint America as a mono-theological nation when it is actually a multi-theological nation. One of the things I miss about Worcester, MA is that within that small city there was one Greek Church, two Buddhist Temples, one Episcopalian Church, one Islamic Center, one Methodist Church and probably many other religious places that leave my memory at the moment. The point is that being multi-religious is something that Americans should celebrate as opposed to denigrate because I certainly brag about this to my European friends here in Ireland. Ireland is predominantly a Christian nation and that is to be expected given the giant Cross in Phoenix Park (Yes it really is that big…) therefore I encourage my friends to at least explore other faiths through literature since they cannot experience them at the relevant institutions.
Theophobia is defined as the fear of gods or religion; this is a word that I believe will become synonymous with American if Senator McCain is elected . If you were not aware already, Senator Obama’s camp told two woman that they could not sit behind him wearing a hijab on Monday (the reason for this post). What the volunteer’s on Senator Obama’s camp did was inexcusable and I hope the Senator will make a concerted effort to sit down with Arab-Muslim leaders in America as well as leaders of other religious faiths to demonstrate how different he is from Senator McCain.
That being said, 23% of Democrats who view Senator Obama negatively believe he is Muslim according to a March 27 poll by the PEW Research Center. This data might provide people and insight into the actions of Senator Obama’s volunteers but are still not an excuse given the principles of the campaign . I imagine these numbers have decreased but there is still a significant portion of Americans who believe he is Muslim and might not vote for him because of that deception. I blame Fox News and other right-wing media sources for this but I believe this incident as played to the benefit of Senator Obama who is a stand-up guy and personally called the women in question to apologize.
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