| |
 Print
Our actions will change the narrative
11-18-2015
The terrorist attack in Paris last week was yet another reminder for everyone how vulnerable we really are, how easy it is for the terrorists to carry out an attack in the name of Islam, and how convenient it is for the media to put the blame of such incidents entirely on Islamic faith and its adherents.
The by-product of such false labeling or misdirected information or understanding often leads to a backlash against the Muslim community as well as other minorities rises. The perpetrators level of knowledge can be evaluated on the basis that they do not even know the difference between Muslim, Sikhs, and Hindus. The biggest challenge for the Muslims and other minorities is to educate the masses, not only educating the masses about the positive aspects, the richness of our culture and faiths, but also about the terrorists and how they wish to tear us apart from within.
The most important factor we all need to recognize now is that it has been more than fourteen years since the 9/11 incident in New York, which lead to the “War on Terror.” Since then, there has been numerous terrorists’ attacks around the world, and with each such attack the Muslims and other minorities living in the west get the brunt of the backlash. What is even more concerning is that the intensity of the backlash increases, creating a greater divide among people, greater misunderstanding, greater distance, all of it serving the cause of the terrorists. This is what terrorist groups such as ISIS/ISIL, Al-Qaeda want. Tear the western society’s harmony and cohesiveness among its citizens from the inside. They despise the fact that how a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, a Sikh, a Christian can dare to go together for a coffee or lunch? This is what they are after – this is what they wish to take away from us.
A degree of the blame lies with the mainstream media for adamantly refusing to distinguish between the terrorists and their faith, and keep connecting terrorists’ religion with the rest of the community. However, they are not to be blamed alone. The Muslims in the west also need to own up to the fact that knowing that each such incident brings greater harm to our community, placing us, our families, our businesses and employment all at risk. Yet it has been more than fourteen years since the 9/11 incident and the backlash that followed, we have done very little to confront the issue. In essence, we have successfully failed to educate our friends and our neighbours about Islam and Muslims. Not only we have failed as a community, but also as individuals, we have failed. Let’s admit it!
A Facebook status today summarized what has happened since the Paris Attacks – “Social Media or Hate Media.”
One has to click on the Facebook account and immediately we realize how much anger, frustration, is out there against Islam and Muslims. There is a clear rise, and they are making their presence known with their hateful comments, shunning any reasonable argument, or counter arguments. If anyone posts a positive comment, they bombard it with their hateful comments – silencing any and all who wish to make a reasonable argument or a comment.
Simultaneously, we must acknowledge, those who think logically, reasonably, and are not getting carried away emotionally with their hatred rants.
Fortunately, we live in a society where our friends and neighbours are educated and are able to distinguish between right and wrong. Fortunately, they are able to see the bigger picture, and at times, where they do not have the answer they search for the answer. Fortunately, we live in a society where tolerance trumps intolerance where knowledge trumps ignorance. However, with each passing incident tolerance and knowledge is losing patience, and intolerance and ignorance is strengthening its roots. Those who are on social media they can see how much intolerance and ignorance is out there.
We as a community need to find a way to reach out to those who are harbouring anger and are frustrated with the presence of Muslims.
We as a community need to find a way to reach out to the tolerant people within our society in a larger context to educate the masses about the beauty of Islam and Muslims, and help them able to realize the broader picture and what the terrorists’ groups aim to achieve by dividing our society among racial/religious lines.
Thankfully, majority of the people do understand every such incident raises a new concern about presence of Muslims, thus creating further distance between people. This in turn becomes breeding ground for the new recruits for them – isolated, frustrated, disenfranchised, and marginalized Muslim youth. Terrorists organization thrive under such conditions, and all Canadians, Muslims and Non-Muslims alike have an obligation to ensure this does not happen. However, such an effort needs to be spearheaded by the Muslims themselves.
It is high time that we come together as a community and come up with a long term solution to combat Islamophobia. This cannot be done alone by the Muslim community alone, we need to build better relationship with those like minded people around us, reach out to them, seek their assistance and formulate the plan for a better, brighter future for our children.
If we fail, we have no one to blame but ourselves!
Footnotes:
|