Paul Balles: More Islamophobia in America
18. Sep, 2010
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by Paul Balles
Protesters opposing the Islamic center near ground zero rallied in downtown Manhattan
To generalize is to be an idiot. –William Blake
Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of that which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreign people. It includes hatred of persons belonging to a different race, or different ethnic or national origin.
The fear or hatred that makes up xenophobia involves a great deal of generalizing about “others”.
Unfortunately, if you develop a mindset about large numbers of people based on the actions of a few, you can treat whole populations badly.
British historian Thomas Macaulay said, “In proportion as men know more and think more they look less at individuals and more at classes.”
Generalizations involving xenophobia include thoughts like: “immigrants are not as worthy as natives,” and “women are not as capable as men.”
There are those in America who consider Barak Obama unworthy of being its president because of his colour, because his father was not American by birth, or because Obama’s middle name is Hussain.
The mental degradation as part of this generalizing applies to any and all who don’t belong to the tribe or group of the xenophobes.
Philosopher and author Eric Hoffer observed that “We are more prone to generalize the bad than the good. We assume that the bad is more potent and contagious.”
Thus, by faulty reasoning, if there is one bad black, all blacks are bad; and if one Muslim has committed a crime, therefore all Muslims must be criminals.
A special name – Islamophobia – applies to xenophobia involving Muslims; and Islamophobia has been growing alarmingly in America recently.
A knife-wielding lunatic attacked a Muslim taxi driver in New York City. Why? The driver admitted to a drunk lunatic that he (the taxi driver) was a Muslim.
The attacker reasoned from the specific (an attack attributed to Muslims on 9/11) to the general (all Muslims were responsible).
A mosque under construction in Tennessee suffered an arson attack. Why? Comments by Islamophobes like Newt Gingrich have incited a general hatred of Muslims.
Newt Gingrich, once the speaker of the US House of Representatives, would naturally have others attaching greater credence to what he says.
Newt Gingrich has been vocal in opposing the building of mosque
How many people has Gingrich fed anti-Muslim thinking with his inflammatory public remarks about Islam? The false generalization: if one Muslim is bad, all Muslims must be bad.
Florida Pastor Terry Jones’ planned to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11. Why? He generalized from Muslims alleged to have been responsible for 9/11 to all of Islam.
Documentary film-maker Michael Moore pointed out, “Blaming a whole group for the actions of just one of that group is anti-American. Timothy McVeigh was Catholic. Should Oklahoma City prohibit the building of a Catholic Church near the site of the former federal building that McVeigh blew up?”
Protesters have been assailing the building of an Islamic cultural centre – including a mosque – near Ground Zero in New York. The protestors disregard the fact that before Ground Zero became Ground Zero, it had two mosques.
The problem: general and increasing Islamophobia. According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, 49 percent of all Americans say they have generally unfavourable opinions of Islam. A larger percentage opposes the cultural centre.
Poet Ezra Pound wrote “Any general statement is like a check drawn on a bank. Its value depends on what is there to meet it.” In other words, if the money isn’t in the bank the cheque is worthless.
Applied to the generalizations about Islam, if they don’t fit Muslims generally, they are worthless expressions of xenophobia and the ignorant fear called Islamophobia.
Paul J. Balles is a retired American university professor and freelance writer who has lived in the Middle East for many years. For more information, see http://www.pballes.com.
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I’m an American, I live in Jordan. I have Muslim co-workers, neighbors, acquaintances and friends. I speak Arabic, and have read the Quran.
I have never heard Newt Gingrich and am pro-Palestine. I am an activist working to end child sexual abuse and honor crimes.
It seems Mr. Balles forgets that 911 was not the only act of terror done by and in the name of Islam. People who have a healthy fear of the small minority of Muslims who commit such acts are wise, not ignorant. The Jordanian intelligence community does. In Jordan, years after our ’911′, we still have to submit to xray machines before entering a hotel.
As far as xenophobia, he writes as if it was exclusively an American disease. He lived in the Middle East? It is part of the human condition, and is just as negative as the attitudes of elite scholars living in denial. Dealing with xenophobia on both sides of the fence does more to remove divisions and create mutual respect.
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Dear All Chritian brothers
please fight for a correct cause.One group of muslim “may” have done the 9/11 and you are all upset. you should not forget the jews who killed one man you lord Jesus your faith, now you are their supporters. I feel all the christian are anti christ. we muslims never hated Jesus rather we give him outmost respect better than the morden day Christian. we have a chapter on Mother MARY do you have in the Bible.Think you are educated community do not make the world to spite on you.
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I was listening to a radio preacher this weekend.
A Catholic Father, talk about the reformation, the creation of all the Evangelical/Lutheran/Protestant branches.
He mentioned that they would not have existed/been created, without the influence of ISLAM. I had to pull over to keep from laughing to death, as I
did a quick time-line scan and realized he was probably correct. These “right-wing” Bible thumping, “KILL all the Muslims” morons would not even have a Bible to thump except for the MUSLIMS ………. ROTFLMAO ……….. So I am doing a little light research …… He was RIGHT. There would be no “protestant” sects without the Islamic influence caused by cultural exchanges during the Crusades…
118. A Short History of Religion – (8)
Though the Muslim peoples themselves stagnated, the spiritual impulse was transmitted to Europe just as a billiard ball propelled by a player collides with another, to which it transfers its energy and forward motion. This took the form of the Renaissance, Enlightenment and Reformation of Christianity in Europe, providing the stimulus to the development of Western Civilization. The foundations of the scientific attitude and method were laid down in Europe by Francis Bacon (1561-1626) particularly through his book Novum Organum which strong Islamic influence. Without the Reformation the power of the Catholic Church over the minds and lives of the people could not have been broken and neither Science nor commerce nor democracy could have made any headway. The major influence of Islam on the West were the notion of nature, objectivity and the idea and desire for freedom of thought and conscience, coupled with personal responsibility and the need for mutual consultation and agreements.
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The establishment of the USA appears to be another result of the indirect influence of Islam. Several of the first members who drew up its constitution, including George Washington, and many later statesmen, were Freemasons. They wished to establish an ideal God-centred nation. Freemasons were also responsible for the establishment of many industries and political, civil and charitable institutions. Certainly the American political system as originally conceived is quite unlike the Christian Church or the Monarchies which flourished in Europe, but much more like Islam in the following respects:- The recognition of God and an objective ideal (though somewhat vaguely understood); the notion of a written Constitution; the supremacy of the law rather than human rulers; An elected Head of State rather than hereditary kings and aristocracies; mutual consultation and consent (3:159) instead of regimentation and authoritarianism; religious tolerance (5:69, 2:256 etc.); equality of peoples, races and the sexes; abolition of slavery (90:13, 4:92, 5:89, 58:3); the acceptance of differences of culture and habits (22:67); desire for freedom (“oppression is worse than slaughter” 2:191), human dignity and individualism in the sense of personal responsibility (“Ye have charge of your own souls” 5:105), and the acceptance of no authority but God (5:44, 6:56); unlike Christianity, the need for retaliation (2:178), striving for justice and against evil in the world (2:218, 5:35, 3:104); morality and law rather than expediency (4:58, 135), respect for knowledge, natural truths and reason, rather than speculation (17:37); the idea that knowledge should not only be sought, but it should be applied for useful purposes. There are a greater number of scientists and scientific research establishments in the USA and it is the greater application of science to the various aspects of life which has ensured their position in the world. Though a number of new religious sects and syncretic “new age cults” have appeared, there is also a great amount of research into meditation, prayer and other religious and spiritual practices gathered from the rest of the world and new powerful techniques of development are emerging which, being increasingly applied by an increasing percentage of the population, points to a new phase in human evolution.
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Quoting Ezra Pound?
A fascist sympathiser.
But nothing on anti-semitism. One has to wonder about the intent here.
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