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I know this is kind of touchy ground, but I guess I'll risk it.
So recently there was the Fort Hood Shootings involving a Muslim man. He identified himself as a Soldier of Allah, and there was much media coverage about this fact. None of this media coverage was positive.
It got me to thinking about how many Americans today consider themselves Christian warriors which is often viewed as a good thing, and is even a way some elected officials have described themselves.
Americans seem to me to be very worried about religious Muslims, but comforted by religious Christians. George Bush praying to God for guidance on Iraq is put in a good light while Mulim soldiers praying to Allah is worrisome.
Does America have a problem with "Islamaphobia"?
Poll: Is the average American afraid of Islam?
(Vote): Yes
(Vote): No
please don't start your post with "I'm not afraid of (muslims)", to me that can be read in an aggressive way and I don't want to offend anyone
  
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I'm not afraid of Islam, but than I'm not an average American either
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Snet
United States3573 Posts
I'm not afraid of muslims praying to allah. I'm afraid of deranged terrorists though. Their religion of choice doesn't matter to me.
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I'm not afraid of them. Honestly, it's really a huge misunderstanding.
The people you're talking about are essentially equating:
Islam +Allah + Jihad = Militant Group = Terrorist = Killer.
They simply don't understand what they're fearing, when Islam is a generally peaceful religion, and the "terrorists" that they're afraid of are usually parts of terrorist groups (Duh), or militant groups.
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On November 20 2009 10:25 Racenilatr wrote:
I'm not afraid of Islam, but than I'm not an average American either
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I don't know/spend enough time with Americans to really say if Americans have a phobia of Islamic people. Certainly the US government has a lot to gain by influencing Americans to be afraid of Islamic people, which I have no doubt happens. George Bush is a cock head.
But really, is there even a difference between islamic and chrisitan zealots? Both kill in the name of their God. Both impede on children's education. Both hinder advancements in technology. Both dedicate to a significant abandonment in logic and science. Both think they're right. Both think their religion of 'good' lessons justifies terrible action.
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honestly, i think the average american would think of "terrorist" as soon as they heard islam =X
On November 20 2009 10:25 Racenilatr wrote:
I'm not afraid of Islam, but than I'm not an average American either
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On November 20 2009 10:24 Trezeguet23 wrote:
It got me to thinking about how many Americans today consider themselves Christian warriors which is often viewed as a good thing, and is even a way some elected officials have described themselves.
Americans seem to me to be very worried about religious Muslims, but comforted by religious Christians. George Bush praying to God for guidance on Iraq is put in a good light while Mulim soldiers praying to Allah is worrisome.
Yes, it seems that most of the secular world (ie: not the Middle East or the US) seems to realize this duality while many Americans seem to lack the perspective. Religious fundamentalism is religious fundamentalism no matter which way you slice it. It can be a driving force to do good or evil, and neither Christianity nor Islam has a monopoly on either.
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This is why religion--any religion whatsoever--has no place in politics. I would argue it has no place in the world but unfortunately it won't be going away anytime soon. As the antithesis of reason it can only lead to conflict and irrational actions or decisions.
You can say Islam or Judiasm or Christianity or whatever religion you want is peaceful but the bottom line is when it comes to religion you either believe in someone's god, or you're an infidel. The danger is that religion is used to convince people to do terrible things (Fort Hood shooting, suicide bombers, Christians killing abortion doctors/bombing abortion clinics, etc. etc.) because by accepting religion they compromise their rational faculty to identify such actions as immoral.
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In my opinion the fundamentalists of Islam are some of the scariest people in the world. For some reason the religion Islam seems to produce way more productive crazies than any other religion. In America the worst we have are people holding signs that say "god hates fags" or something like that.
Proxi.swami said it best though, there's really no difference on a basic level between the american, christian fundamentalist and the islamic fundamentalist. So, I'm also pretty scared of the former.
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None of the media coverage was positive... well no shit, there wasn't a positive side to tell. I'm afraid of anyone who takes their religion to the extreme. Thank you though for grouping all American together as a whole and then putting up a poll which euphemistically asks whether or not Americans are bigots. Also, what the fuck is the average American? Give me a definition and tell me why it's any different than the average human being.
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I consider myself the average American.
I say no.
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On November 20 2009 11:00 n.DieJokes wrote:
None of the media coverage was positive... well no shit, there wasn't a positive side to tell. I'm afraid of anyone who takes their religion to the extreme. Thank you though for grouping all American together as a whole and then putting up a poll which euphemistically asks whether or not Americans are bigots. Also, what the fuck is the average American? Give me a definition and tell me why it's any different than the average human being.
None of the media coverage was positive
I meant that they made a huge deal in a negative tone about how he identified himself as that. There were 20,000 things to report on, but this detail was one of the headliners.
Thank you though for grouping all American together as a whole and then putting up a poll which euphemistically asks whether or not Americans are bigots.
Not my intention. You seem to think that this poll with define americans, but it doesn't. There is nowhere in the world where everyone is the same. Also, I wanted a poll since it is anonymous.
Also, what the f... is the average American? Give me a definition and tell me why it's any different than the average human being.
The average American is someone who is the mode of all personal characteristics and is an American citizen. The average human being is not living in the US.
Sorry that I offended you.
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yeah seriously, anyone identifying themselves islamic or middle eastern automatically has "terrorist" put somewhere on an average american's perception, even if it's really really deep down there
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well, I dont know, for example, if one man from X religion and Y country became a dictator and launch a nuclear war towards other humans in the name of his religion and country, can we perceive it as all people who believe in X religion and live in Y country is killing maniac and dangerous?
I,m a Muslim myself and all I can say is that those Muslim who does suicide bombing, killing others OUTSIDE WAR is a mindless fanatic and should just rot in hell.
Islam doesnt have the teaching of suicide bombing and such, and I bet not even a single religion, culture or tradition in this world ever encourage such stupidity.
I felt nothing but an embarrassment whenever I came across such topics. Muslim are not the way most peoples think they are.
p/s: 9/11 fucked things up.
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I actually watched a show a while ago where they fixed a scene so that a muslim was trying to buy some food from a store, but the owner was going on about how they aren't allowed to and how the aren't real people and all that crap and it was like 90 something % of the bystanders who didn't do anything or joined in. The owner and shopper were actors of course, but I wtf'd at the amount of people who actually agreed with the shop keeper. One guy even followed the muslin out into the parking lot harassing them while they tried to get in their car too.
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Should be changed to, is the average STUPID American afraid of Islam. I live in America and I know none of my friends or people I talk to have this fear.. but I don't associate with clowns who believe everything on Fox either.
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I'm pretty sure the constant terrorist attacks by people that happen to follow Islam have something to do with it? What was that thing again 9/11?
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EPT
