Don't Point the Blame When You Can't Find Nothing | Teen Ink

Don't Point the Blame When You Can't Find Nothing

May 6, 2016
By LatterDays BRONZE, Reno, Nevada
LatterDays BRONZE, Reno, Nevada
1 article 0 photos 1 comment

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In Germany, around the 1900's, Jews were dehumanized and killed for their beliefs; about six million Jews were killed. In today's generation, Muslims have become the new group to be discriminated against and are on the verge of being dehumanized in the United States. Lately many fear anyone wearing a turban or a hijab since the recent terrorist attacks done by ISIS, not to mention the Muslim refugees topic rising in politics. Terrorism is a systematic use of violence, terror, and intimidation to achieve an end (Encyclopedia Britannica). Anyone or any group of people can be Terrorists; Muslims shouldn't be targeted.


Terrorism is a very provacative topic. Many are quick to label certain people as "terrorists" by their appearance. Famous youtuber, JoeySalads, did a social experiment called the "Muslim Bullying Social Experiment (ISIS Islamophobia Social Experiment)". He asked a friend to wear something similar to traditional Muslim outfit. As his friend stood by, he would walk up to strangers and begin to claim his friend as a bomber and verbally harass him. Many of the strangers failed to stop him and would join in on the harassment. Another famous youtuber, Fouseytube, had also done a social experiment called "The Terrorist Hijab Experiment" with a friend of his. He verbally harassed her in public for many to hear, pointing out her hijab and claiming she is a terrorist for wearing it. Again, many chose to ignore him and continued on with their day. Have I failed to mention that the first stage of Genocide is Classification (Stanton, The 8 Stages Of Genocide)? To distinguish between an "us" and "them". So if it's socially acceptable to point fingers it must be acceptable to dehumanize them in the process.   


Dehumanizing consists of classifying a certain group of people, such as an ethnicity or people of a certain religion, and then symbolizing them. In Germany, Jews were to wear The Star Of David on their clothing so that they could easily be identified. Just a few weeks ago Donald Trump was asked if he would support a plan for a Muslim Database tracking system(Hillyard, MSNBC) in which he replied with "I would certainly implement that. Absolutely." He was then drawn comparison to Nazi Germany. This caught the attention of 22 year old Marwa Balkar, from Corona, California. She addressed the notion of Muslim I.D badges, stating her idea of a peace sign as their symbol(Stump, Today's News)."I am not easily identifiable as a Muslim just by looking at me, so my new badge will let me display proudly who I am" she wrote on Facebook. Another woman named Rose Hamid silently protested at a Trump Rally by standing up and proudly displaying the words on her shirt that read "Salam, I come in peace"; soon after standing up she was ejected from the rally(Holpuch, The Guardian). As she was escorted out many began to cheer. And Hitler had millions of supporters that began to believe Jews were problematic. 


It seems easy to blame Muslims as terrorists; thousands of loved ones died September 11, 2001; hundreds dead and wounded from the terrorist attack in Paris, November 13, 2015; And other terrorist attacks from Nigeria to Egypt(Alpert, Foreign Policy). But why is it that we can forget of the terrorist attacks done by other people just as easily? Timothy McVeigh, an ex-army soldier and security guard, was responsible for a bombing in Oklahoma on the morning of April 19, 1995(FBI,FBI). What about America's deadly white terrorist organization, the Ku Klux Klan, that was responsible for many deaths(Chengu, Counter Punch)? A terrorist is not of a certain faith, color, gender, culture, country, or anything else people might point the blame on. 
Discrimination can be taken to great lengths and should be put to a stop; it shouldn't even start to begin with. To be seen as anything less than a human is the worst feeling in the world and to be prejudicially label someone a terrorist must be just as bad. Muslims aren't terrorists and Muslims should never feel shame for who they are or what they believe. I don't know much of the Muslim faith but I know to tolerate another's beliefs is advised to many people including Muslims. I hear "I hate everyone" multiple times a day but "hate" should be changed to "love". To accept and love each other for who we are is easier said than done, but it can be done; make it popular to love and accept everyone so that discrimination will die out, so that we aren't calling each other terrorists.


The author's comments:

I have felt what it's like to be discriminated against; it's a horrible feeling. No one should have to put up with the labeling or the pain. 


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