fear.

"What did the Fascist regimes in Italy, Germany, and Spain have in common? They consisted of a highly militarized state, backed by corporation and a wealthy elite, that rose to power through a false populism that exploited the public’s fear of foreigners and ‘moral degenerates.’”

- Sean Donahue

sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it?

On a related note, this article makes me lose my faith in humanity. Or I should say, the remaining faith I had, since there wasn't much to begin with. Apparently, 25% of Americans (I prefer the term USians, myself) still think that Obama is Muslim. In fact, this percentage has gone up since the last poll, probably due to Obama's support for the Islamic community center in New York City (which is another post in itself). More than two years into his presidency, and the discussion on whether he is Muslim or not is STILL going on?! I fail to see why anyone should care what religion he identifies as? He is not Muslim, and the worst part is that all the hand wringing surrounding this non-issue implies that there is something terribly wrong with identifying as such.

The only people that care are the ones who need to assess why they're so terrified of a religious faith that has millions of followers around the globe. Islam is not the problem here, it's your own special mix of fear, hate, willful ignorance and privilege that keeps the cycle of hate and violence churning. It is not the duty of the millions of peaceful Muslims who practice their faith every day across the globe (the majority of which live in Indonesia, by the way, NOT the Middle East) to prove to YOU, white ignorant right wing American, that they are not violent or radical. It is the duty of the racist, white ignorant American to check their privilege and read a goddam book.

This issue at its deepest level boils down the fact that the current president of the United States is not white. In other words, in the eyes of racist white Americans, he is not one of "us". He is not on "our side". Because of this, and because, as we know, radical right wingers only have straight, cis, able-bodied, white, male interests in mind, the radical right wing media and "politicians" will do anything to discredit and smear him, create all kinds of impossible barriers and obstacles to prevent him from making any progress, (like, umm, accusing him of being racist or a Muslim radical) and then call him out for not making any progress. They do this because they are really, truly angry that a black man is president of the United States, and they really, really want him to fail. Because, how dare he, right? How dare he think that he's allowed to lead the GREAT United States of America?

The racism and Islamophobia coming out of the United States is not just American's problem. This is the entire Western world's problem, because this reflects poorly on every nation with Western ideals. This is a matter of oppressor vs oppressed, in which we, being richer, more powerful, and overwhelmingly white, are the oppressor. Which is why it so important to show the rest of the world that we overwhelmingly welcome diversity and freedom of religion.