Political Crossfire Forums

First of all, I`m not a Muslim.
Can someone explain to me why Americans hate Muslims so much? Not Terrorists, but Muslims. Like, the entire religion is responsible for its extremists. And before anyone comes running in insisting that "we don`t hate Muslims", they should all keep in mind that I have seen a lot of posts like: holding them responsible for the attacks happening around the world in the name of Islam.
Islamophobia in action.

When we start holding massive anti-Islam marches and rallies such as what's been happening in Germany lately, we can consider ourselves on an equal footing on the Islamophobia spectrum. We haven't banned burkas or minarets here quite yet either.

Your stereotyping and generalizations are most likely a result of an acute knowledge deficit.



Islamophobia on both sides of the Atlantic likely springs from very similar sources. Neither case is special or definitive. You question our bigotry but fail to consider that this post is motivated by your own bigotry.

Every time someone yells, "Allah Akbar" as they kill people, it hurts the way others view Islam.

I don't think propaganda was necessary. It's just pretty much the perfect group to hate. Like if you were conducting an experiment to see what might cause people to hate a group, I'd recommend using all the Muslims variables. An unfamiliar religion that doesn't assimilate well, from predominately backwards countries with barbaric laws. A sizable extremist population intent on taking over the world and with seemingly no concern for their own lives or any sort of morals. Radical Islam is legitimately frightening and westerners have trouble distinguishing radical Muslims from non-radical Muslims. That's the recipe for hatred.

Why do Americans hate Muslims? Basically after the Cold War, liberalism needed a new "other" after the Soviet Union in order to continue justify its relevance as an ideology legitimating modern global capitalism. Given our long-standing network of relationships and involvement in the Middle East (primarily: 1) oil, 2) Israel), "Islam" became part of a convenient geopolitical narrative explaining our involvement over there. Of course State Department officials won't mention it in official statements, but the subtext coupled with media sensationalism has generated a sizable constituency of popular support that believes Islam is in fact the cause of global problems such as terrorism.

Of course the idiots like Osama bin Laden, in addition to their deranged behavior and actions, present themselves as representing the culture of "Islam" to the West. And so the cycle continues, ignoring the various other factors that drive conflict in the Middle East and other places (in contrast to darkhorse's *cough* perceptive analysis).

That said, fear and hatred of Islam is likely to become subdued over the long run because 1) there are more splits and divisions in the world that might generate alternative axes of geopolitical conflict (ie. "Asian capitalism") and 2) there are splits and divisions within Islam that render our generalizations increasingly problematic (ie. the fact that the US finds it's fighting alongside the "enemy of its enemy," Iran).

In every conflict in the ME, the groups are defined first by religious sect, than by tribal affiliations, then by political agenda, then by other less important attributes such as nationality. It is literally one of the most important and long-term aspects of social life in that region. How can any serious scholar refuse to look at how that plays a role, on the macro level? It's impossible.