Education is the key. I was fortunate enough that in the 8th grade which was 1999 my social studies teacher did a chapter on Islam, muslims and explained the 5 pillars and the foundation of the religion. She didn't speak of the extremist or hard-line muslims. I learned about the hajj and the differences between Shiites and Sunni and why they fight each other. That's was my introduction to Islam. I learned about it in a cerebral way. I akin it to memorization and regurgitation like most subjects that's taught in school but the foundation stuck with me. The unfortunate thing for Muslims is that seeing as how they are a small yet growing populous in the USA and the fact that less then 10% of Americans have passports and travel outside the united states there hadn't been much contact between mainstream america(AKA White christian america)and Muslims. They for the most part were tolerated with indifference and only a sidenote to mainstream america. Then sept 11th happened and that small populous that was minute became center stage. Those extremist became the face of the religion and the arab world in general. Mainstreamer who hadn't thought anything about muslims were snatching books off the shelves to read up on them, hate-mongerer were writing books and war mongerers(bush-cheney) were clamoring for revenge and war, the military industralization complex was looking to make billions off of war and fear and here we are over 10 years later. I'm so thankful for that teacher who educated me on muslims before the extremist on our side did.
I agree. Knowledge is power....we as a people cannot rely on the media and propaganda to educate us. Islam is the fastest growing religion worldwide and a few bad apples (extremist) shouldn't be the face of Islam.
Education is the key. I was fortunate enough that in the 8th grade which was 1999 my social studies teacher did a chapter on Islam, muslims and explained the 5 pillars and the foundation of the religion. She didn't speak of the extremist or hard-line muslims. I learned about the hajj and the differences between Shiites and Sunni and why they fight each other. That's was my introduction to Islam. I learned about it in a cerebral way. I akin it to memorization and regurgitation like most subjects that's taught in school but the foundation stuck with me. The unfortunate thing for Muslims is that seeing as how they are a small yet growing populous in the USA and the fact that less then 10% of Americans have passports and travel outside the united states there hadn't been much contact between mainstream america(AKA White christian america)and Muslims. They for the most part were tolerated with indifference and only a sidenote to mainstream america. Then sept 11th happened and that small populous that was minute became center stage. Those extremist became the face of the religion and the arab world in general. Mainstreamer who hadn't thought anything about muslims were snatching books off the shelves to read up on them, hate-mongerer were writing books and war mongerers(bush-cheney) were clamoring for revenge and war, the military industralization complex was looking to make billions off of war and fear and here we are over 10 years later. I'm so thankful for that teacher who educated me on muslims before the extremist on our side did.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Knowledge is power....we as a people cannot rely on the media and propaganda to educate us. Islam is the fastest growing religion worldwide and a few bad apples (extremist) shouldn't be the face of Islam.
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