Are You Islamophobic?

Upon reading "Is Islamophobia the New Hysteria" , an Opinion piece by NY Times writer "Nicholas Kristof", I realized that there is in fact a name for the unfortunate mentality many people have towards the Islamic people. It's sad that things have come to a point in which one can actually rationalize their irrational fears by simply "google-ing" a couple key terms in search of what in fact is simply just a personal problem. It seems that as the years go by, people have more ways of justifying their ignorance and making stupidity into a science. Let's just face it- many of us are discomforted by things and people foreign to us for inexplicable reasons.


Prejudice is unjustified, so why try to justify it?


Not to say that it is anything to be proud of, but it is what it is. It is wrong in all its shamefulness. Making sense of it is one thing, but bringing sense to it is another.


 I do believe prejudice comes in all forms and on various scales. It is safe to say that we are all prejudice when placed in certain situations with people who are not familiar to us.This may be a result of how media portrays a certain group or class of people, or due to a certain isolation in our own lives, but when most people find themselves as a minority in a place of worship, a neighborhood, or even at a social event, a feeling of discomfort comes over and overwhelm us all to a certain degree.


Kristof's piece makes for an interesting read. Not because he is attempting to defend those who 'suffer' from Islamophobia, but because he actually looks at the idea of such phobias for the little bit of ignorance or prejudices that they indeed they are- nothing more to it.


As he states, the piece is about "the long history of fear-mongering about newcomers and non-traditional religious faiths."


I welcome all to read it. Me personally, I enjoy looking a little deeper into myself and my flaws. The safest and most dangerous place is our minds. Fortunately, I seek a lot of humility through myself before that of any other person because I can admit that I am scared to perhaps sound ignorant or not too well-traveled if I express certain concerns regarding my own "phobias". Not to mention, I try not to fog my own mind with someone else expressing their own opinion strong enough to the point of sounding factual.


Kristof also gives a bit of suggestion or insight for what we can do to overcome such fears rooted in the 'unknown'. Enlightenment, of course, is idea. I actually took it upon myself to do one of the things he suggested (years back) , which was go to another place of worship not that of your own and get a sense of what the followers are like. I can honestly say that as a Catholic woman who went to a Buddhist temple for a class assignment, I went in praying to God for forgiveness and left thanking him for the experience. The man whom I spoke with at the temple actually told me that I am more than welcome to come back and bring "my God" into my heart.


The experience really left a mark on me on further breaking down any stereotypes I was unbeknown of were wrong beforehand.


Take a read at the small article below:


http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/is-islamophobia-the-new-hysteria/#more-6377