The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, is an article published by the Atlantic Journal about the negative effects trigger warnings and microaggressions have on students in college. Trigger warnings are disclaimers about any potential emotional response from a class or its material. Microaggressions are words or actions that have no sinister intentions, but are taken as such. Greg Lukianoff is the president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. (47)
The general argument made by Jamie Dailey in “Modern- day Witch Hunts: Broadly targeting the Muslim Community is antithetical to America’s founding ideas” is that after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 the Muslim Community seems to be targeted. More specifically, Dailey is stating that the irrational fear and paranoia present in American Society causes racial and religious discrimination of the Muslims. Dailey writes about mosques, which are Islamic places of worship, and how they have been recently targeted. Dailey writes, “ In Glendale, Arizona, a bottle filled with acid was thrown at a mosque while mosque officials stood nearby. In Bridgeport, Connecticut, protestors picketed a mosque celebrating Ramadan and shouted slurs”
Muslims have been know for making advancements in religion as well as its many practices. Though, even in light of this fact Muslims are often perceived as lacking in impact. In particular they were never thought to make impacts in technology or science, etc. This is due to the fact that Muslim accomplishments are always overlooked and aren't given credit. Especially so in favor of the scandalous, extremist activities wrongly attributed to Muslims.
One reason to why Arabs and Muslims are being dehumanized is because of 9/11. Nour Sami Kteily, assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University says, “When people feel like their group is coming under attack from another group … it may increase the blatant levels of dehumanization. " What he is talking about is the attacks of 9/11. Muslims were to blame for this attack, so now some people think that all Muslims are bad. In reality only a tiny percentage of Muslims are extreme like Al-Qaeda.
As a result, the media that cover these events dictate what and how they are shared. However, it only helps to feed our sense of fear towards terrorism as well as fuel the Muslim stereotype. In fact, according to a study on deconstructing the terrorism- news media relationship, “terrorists use media as a tool to gain increased coverage and communicate their message,” but sometimes the news does it for them (Ross). For example, in the UCLA shooting, where two men were killed in a murder-suicide, the news’ portrayal of the situation led many to believe that there were multiple attackers instead of just the one. While this may not directly convey terrorists’ message, it helps to spread unnecessary fear of terrorism in our communities.
Americans think they are a menace to society. Muslims in the United States perceive a lot of discrimination against their religious group, are leery of Trump, and think Americans do not see Islam as part of mainstream U.S. society (Pew Research Center, 2017). According to Brown’s 2015 article, Soumaya Khalifa of Atlanta, Georgia, knows people see her headscarf and immediately make assumptions about her. “They think that I'm not American," she says. "They assume I'm not educated -- and that I'm oppressed” (Brown, 2015).
The word “Muslim” carries with it quite a bit of baggage since the horrid day of the 9/11 attack, and even before it as well. Many people recoil at just the sight of a Muslim woman’s covered head. The first thought that comes to mind, for many people, when picturing a Muslim is a rural man wearing a turban and speaking a foreign language. This image has not only greatly bothered many American Muslims; it has massively affected their day-to-day lives. Adnan Syed, for example, was greatly discriminated against in a courtroom whilst fighting for his freedom.
The report considered the levels of discrimination experienced by Muslims in the second part. And Shows how research conducted prior to 9/11 already showed that Muslims were the most likely to report very serious problems or experiences in relation to 7 out of 9 indicators of unfair treatment (p.17), it added that things had become far worse since 9/11. And discrimination was based upon Religion rather than ‘race’ or ethnicity, echoing the EUMC report’s acknowledgement that individuals were being increasingly targeted on the visible markers of what it was perceived to be Muslim
Growing up in Southern California, I was constantly surrounded by people with different ethnic backgrounds. As I grew older, I found myself to be most passionate about issues surrounding the intersections of race, gender, and class. When arriving in Berlin, I had previous knowledge that there were a large number of Turkish and Arab immigrants. Because of my minor in Arabic and interests in Middle Eastern politics and Islam, I found the Turkish and Arab population to be a large focus of my attention during my time here. Coming from Orange County where a large Arab population resides, many of my friends are of Middle Eastern descent.
They are often characterized with groups like ISIS, through many of them do not have a connection to the organization. Muslim citizens have become notorious after the 9/11 attacks, as they are discriminated by every racial group. America is where people could become successful, no matter their racial heritage. Muslims should be given the chance to become political leaders and social conformist. Carson’s words could spur tension and upheave among America, similar to how blacks where oppressed in the 1960s.
Muslim hate crimes are on the rise, spiking since 2015. The relate accelerated even more after the election of President-elect Trump. In 2015, the hate crimes against Muslims has risen to its highest since 9/11. The total number of hate crimes against all groups of people has risen from 5,479 to 5,850 from 2014 to 2015. There have been many reported attacks, including one at CSU, California State University, where two women wearing headscarves were attacked.
Or someone who has a name called Mohammed? The American people have got these two definitions intertwined over the recent years. It may also be difficult for the American people to realize, but these are all assumptions based on appearance and religion—the American people have made many infamous mistakes in the past targeting groups because
Discrimination and are problematic parts of our culture tangled within the American history. For the majority of U.S. citizens these parts of our culture die out after the civil rights movement, but for the ethnic minorities this is far from the truth. These ugly aspects of our culture that once thrived in the shadows praying poor and minorities, has recently had light shed on it with event of the few years. The racial tension being made worst with statements being made by republican presidential front Donald Trump, saying we should ban Muslims from the country. These open discriminatory statements can have devastating effect the Muslim communities and our country as a whole.
