I look at the calendar and find it hard to believe that nine years have passed since the tragedies of September 11. It feels like only weeks ago that I was sitting in my junior-year French class, watching the events unfold on TV though the disaster was occuring a mere two hours away from the desk I crouched upon.
Nine years… I type that with a sigh because though we like to believe we’ve come far as a country since that fateful day, perhaps we truly haven’t, not entirely anyway. And the actions of one man and his Florida congregation are proving just that.
Though it’s been nearly a decade since thousands of Americans died at the hands of terrorists, the widespread rascism for all Muslims — regardless of their ties, or lack thereof, to al-Qaeda — carries on, as evident by the planned Koran burning this Saturday. Despite the progress we’ve made in homeland security and international relations since those wretched hours in 2001, constant examples of an over-arching hatred for those practicing this religion routinely appear in the headlines, including this most recent stunt by Rev. Terry Jones (who claims “Islamic fundamentalism” is meandering its way into the Muslim faith and thus tainting America). And each time, I find myself completely ashamed to be part of the “intolerant” America that’s becoming known around the world. Patriotism is one thing, but sheer, proven disdain for an entire group of people due to the actions — albeit horrible ones, but still — of a few is quite another.
There is undoubtedly a significant difference between the death of innocent civilians, as the case on Sept. 11, and the burning of a couple hundred books. However, what kind of message do actions of this sort truly send? Surely not one hinged on the freedoms the United States so often proclaims as its base for existence. President Barack Obama even expressed his own frustrations and disapproval of this congregation’s planned event, saying, “I hope (the pastor) understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans.” Obama also tweeted similar sentiments:
And yet Jones plans to carry on with Saturday evening’s schedule, burning 200 copies of the Koran and inciting Muslims everywhere to react. So far, they have done just that, with leaders of Iraq and Pakistan issuing comments about Jones’ deplorable decision, especially as the holy month of Ramadan comes to a close.
For so many people, I assume, the bonfire by Florida’s Dove World Outreach Center is little more than a simple book burning. But for those Muslims who hold the Koran near and dear, this event is practical blasphemy, demeaning everything they religiously believe. It’s the equivalent of burning the red, white and blue to spite Americans, or lighting the Bible on fire to provoke Christians. Though Jones hopes disgracing the Koran in this manner will ignite (no pun intended) change among those Muslims in the United States, he’s only going to succeed at further widening the rascist gap this country is putting between itself and the rest of the world.
It’s easy to sit here and look at the actions of this man and his followers with disgust, condemning what choices he has made and discussing the potential repercussions — and there are many! — that could emerge. But Jones’ “International Burn a Koran Day” is a sole example of a growing trend since 9/11. We have been recovering from that terroristic catastrophe for nine years now, and the hatred for those even remotely resembling al-Qaeda in race, religion, or anything else only seems to expand and spread through the generations. And each time another Terry Jones pops up, it’s tough not to ask the exact same question… At what point will this extremist rascism end and allow our America — the one we love because of its tolerance, its freedoms and its true patriotism — to flourish again? I truly hope its soon, or I may look into buying a one-way plane ticket elsewhere.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ll have more to say later when I am finished with some work, but I did want to point out that your last line is in rather poor taste considering the general topic (I really doubt it was intentional, but wanted to point it out). You may want to rephrase it before it totally detracts from the points you were trying to make.
Take care!
Uncle Joe
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Mindy Reply:
September 9th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
@Joseph, It definitely took me a few minutes to realize what you were talking about, and like you said, certainly not intentional. I obviously meant something different, and even upon rereading, I take it as intended — and I hope and believe others will also — so I’ll probably leave it. But thank you for letting me know.
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Not to be picky, but weren’t you in 11th grade on 9/11? Or did you just mean it was your 2nd year of French class? I know it was my senior year, because I was in Physics class.
Back to the topic, the headline about this whole burning of the Koran should be: “This just in, crazy people are still crazy.” No sane person would approve of such an act. If nothing else, people should realize that just like this pastor doesn’t represent all Americans, the 9/11 terrorists didn’t represent all Muslims.
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Mindy Reply:
September 10th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
@Patrick, Yes, I was a junior… Jeez, is it “pick on Mindy day” around here? Ha. I changed it.
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hmm, I hate to continue the trend of correction, but it’s incorrect to say that discrimination against Muslims is “racism”, as Muslims are not a single race, as we would classically consider races. “Prejudice” would be a better choice, though I feel like there is a specific word for religious discrimination that is eluding me.
Anywho, it strikes me that the large problem with this story was the fact that this nutball was given media attention in the first place. It seems like what he was planning could conceivably be called a threat to national security, as his actions threatened the safety of Americans in Muslim nations. Plus, he’s emblematic of a larger issue with American culture: our willingness to pay attention to behavioral outliers. If we stop putting morons on television, there are fewer people willing to do stuff like this for attention.
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