What's to misunderstand?
Posted on 02/18/2005 6:18:24 PM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
WASHINGTON, 19 February 2005 — The Council for American Islamic Relations, CAIR, is known as the outspoken advocate for Islamic and Muslim rights in the United States since its inception in Washington ten years ago. A leading watchdog and Muslim advocacy group, CAIR has 31 chapters nationwide plus those in Canada.
Its mission, it says, is “to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.”
Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, recently discussed with Arab News how Muslim Americans are coming to grips with life in the US after the 9/11 tragedy, and CAIR’s role in helping Muslims in the US who have been targeted, and sometimes attacked, in the aftermath of 9/11.
The US media are not helping, but rather cultivating a misunderstanding of Islam, he says. “There is a developing trend in the US to portray Muslims as bad guys on entertainment shows,” said Awad. He cited the example of a weekly series, called “Fox 24,” which is broadcast throughout the US and the world, had an Islamic terrorist sleeper cell woven into its plot.
The unfortunate twist Fox used portrayed the terrorists as typical neighbors. Awad said CAIR was concerned that the portrayal of the family as a terrorist “sleeper cell” would cast a shadow of suspicion over ordinary American Muslims and could increase Islamophobic stereotyping and bias.
CAIR met with representatives of the Fox network and expressed its concern that the TV program could enflame anti-Muslim sentiment. The officials were cognizant of CAIR’s concerns and, to Fox’s credit, agreed to broadcast a CAIR public service announcement to network affiliates to be aired during “24.”
Fox also gave CAIR representatives assurances that the program would be balanced in its portrayal of Muslims. Network representatives said that they had already reviewed existing episodes and removed some aspects that could potentially be viewed as stereotypical.
CAIR then contacted its members nationwide with the news. “We thank Fox for the opportunity to address the Muslim community’s concerns and for the willingness of network officials to take those concerns seriously in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation.”
It was all in a day’s work at CAIR. Nihad says TV shows and movies can create a negative impact against the Muslim community. “The saddest thing for Islam, with its 1.2 billion people, and one of the three Abrahamic faiths, is that it is so unknown and so misunderstood by the most sophisticated society on the Earth, the United States. It’s mind boggling.”
Awad blames the media for the stereotypes and misconceptions, which remains most Americans source of information about Islam, he said, and which he calls “ignorant and biased.” Asked if he thought networks were deliberately biased, Awad said: “In some cases, yes, if these networks carry out ideological trends and represent a certain constituency, you can see they’re try to send a certain message about Islam.”
But, Awad said the rest of the media are ignorant; and the problem is: “They don’t know they’re ignorant. When they bring credible individuals to speak about Islam, it benefits both the stations and the viewers. This happened a lot more before 9/11. Unfortunately, now I don’t see a realistic and positive coverage of Muslims in the media and therefore the attitudes are becoming ‘dangerously negative’.”
The result is easy to gage. According to a Cornell University poll, 25 percent of Americans believe in anti-Muslim stereotypes, and 44 percent approve reducing the Civil Rights of American Muslims. “This despite the fact that not one single American Muslim has been linked to 9/11, and that the hundreds of arrests after 9/11 have not led to any convictions,” said CAIR’s director.
This misunderstanding of one-fifth of the world’s population influences, in the worst way possible, how US public opinion and decisions are made vis-à-vis the Muslim world, said Awad.
“As Americans, we are already suffering from bad decisions and bad policies by the US toward the Muslim world.”
The administration, he said, should welcome input from qualified individuals who could offer expert advice on how to format policies that affect America and the Muslim world.
“To date, this administration has been perceived as relying on the rhetoric of the extremist Christian right regarding Islam and the Arab world. We have seen this in numerous statements by those close to the White House,” said Awad.
“Take, for example, Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, who said Islam is a wicked religion; and evangelist Jerry Falwell who accused Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) of being a terrorist; and Gen. Boykin who claimed that Muslims worship an idol. This is very hard for any Muslim to swallow.”
It’s “no secret” that the image of the US is worse than ever in minds of both Muslims and non-Muslims, said Awad, who was born in Palestine and raised in a refugee camp in Jordan.
“We have reached the lowest point ever in US-Muslim relations due to our misguided policies. The US supports injustice against Muslims, supports regimes that do not promote democracy and sides with the ‘wrong guys’,” said Awad. To bridge the growing gap between the US and the Muslim world, Awad said, the US government “should utilize a very important component of American society - it should use the American Muslim community.”
Courageous lawmakers must rectify these policies to ensure the US does not repeat the mistakes of the past, said Awad, citing the “wrong, misguided policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is viewed by Muslims worldwide as a great injustice. There is also the war in Iraq. People believe the prison abuse issue runs through the political chain regarding torture.”
To ameliorate the situation, CAIR has met with officials at State Department and proposed they create an annual worldwide report on Islamophobia, which would enable them to monitor incidents and immediately address them. “This would be similar to the State Department’s annual report on anti-Semitism worldwide, because no one can deny there are growing anti-Muslim sentiments and misunderstandings in the US and in the West.”
What's to misunderstand?
I would submit that they should be more concerned with stopping the killers in their midst, THEN we can adress predjudice against Islam..
Killing people for no other reason than they don't agree with your religion is very hard for American's to swallow also!
Unfortunately for CAIR, Islam is very well understood. That's what they don't like.
If Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, etc. were calling for the mass-murder of non-Christians and every weekend there was a new David Koresh story, the author might have a point.
Yeah... I don't understand how they can cut an innocent human being's head off for the fun of it. They need to clarify this most sacred part of Islam so the we understand it better.
Ever since 9-11 we have kept our eyes on the actions of Muslims. I think we all KNOW what Islam stands for and what Muslims want to do to Americans. They would like us dead or converted to Islam, so they can have America.
HMMM ... Let me see
1. Your "messiah" was a pedophile.
2. Beheadings and bombings are approved.
3. Women are slaves..
4. Jews and Christians are infidels.
What's to misunderstand?
I agree with cardinal4. Most Americans know that the vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists, but we also know that the vast majority of terrorists are Muslim.
Thanks for the syntax fix, as my style book has omitted a discourse on the proper usage of Arabic lingo within headlines as well as capitalization guidlines when using such mock foreign idioms. I need a new stylebook for these troubled times.
I wonder if CAIR is going to do something about Muslim prejudice and misunderstanding towards Christians and Jews?
I'm always suspicious of people who find it necessary to "dress up" or remake their public image. Reminds me of Gore and Kerry.
Yes CAIR does discuss suicide bombing of infidels, beheadings and enslavement of women........they talk of it, coincidently right before these things happen!!!
Islam is one messed up, twisted, psychopathic, pedophilic, genocidal screwed up idealogy.
This CAIR makes me angry day after day. I wander what the heck the administration is doing. Why doesn't the administration friggin kick these bigots, Saudi wahhabists and hate propagandists out of USA. i cannot understand this.
And this is the same council that tells Muslims to lie when they take the oath of citizenship. This council wants Muslims to take over our country.
Actually, I agree, Islam is the most misunderstood religions in America. A large number of people believe it is a religion of peace, and that is a gross misunderstanding of Islam.
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