To deny it is to be intellectually dishonest. To not see it is to be part of it. The simple truth is that U.S. society has cultivated a disgusting racism to Arabs and a hypocritical prejudice to Islam. These blights do nothing to protect us, but rather excuses the crimes our government has committed and continues to commit in our names; it provides excuses for our imperialist campaigns; and blinds us to institutional genocide. If a better world is something you seek, you know it cannot be achieved while we are divided amongst ourselves and the real thieves of our era run free.
While I am not given to defend any superstition, the ability for a nation so entrenched in the dogma of Christianity to point a finger at its cousin Islam, should make us all retch. The two faiths are so nearly identical in practice and in blood-lust that to even further illuminate the hypocrisy should be demeaning. But as this century has dawned, so it has been defined in America as an era of hatred and dehumanization for our sisters and brothers of the Middle-East and those adherent to the dominant superstition of the region. As our oil resources dwindle and the seeming inevitability of future resource wars loom over this world, we have been inoculated from compassion for humanity beyond our borders – especially for those who still manage to grasp onto some usable resource(s).
This is a subject I’ve touched on several times but with the recent murder of Osama bin Laden, a seeming increase in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim behavior has come to my attention. Between pilots ludicrously refusing to fly Arab Muslims or Public teachers flinging racist insults at Muslim children. With stories like these and even more accounts of mosques being vandalized with racist slogans and symbols, it’s evident that the lessons we have been prepped with are taking hold. If we should be made to further murder and steal from Arab lands to liberate their oil resources, our culture will gladly turn a blind eye and become entertained with fairy tales about “terrorism” and “jihadists” coming to take our freedom.
I know that my regular audience would not be member to such hatred and that this writing has little hope of reaching those (or even to speak of changing the thoughts of those) who would engage in this, but I still feel compelled to warn you. The only way to stop thieves and murderers is to recognize them. If we are too busy jumping at shadows we’ll never see the real threat.
