Day 305 Question 305:

What cultural group do you feel gets a bad “rap” (has a bad reputation) in American society?

My class this semester for Grad school focuses on diversity as a whole.  Diversity is so more wide open than many people realize.  A room could have a mere 5 people in it and the diversity amongst them could be overwhelming.  Diversity goes so far beyond just race and cultural background.  Diversity is all of those differences that we have that make us all individuals and it is those differences that give us great potential to come together and work together for the greater good….at least this is how I want to see it.  Sometimes diversity drives people apart because of the unaccepting ways of people….the dislike of the differences.

After the terrible events that happened on 9/11/2001, the United States knew that life would never be the same.  An attack came on our soil that stole the innocent lives of thousands of people.  It is well known that the attacks were of terrorist nature and the attackers were militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda.  Since that day we have seen hatred grow in American people toward majority of those descending from the Muslim/Islam culture.  After these vicious attacks we read stories of innocent business owners and families being threatened or murdered because they were Muslims (some were not Muslim and were assumed to be Muslims because of the clothing and head pieces they donned).  One of the biggest piles of shit (and this is strictly my opinion), Bill O’Reilly (the biggest asshole newscaster on TV), sat on the couch with the women of The View and made a bold statement.  He said, “Muslims were to blame for 9/11.”  Our country is in the state that it is in because of ignorance like that.  I have grown very sick and tired of hearing about an entire group being blamed or stereotyped for the actions of a few.  I have friends that have moved to this country from Indonesia and they have been devout Muslims their whole lives.  These are some of the kindest people I have ever met with an eagerness to learn more about the United States and help make the country prosper.  I cannot even put the thought in my head of these people being terrorists or violent people.  The Muslim men I know would NEVER devalue women or treat them with disrespect….I have actually experienced the complete opposite.

This country is very different from many countries of the world.  Other countries have different traditions and values that may be completely un-relatable or misunderstood by us but we as people should be evolved enough to not blame everyone in a group because of these differences…we should choose to learn and try to understand why others do as they do instead of hold onto judgment and assumptions.  Yes, we have extremists in this world but that does not mean an entire population is to blame.  I am a white woman.  A white male that was considered a white supremacist went into a Sikh Temple and not only killed multiple people but also cowardly took his own life.  She shot a police officer 12 times and by some sort of miracle this police office lived.  A young white man shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Illinois and killed over a dozen people and has yet to show any remorse.  Both of these individuals are of Caucasian decent but we have no affiliation.  I would cringe at the thought of being hated because of the actions of these people….I do not agree with their actions at all…..I find their actions to be absolutely disgusting.  So, with this being said, I think about people of the Muslim faith a great deal and how so many of them have been treated so unfairly simply because of their faith and their cultural background.  I just can’t look at people and just hate them simply because they are different from me….or because they come from a culture that has violent “extremists”.  Trust me, there are more than plenty of violent “extremists” in this country….we just see it in a different light.