Bigotry Penetrates the US

There is a reality show on TLC (The Learning Channel) entitled “All American Muslim” about the life of five Muslim families in Detroit, Mich. As usual, advertisements sprinkle the show but now there is one less advertiser: as a result of protest from the Florida Family Association claiming that the show was an Islam propaganda, Lowe’s Home Improvement pulled its ads.

The group promotes evangelical Christian values. As such, had it been a Muslim organization, it would qualify for the distinguished label of “extremist”, if not “terrorist” group. It claims around 35,000 members and therefore under normal circumstances it would be a drop in the bucket of the American society if the increasing power of evangelical Christianity were not behind it. But this small group now reached a national prominence by influencing nationwide events, such as Lowe’s advertisement campaign.

The president of the organization, David Canton, also claims credit to force TV shows get off the air and some 60 advertising companies pull their ads from the TLC show. He argues that the show does not represent real Muslims because, among other villainous misdeeds, in reality Muslims all condone “honor murders,” mutilation, and suppression of women. He said:

“Islamization of our country is the greatest threat to our way of life, our American way of life as we know it.”

It seems to me that the crusade that started in AD 1095 by the Byzantine Empire against the advancing Muslim forces and resumed in 2001 by President G.W. Bush, continues to gain traction in the US. Demonizing Islam in the US became a matter of fact subject in every-day conversations, commentaries, and political speeches.

By equating all Muslims with the extremist groups that do commit atrocities is like saying that Christians all burn Koran, shoot abortion doctors, “marry” underage girls, and beat up homosexuals; or that all Jews walk around with guns and shoot Palestinian kids, who try climbing the barb wires of their settlements.

The extremes of any religion is dangerous: they can’t tolerate one-another and fight to the teeth any views differing from their own, or way of life not outlined in their sacred scriptures. In the East, extremist Muslims are gaining ground, in the West, and in particular in the US, extreme Christians fight for the same with remarkable success, while in the middle – see Middle-East -, extreme Jewish groups define the politics of the most flammable region in the world.

One must fool himself/herself to imagine that, in the age of nuclear weapons, such extremism can lead to a glorious victory of any God, or any political system no matter how much of the GNP is spent on weaponry.

Bigotry has to be eradicated from all societies and it has to start with the most powerful ones. In today’s reality, we may need to temporarily accept that the same bigotry will survive longer in less developed parts of the world, but patience and wise persistence should eventually prevail in this fight just as it did in bringing down the Berlin Wall.