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= Intro: Hi, my name is James Rivera I am a junior at Glynn Academy and today I would like to brief everyone on my topic Islamic Stereotyping and investigate how we view Islamic lifestyle and answer the question "why is the Islamic lifestyle and culture associated with violence" There has been a large misunderstanding on this religion and the people that practice it. The lifestyle of Muslims as we have stereotyped is not at all what they practice and how they act. The Islamic community is poorly represented by the actions of much larger groups such as Al-Qaida and ISIS. The reasons we will look at for the stereotyping of Muslims is the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers, the extremist Islamic groups Al-Qaida and ISIS, and the similar clothing and lifestyle between extremists and traditional islamic followers.
Body: However, in order to answer this question, we will need to start by looking at both sides of this ideology and look back all the way to the September 11 attacks on the two world trade centers in New York City. Which was explained in Farid Esack’s, “Progressive Islam” journal as “created tension between the heterozygous center of Muslim population” in the middle east and any one from that area and the U.S. We use this one action committed by one terrorist group, Al-Qaida, to influence our entire view on 1.8 billion other Muslims taken from the “National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States”. But in reality the Muslim culture and people we are targeting because of these events caused by the terrorist groups have more in common with us then they do Al-Qaida or ISIS.
The attacks were the most devastating act of terrorism in the United States, causing the deaths of 2,977 victim,including 411 first responders and the passengers and crew aboard United Airlines flight 93, which crashed into a field in Shanksville, PA, from the“National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States”.
In the last decade, the world’s population has faced an increasing threat of extremist violence, such as kidnappings, beheadings, and suicide attacks. For example, “since 1982 5,000 suicide attacks were conducted, with a huge increase after the year 2000” according to the “Methods and Findings in the Study of Suicide Terrorism”, in 2016.
For us to go deeper into why terrorists conduct these actions, we have to understand their interpretation of their religion. Religion is often seen as one of the main causes of extremist violence, such as suicide attacks. For example, the 9/11 attacks. However, it’s the perception and interpretation of one's religion that defines one's reasons for those actions from Altemeyer & Hunsberger’s study on religious fundamentalism they defined this as, “a distinctive attitude of certainty as to the ultimate truth of one’s religious beliefs…... has been widely perceived to cause theses terrorist attacks.”
This is turn in the 21st century made many people in the united states have developed a fear of islamophobia which is based on the stereotypes we have given them and many Islamic communities are not represented well by other Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS and many non-Islamic faiths have developed anger toward Muslims that have done nothing but participating as a U.S. citizen and practicing their faith.
From my own experience I see how the stereotyping of Muslims to terrorism affects my life. Every time me and my mom go on a trip where we have to fly she is scared. She is scared of terrorists and particularly of the Islamic faith. She has succumbed to the media and social bias on Muslims. However, reality shows it much different Islamic people aren't the bad people they are just the victims the radical islamists aren't all Muslims and they surely aren't friends with almost all Muslims they have killed so many and burned down Islamic homes, business, and even cities. The case is not at all that they are friends or should be associated with the majority of the Muslim population.
Taken from Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, “National Security, Immigration and the Muslim Bans.” examines the relationship between national security and immigration. His findings showed that, “14,000 men from primarily Muslim countries in removal (deportation) proceedings after coming forward to register with the government,” This process was the effect of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 under the administration of President Barack Obama and during the campaign leading to the 2016 election. In addition to this Shoba stated in his article, “[Muslim Bans] Had devastating impacts…..90%of Muslim populations were affected.” Now do you believe that the actions of just that one group can have an impact on all most all of Muslims in the U.S.
In conclusion there is much more to the religion of Islam that many see and there is a significant difference between traditional Islamic follower and the extremist groups we associate with them. I would love for you to take some time and think on this subject of Islamic stereotyping to get a better understanding of the current events happening today and how they affect people all around us.
I am James Rivera and thank you for listening!