When I first heard of the Virginia Tech shootings, one of my responses was, “please God may the shooter not be a Muslim.” It would only add to the growing Islamophobia and anti-Islamism. The shooter turned out to be Cho Seung-hui, a Korean emigrant of 15 years.
Despite his heritage, Americans are questioning whether or not Cho was a Muslim and thus a terrorist due to a tattoo on his arm reading: Ishmael X.
Could it be that Cho, as an English major simply read the first page of Moby Dick? Or could it be he read the plethora of poetry alluding to Ishmael?
Or maybe he committed his crime for the reasons he himself claimed -- a vendetta against the "rich kids," the snobs etc.
The fact that this debate is even being brought up in the media and the blogosphere reveals the growing Islamophobia, anti-Islamism and ignorance towards Islam. Muslims today are scapegoats for anything bad that happens in the world. Sound familiar? Same thing happened to the Jews in the years leading up to WWII. Poor economy...the Jews, violence in the streets...the Jews, deteriorating moral fabric of society...the Jews. That was 50 years ago. Today, replace Jews with Muslims. Tomorrow, who knows whom it will be next.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment