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Londonistan, Eurabia?

My JPost pieces have been getting comments, y’all! By random people around the world! My dream of being a journalist of international acclaim have come true! Well, to the approximately twenty people who like to comment on JPost articles, anyway.

Here’s the troubling thing. The comments are kind of…well, racist.

http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=226696

I know, I know. SHOCKING! People are buttheads on the INTERNET?! But the thing is, I’ve seen this kind of rhetoric being used in non-anonymous circles. On numerous occasions, I’ve heard/read people use terms like Londonistan (especially when I was researching for this very piece) and Eurabia (note the comments section of this story).

Seriously? Look, I get that most people are averse to change; I understand that Islam is seen as a threat to many whose only interaction with Muslims and/or Arabs is through Fox News. But screaming, “ZOMG, BROWN PEOPLE!” isn’t exactly a great way to facilitate change.

In the same way that everybody’s favorite talk-show host Rush Limbaugh refers to anyone who supports women who have a life outside the kitchen as “feminazis,” this type of rhetoric needlessly incites clashes between groups. You don’t have to be a liberal to support women; you don’t have to be a terrorist-sympathizer to recognize that Islam itself is not a threat to humanity.

Take this comment for example, from dear ol’ Imraky from the UK:

“These young Muslims represent a vociferous, hate-filled and dangerous minority within Britain’s Muslim community and Britain is overly tolerant towards them. Israel must be wary of people like this entering Israel on UK passports.”

Fear-mongering at its best. These were not just regular Muslims — they were YOUNG Muslims! THAT MEANS THEY HAVE YEARS LEFT TO LIVE! Why can’t these crazy Qu’ran lovin’ dudes stay in Abu Whatsitcalled-istan WHERE THEY CLEARLY BELONG?

Or, on the other side, we have this from Quentin Holt of New Zealand (YEAH, PEOPLE FROM THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE KNOW MY NAME!):

“Look at the last paragraph. Morris openly stereotypes and incites hatred of Muslims, and several talkbackers join in the fun. This is exactly what Jews were being subjected to in 1930s Europe. Once you’ve dehumanised and demonised people it makes what comes next much more acceptable. This was an act by a very small group of Muslims and Morris then pronounces all Muslims as guilty. By the looks of it those Muslim protestors were right, Morris is fascist and racist.”

I had hope for this comment, I really did. The commenter was trying to point out the danger of unwarranted labels, and then BAM! A WWII reference AND a little name-calling thrown in. Whatever happened to a nice, normal conversation? It seems like people from both ends of the political spectrum, from Obama (totally socialist, probably Muslim crazy person) to Sarah Palin (stupid but dangerous fascist loser-type) have extremist titles ascribed to them.

This type of rhetoric alienates the targets, and in this case, an entire group of people (like, over a billion, y’all). I’m not defending the group who verbally harassed Morris here. But saying that a small group of people protesting a speaker shows just how dangerous the scary, evil Muslims who probably want to take over the entire universe (including Mars and possibly Jupiter, but not Pluto because it’s cold and not even a planet) really are is offensive and even more dangerous than the “hooligans” who bashed the speaker in the first place.
Words have an impact. Even on the mysterious world of the interwebz. We have to change our rhetoric before we can change our policies.

Hmkay, self-promoting JPost rant over.

With love,

Kenzi, International Correspondent Extraordinaire (sort of)

5 comments to Londonistan, Eurabia?

  • This is phenomenal. Where else can a student intern for an internationally read newspaper find herself in print? I am going to send the link to all that powers that be at Smith.
    MAZAL TOV AND MABRUK!

  • mgreen

    Thanks, Donna! Your comment just made my day. I’m really surprised by how many bylines I’m getting — it’s a real rarity for a news org to let interns actually WRITE! A really phenomenal experience so far! 🙂

  • Dare I say, only in Israel can something like this happen. This is really going to be a great asset for your cv. I have forwarded the link to several people. I would not be surprised to see it on the Smith website. I sent it to the Smith pr office.

  • mgreen

    Thanks, Mr. Scheier! Though the tone of this post was really sarcastic, I was using it to show just how dangerous it is to make widespread generalizations. I believe we have to use reason and respect in order to have a productive, sustained dialogue. Thanks for reading!

  • nsargent

    Kenzi, can I be your groupie? Slash, want to go to NY and make this thing offish? Because I spend way too much time at work reading your posts and thinking how lucky I am to have such a can-do redhead in my life…