"This week felt like a throwback
to the 1950s, to McCarthyism and fear mongering. I, and countless others, spoke
out in defense of Muslim Americans who were feeling attacked by ads on New York City, San Francisco and Washington,
D.C. public transit systems that compared Muslims to “savages”. Physical
safety was of serious concern for many Muslim Americans, which is why the three
transit authorities appropriately delayed or declined the ads, later to be
court-ordered into running the ads.
What happened next is what alarms me most. Anyone who stepped up to defend fellow Muslim Americans was deemed by the ads’ sponsors as the “enemy.” I’ve heard this accusation before, except when I was much younger, growing up in Colorado in a Japanese internment camp.
This is what the ad says: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.” The logical and reasonable inferences here are the following: jihad (read: Muslim, due to etymology) equals savage. Muslims, thus, are savages." (thanks Nabeel)
What happened next is what alarms me most. Anyone who stepped up to defend fellow Muslim Americans was deemed by the ads’ sponsors as the “enemy.” I’ve heard this accusation before, except when I was much younger, growing up in Colorado in a Japanese internment camp.
This is what the ad says: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.” The logical and reasonable inferences here are the following: jihad (read: Muslim, due to etymology) equals savage. Muslims, thus, are savages." (thanks Nabeel)
