Reflection #4
November 18, 2010
For my final reflection in this class I have chosen to discuss my perspective of that stated in the assigned reading “Good Muslin, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism.” I found that the idea brought forth that in Western society perceives that there are Muslims who are “bad” – those that pose a threat and participate in extreme, immoral acts such as terrorism; and Muslims that are “good” – who in turn fight against the “bad” ones. The
re are several aspects I find disturbing about these generalizations. First, the idea that a culture can only be explicitly good or bad not only displays ignorant thinking but applies rigid stereotypes to groups that may collectively have understood religious views but practice them, along with other elements of their lives in contrasting ways. Secondly, this extreme division on Muslim people is racist on the part of the West. For example, many criminals who have committed unspeakable acts of violence claim to be of the Christian faith yet we do not classify the prominent majority of Christians as simply one way or another. Why is this? According to the article “Good Muslin, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism,” the fact that the experience of one’s religion is being placed into a political context in an effort to order it according to Western standards has a great deal to do with the classification that unjustly occurs. In regards to the mention of September 11th and how it affected the perception Westerners have about the relation between Islam people and acts of terrorism, I found the concept of “culture talk,” that was mentioned to present great insight into the way that a correlation is frequently placed between Islam and terrorism. A true understanding of the Muslim faith is not a reality for many individuals that make-up Western society. Because of this political aspects are inappropriately placed on extreme ideas of what differing, minority (in our culture), religions represent. The reality that one’s chosen religion or nationality is simply a part of who an individual is, and does not define the entire being is a concept that pertains to both an understanding of diversity and a willingness comprehend on a level greater than pre-existing common knowledge or simple stereotypes. Few things in life where people, politics and religion are concerned are explicitly one way or another. Categorizing a person, political ideal or
policy or religious outlook cannot be done effectively where territory is involved. Mamdani (2002) states that culture is not territorial as political units are. Culture is a representation of something that is a part of an individual and is extremely personal. Placing political context upon that which is a persons’ culture is offensive especially when historical events, issues and societal developments are ignored in an effort to simplify explanations of the political outcomes of “traditionally modelled” cultures. It is my personal belief that blame and extreme negative connotations were placed upon Islamic people directly after September 11th because people needed to hold someone or something accountable. The fear, anger, hatred and confusion following the 9/11 terrorist attacks made individuals want to seek a problem – so they could have something to fix. Through targeting the specific cultural group of Islamic people a way to form opinions and action concerning the reasoning behind what happened on September 11th was presented. The problem of the destruction that took place in the United States due to the terrorist attacks was not then and will never be fixable. The closest many will come to feeling as though they are fighting back against the terrorism that murdered a part of their Western existence is killing the culture of others.
re are several aspects I find disturbing about these generalizations. First, the idea that a culture can only be explicitly good or bad not only displays ignorant thinking but applies rigid stereotypes to groups that may collectively have understood religious views but practice them, along with other elements of their lives in contrasting ways. Secondly, this extreme division on Muslim people is racist on the part of the West. For example, many criminals who have committed unspeakable acts of violence claim to be of the Christian faith yet we do not classify the prominent majority of Christians as simply one way or another. Why is this? According to the article “Good Muslin, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism,” the fact that the experience of one’s religion is being placed into a political context in an effort to order it according to Western standards has a great deal to do with the classification that unjustly occurs. In regards to the mention of September 11th and how it affected the perception Westerners have about the relation between Islam people and acts of terrorism, I found the concept of “culture talk,” that was mentioned to present great insight into the way that a correlation is frequently placed between Islam and terrorism. A true understanding of the Muslim faith is not a reality for many individuals that make-up Western society. Because of this political aspects are inappropriately placed on extreme ideas of what differing, minority (in our culture), religions represent. The reality that one’s chosen religion or nationality is simply a part of who an individual is, and does not define the entire being is a concept that pertains to both an understanding of diversity and a willingness comprehend on a level greater than pre-existing common knowledge or simple stereotypes. Few things in life where people, politics and religion are concerned are explicitly one way or another. Categorizing a person, political ideal or
policy or religious outlook cannot be done effectively where territory is involved. Mamdani (2002) states that culture is not territorial as political units are. Culture is a representation of something that is a part of an individual and is extremely personal. Placing political context upon that which is a persons’ culture is offensive especially when historical events, issues and societal developments are ignored in an effort to simplify explanations of the political outcomes of “traditionally modelled” cultures. It is my personal belief that blame and extreme negative connotations were placed upon Islamic people directly after September 11th because people needed to hold someone or something accountable. The fear, anger, hatred and confusion following the 9/11 terrorist attacks made individuals want to seek a problem – so they could have something to fix. Through targeting the specific cultural group of Islamic people a way to form opinions and action concerning the reasoning behind what happened on September 11th was presented. The problem of the destruction that took place in the United States due to the terrorist attacks was not then and will never be fixable. The closest many will come to feeling as though they are fighting back against the terrorism that murdered a part of their Western existence is killing the culture of others. 
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