[QUOTE=Rainboo;51317731]Let me share a little story with you that happened exactly five days ago. My muslim friend went to Hong Kong with her family. She and her mom wore hijabs. The moment they arrived there they were subjected to shitty treatment. People looked at them weird, and their hotel booking was cancelled the moment they arrived there without explanation, leaving them without a place to stay for the night, and they were treated rudely by a lot of people, and were generally avoided by the staff.
My friend and her mom then decided to follow my other muslim friend's advice, which is "When you go to other countries, don't wear a hijab. People will judge you."
After doing that(my friend looks really different without a hijab), people suddenly treated her differently. They suddenly treated her more assertively and stuff and actually started talking to her.
And this other story happened years ago, but my family had to leave california after 9/11 because everybody started treating muslims like shit and some of them were actually hunted down. People underhandedly slung insults at my dad just because he was a muslim. He had to resign from his job as he decided to temporarily leave the place while things cooled off.
If what happened there isn't racism then I don't know what it is. Islam might not be a race but racists don't even care enough to tell the difference between a pakistani, an arab, an iranian person, or a filipino person. The common denominator for them is the fact that they're muslims and that's how people discriminate against them.[/QUOTE]
What do you think about this:
Some white german guy left the catholic church to convert to Islam. He then travels to the USA in his religious robes and a beard you would normally see on a typical man of arabian descent.
Because of this he gets picked up by the security at the airport and they are roughhandling him because of recent terror attacks, and question him.
Would you consider this racism? Do you consider something that you can easily convert to/from a race?
[QUOTE=CarnolfMeatla;51318521]What do you think about this:
Some white german guy left the catholic church to convert to Islam. He then travels to the USA in his religious robes and a beard you would normally see on a typical man of arabian descent.
Because of this he gets picked up by the security at the airport and they are roughhandling him because of recent terror attacks, and question him.
Would you consider this racism? Do you consider something that you can easily convert to/from a race?[/QUOTE]
It's definitely sectarianism, but most importantly it's still discrimination, so it's wrong.
I believe that is ultimately the point.
[QUOTE=Rainboo;51317731]My friend and her mom then decided to follow my other muslim friend's advice, which is "When you go to other countries, don't wear a hijab. People will judge you."
After doing that(my friend looks really different without a hijab), people suddenly treated her differently. They suddenly treated her more assertively and stuff and actually started talking to her.
If what happened there isn't racism then I don't know what it is. Islam might not be a race but racists don't even care enough to tell the difference between a pakistani, an arab, an iranian person, or a filipino person. The common denominator for them is the fact that they're muslims and that's how people discriminate against them.[/QUOTE]
I sympathize for the unjust treatment that you and your close ones have had to face.
But that's religious discrimination or bigotry, not racism. Your example proves it has nothing to do with race.
[QUOTE=CarnolfMeatla;51318521]What do you think about this:
Some white german guy left the catholic church to convert to Islam. He then travels to the USA in his religious robes and a beard you would normally see on a typical man of arabian descent.
Because of this he gets picked up by the security at the airport and they are roughhandling him because of recent terror attacks, and question him.
Would you consider this racism? Do you consider something that you can easily convert to/from a race?[/QUOTE]
I would not consider that racism. I would consider it discrimination that is prohibited by the constitution
The reason nobody gives a shit about the difference between racism and xenophobia/islamophobia is because it all boils down to [i]unjust discrimination[/i] anyways. The US constitution has had freedom of religion for longer than it's had racial equality. People who always bring up "but Islam isn't a race" are just trying to justify discrimination against Muslims for "safety," because somehow discrimination is okay so long as it isn't racial discrimination.
Funny how people who rip into Obama for "tearing apart the Constitution" and whine about the War on Christmas and Christian persecution conveniently forget about how freedom of religion applies to [i]all[/i] religions.
The line between racism and whatever other kind of xenophobia is very blurred in this context and I would make the argument that in CarnolfMeatla's hyptohetical situation that's an example of racism because the man was roughhandled for looking middle eastern. Even if the hypothetical event isn't a clear example of a racist action, it's at least surrounded by racist implications and that's often the case in general when discussing the treatment of muslims.
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