The Joker is to Gotham City as Muslims are to Earth
By Salma Nawlo
These days, taking sides on anything is difficult to do without being torn apart by the opposing party. And there’s always an opposing party, doggedly passionate about its own views. As long as you’re practicing your freedom of speech, there’s always going to be disagreement. Argument. Intolerance. Ignorance.
But is there such a thing as an abuse of this right? Peaceful debate is welcome. But words are powerful. As a nation, we should celebrate our freedoms. We should also celebrate our union as one. But how united do we really stand? What stand should we take as Americans if it seems harder and harder to unite?
Take Mr. Fear Mongering Trump, proposing actions that are unconstitutional at best and revolting, fascist, and monstrous at worst. I suppose I can admire his willingness to say the things he does with ease… His vapid ideologies do not bother me (he’s just one person, one joke) as much as the number of supporters he has.
Ban all Muslims? I don’t quite understand how we can do this without infringing upon the rights of the American people, but okay. I’ll humor the notion for a bit — I understand the thought is to save our country. For our safety. As an American, I cherish that just as much as my neighbor.
In reading comments everywhere in support of his proposal, I intentionally attempt to bypass the hate to get to the fear which is at the core of it all. And what I understand from this, what I ultimately comprehend is that non-Muslim, non-Arab westerners view “Muslims” as Gotham City’s Joker, Penguin, Two-Face… The same fear, need to avenge and destroy that we see from the innocent civilians in these shows can be witnessed spewed and spit out the mouths of Islamophobes.
Except there’s a problem. Joker is a character who is emotionally void of many kindnesses. Socially inept and arguably very mentally ill, this sociopathic super villain acts on behalf of “eeevil” and we see that his few, naive followers (in this case, let’s call them “Jokerites”) are naively lured by him, say, for a promised monetary reimbursement, until they suddenly realize that death hath done them part.
I’d like to ask Batman what he thinks about this, honestly. I haven’t seen one movie, episode, or comic strip where Batman goes after innocent clowns at birthday parties. Or interpreted his need to rid Antarctica of its tuxedo cuties (penguins).
Furthermore, violence in the name of evil leaves the civilian to make judgement solely on the perpetrator. We are left hating the evil doer and his or her behaviors, and not the related race, or ethnicity. But we do not live in a comic book series. We apparently live in a world much less philosophical.
ISIS, on the other hand, in our world — the real world — is currently our evil villain, and very, very rightly so. However to Americans, the violence committed by these maggots is not as directly related to “evil” as The Joker’s actions are in his pretend world. The violence committed by ISIS is directly related to a religion followed by one billion people, and to many — somehow — it makes so much sense to get rid every person related even in the slightest to the religion. And whatever ISIS is doing to destroy the reputation of this religion is working magnificently. What people are not understanding is that there is probably no group of people in the universe that despises Islam as much as these bastards do. You want to ruin someone? You tarnish his name in disguise.
Trump’s followers, Carson’s sheep, and everyone else advocating to save the world from Islam… don’t necessarily understand how much disgust there is by the Muslim and Arab world toward the evil atrocities being committed. The problem is that the self-defense coming from Arabs and Muslims is getting old. It’s seen as a pity party, and is now rejected. It’s also not tolerated because what people want to see is the Muslim community ardently declare an exaggerated love for the western world. And if the Muslim community loves the western world too much, then that must mean they’re up to something devious — with a plan to convert the entire region.
Then, there’s the under-representation of Muslims in America; it’s massively overlooked. And on this subject and related topics, the country is also divided.
Trump followers see one-half of America’s jump to banish hateful ideology and support Muslim rights to religion as unfair and immoral…. and the other half of American see Trump supporters et al.’s eagerness to deport, ban, and demolish mosques, etc in a likewise manner.
There is an argument made for everything. One thing is true — we all want to live in peace and harmony. This cliche, this over emphasized metaphor could not be more true than it is now. What can we do to end extremist thought and explain to each other that evil stands alone, representing only itself? What can we do to end bigotry and abolish eager labeling?
What can we do to stand united — as Americans?
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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