What happened at Fort Hood on Nov. 5 was absolutely horrible. For some, especially for those who lost a friend or family member in the shooting, calling it a tragedy is only putting it mildly. The real tragedy, I fear, is only beginning.
Upon hearing the name of the shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, my stomach dropped as I could only imagine the firestorm about to occur. Now the media are throwing around phrases such as “links to Pakistan” and “communication with a radical Muslim leader.” After 9/11, the lives of Muslims in America were difficult enough. After the Fort Hood shooting, the concentration of Muslim discrimination is shifting to those in the military.
Americans have absolutely no right to judge Muslims based only on their fear of radical Islamists. The fact is every religion can be taken too seriously and give people a sense of duty to not only ensure their beliefs spread like wildfire, but also to eradicate those teaching a different belief.
For the most part, Americans view Muslims as anti-American. This is naturally going to happen when a group of extremists crash planes into historical American buildings in the name of “Allah.” Islamic terrorism is only a form of ultra-Muslim extremism, and the main reason it prominent is because those in high positions of authority in the Middle East are preaching it. Governments in that part of the world are founded strictly on Islamic principals, so it is easy for extremism to be taught.
There are millions of Muslims all over the world. They are dotted across Europe, North Africa, parts of East and Southeast Asia, and even here in the U.S. True, there is no accurate way of knowing how massive the terrorist network is, but the numbers do not add up. If all Muslims are ‘out to get us’, as many Americans believe, wouldn’t they have done it to a greater extent already?
It does seem the national media are restraining themselves at the moment. The fear of being branded a racist or discriminatory seems to be keeping them in check. However, it also seems they are doing all they can to play up the fact this shooter, this Nidal Malik Hasan, was Muslim. The American people cannot allow themselves to become immersed in the idea the world of Islam is completely separate and an enemy of the western world. They intertwine so much, and the unraveling of one contributes to the unraveling of another.
The same applies for Muslims in the military. Just because our opponents in the ‘war on terror’ happen to be fighting for their religion does not mean all Muslims want to fight for their religion and against the United States. I have no doubt about the existence of terrorist ‘splinter cells’ in America, but that does not mean every single person of Middle Eastern descent should be watched under a microscope. There are many Muslims in America. Some of them love this country, others are willing to fight for it, and they have a right to worship who or what they please.
Freedom of religion is, after all, in our Constitution. So all of these people who insist anything Muslim is anti-American need to remember what their country was actually founded upon. Every American has a right to be treated equally, regardless of anything, even if the people in high positions of their religion are waging war against everything non-Muslim.