Islam Post 9/11 Research Paper

Randy Woodford
4/17/11
Phil 308

Islam Post 9/11

When dealing with racial tensions between Americans and Muslims after such a catastrophic event such as September 11th, the outlook on Muslims from an American’s standpoint may forever be tarnished. Much like the way Americans viewed Japanese following the attack on Pearl Harbor, although the Japanese people who we may come in contact with in the U.S. had nothing to do with the attack because they are Japanese, after the attack was not the best of times for them. All over the world following September 11th you would hear reports of violence towards Muslims by American citizens who in their own mind thought they were standing up for their country and in a way “getting back” at the Muslim
If Westergaard would have wrote the same cartoon with the same texts and pictures but only used another Arab/Muslim name besides Muhammad I believe the cartoon would not have caused such a big uproar. In my opinion it is wrong for anyone to make fun or pass judgment on another individual just because they are different from you, especially if the things that you are saying/writing can be hurtful and disrespectful to ones culture or race. With that being said in the U.S. a place where freedom of speech is preached and pushed to its limit on a daily basis I don’t believe that the government or publishing company should have the right to stop cartoons such as the one that Westergaard put out. At any time of day in America you can turn on your television or computer and find a Saturday Night Live episode or a stand-up comedy routine where a person is making fun of another person or a whole group of people that are different from themselves. It’s called entertainment and although some things may come across as mean and flat out disrespectful in America we take most of these things as jokes and learn to accept it. What Kurt Westergaard did by putting out such a cartoon in my opinion was wrong and I don’t personally condone it but I do feel that it is his
Because of September 11th and a large number of still angry Americans in 2011 ten years after the event you just have to realize that things like these negative bumper stickers will always be around. For many people once a particular view is engrained in them there is no way they can ever see otherwise. Although I am not racist or against Muslims I will say that if I’m on an airplane and seated near a person of Islamic decent the thought of terror crosses my mind, not by choice but just because of what happened on 9/11/01. It’s nothing personal against Muslims, had it been the Chinese to terrorize the U.S. on September 11th the American people would have the same views of them as we now have for the Muslim community. Freedom of Speech in America has a thin line but as for what a bumper sticker says on a person’s car I don’t believe that’s the governments place to decide. As an black person I’ve seen TONS of white people driving cars with confederate flag logos or even a few Klu Klux Klan stickers on the backs of old pickup trucks. Although I don’t agree and I feel a bit of anger go through my body when I see such bumper stickers I realize that I can’t control