What exactly is a phobia? According to the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary, a phobia is “an ​extreme ​fear of a ​particular thing or ​situation, especially one that does not have a ​reasonable ​explanation.” Although phobias are legitimate feelings, the reason behind phobias are not always justifiable. For example, a common fear among Americans is being bitten by a shark; this fear may seem rational, but in reality, the odds of being killed by a shark are 1 in 3,748,067. Likewise, the fear of Muslims (Islamophobia) is an increasingly prevalent fear, while 98% of Muslims are not extremists.
Let’s take Ahmed Mohamed, for example. Mohamed is a student in Texas who enjoyed science. In September of 2015, Mohamed put together a clock, brought it to school, and in no time, he was reported and arrested for bringing a “hoax bomb” to school. Whether or not this same accusation would have been made against a white student is impossible to know, but it is logical to assume that the outcome would have been very different.
Another example of Islamophobia is a statement made by Ben Carson, Republican presidential candidate, during a Meet the Press interview: “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.” As a presidential candidate and neurosurgeon, Carson is highly respected among his fellow Americans as both a surgeon and a presidential candidate; however his negative comments about Muslims in America have stirred much controversy. Greg Smith ’17 says, “This demonstrates how racist our nation really is. It is unbelievable that even someone among the highest authority is so racially bias against Muslims.” Is it a coincidence that Carson has received a dramatic increase in financial support ever since he made this controversial statement? He said that “a recent controversy over whether he would support a Muslim for president has energized his money game”, saying that “it’s hard to even keep up with it.” Hence, it is evident that many Americans agree with Carson’s Islamophobic statement.
The rise of Islamic extremism in the Middle East has caused an uproar of hate against Muslims. With every hate crime and stereotypical comment, it becomes more apparent that Americans are unable to see the difference between Islamic extremists and peaceful everyday Muslims. Upper School history teacher, Mr. Ergueta, who has taught the history of Europe and the Middle East for years, says, “it is unhistorical to cast all Muslims as inclined to violent extremism. The Muslim Ottomans ruled most of the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa for hundreds of years as the most multi-cultural, multi-lingual, poly-ethnic empire in history.” It is also interesting to note that Americans typically only focus on crimes committed by Muslims; millions of people have died in the name of Christianity, beginning as early as the fourth century. When Christianity became legal, Pagans were slain by the thousands. Christians have murdered millions of Jews throughout history. The difference is, however, that no one holds it against Christianity, or blames their Christian peers for it today. Seung-Hui Cho, a student from Virginia Tech who shot and murdered thirty two fellow students, was raised Christian. After the shooting, there was no backlash against Christianity, only the shooter. On the other hand, after the Boston marathon bombings, committed by two Muslims, hate crimes against Muslims increased drastically, similar to the increase of anti-Muslim hate crimes after the 9/11 attacks. The fact of the matter is, Muslims are held to a higher standard than those of other faiths.