http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/12/09/us/09reuters-usa-election-trump-campus.html?_r=0
Deleted.
There is a lot of hate in America. There is a lot of fear and a lot of ignorance.
America collectively needs to see a therapist before we go down a road…
This.
I suspect this is rapidly going to become political.
^^ The article is only reporting what we all heard with our own ears – and describes the (unsurprising) reaction in the community that’s now become a target.
Different from whom? What exactly do you mean to be implying?
This is so dispiriting. I feel so badly for the Muslim Americans who just want to live in peace, raise their families, live the American Dream of freedom and prosperity, and practice their faith, no different from the rest of us. That the vast majority of Muslims in this country do not subscribe to the extremist beliefs of groups like Isis seems not to matter in the least in the eyes of way too many Americans.
Living under the cloak of suspicion when you’ve done nothing to deserve such treatment has got to be psychologically and physically draining. Anger, frustration, resentment, fear, depression, and a sometimes overwhelming sense of alienation must be common within this population. It doesn’t help that many of your fellow Americans demand or imply that you must prove that you’re not a threat on a regular basis. Why, they ask, aren’t you protesting against Isis in the streets, pledging your allegiance to America publicly, and otherwise spending your every waking hour assuaging our fears? Prove you’re not a terrorist! Otherwise, we will believe the Donald Trumps of this country…
8-|
Well, Muslim students seem not to have chosen the high-stakes, attention grabbing, direct actions that we’ve read about on other campuses for far less provocation, IMO. The only question I have is whether this is by choice or necessity? We know, for example, that they have no problem coming out in support of Palestinian causes, so why the reticence in the face of a bully like Donald Trump?
Those (on all sides) who argue loudly about Israeli - Palestinian politics are relatively small in number, but make a lot of noise, are often themselves racist, and may not care that much about other issues. It is not necessarily true that most Muslim (or Jewish) students actively take part in such arguments and protests.
What you’re saying is no doubt true (except, possibly, the racial animus) across the board. Activists, people who are willing to put in enormous hours just listening to people vent, hammering our consensus statements that read like laundry lists, then coordinating a media event of some sort, are a tiny minority relative to the size of even the most liberal campuses. Convincing people they have wide support among the grassroots is part of their mission. You think this may be a case of Muslim activists just picking their battles?