Viewpoint
PAGE 4 • MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 2012
{ISHAN’S VIEW} Questioning ‘Islamophobia’
A
phobia is defined as an irrational fear. People develop phobias to almost anything – spiders, heights and even beautiful women (really – it’s called “venustraphobia”). Though phobias are technically a psychological phenomenon, words with the suffix “-phobia” have entered common parlance to denote prejudice against certain people as well. One such phobia commonly spoken of in the Ishan Raval west is Islamophobia. Since Guest the Rushdie Affair in 1989, Columnist and even more so since 9/11, distrust towards Islam in the United States has been high. It has now reached the point that one of the ways to discredit the President is simply by calling him a Muslim. Negative attitudes toward Islam and its adherents have in recent times shown their most vicious face. This August, in a span of one and a half weeks, there were eight attacks at houses of worship, with of seven of these being mosques. (The remaining one was the racially motivated shooting spree and domestic terrorist attack at the Sikh Gurdwara in Wisconsin, which killed seven people, in-
{
TECHNICIAN
IN YOUR WORDS
}
What do you think are going to be the prevelant issues discussed in the RNC? BY BRETT MORRIS
“They’ll talk about gay marriage because that’s all they ever seem to whine about. “ Chante Thompson junior, history
“I don’t know. I’m French.” Camille Blas junior, undeclared
“They’ll talk about how to wipe out the democratic party. They’re not going to have any new material. They’ll just talk about the same old stuff” Erin Jones sophomore, criminology
“They’ll talk about limiting the social rights for minorities and lowering taxes for the rich. And how Mitt Romney is actually from America.” Lizzie Goins sophomore, biology
cluding the shooter, and injured four.) These attacks included a rifle shot at a wall (behind which 500 people were praying), a bottle bomb (which luckily did not break through the targeted window), property defacement, eggs, oranges, BB gun pellets and, perhaps most spiteful of all, pig legs. The aversion has extended beyond such individual exhibitions. This month, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, an anti-Islamic organization, ran anti-Palestinian advertisements on San Francisco buses that read (emphasis added): “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” Apart from the ahistoricism (as a friend pointed out, “If this was the guiding principle, Jews and Christians would have been obliterated by the Romans two thousand years ago.”), the ad reflects a factually inaccurate outlook. Whether in Israel and Palestine, or in the United States, it is not the Muslims who take first place in “savagery.” According to B’Tselem figures from June 2012, since the Second Intifada began in Sept. 2000, 6,627 Palestinians (including civilians and militants) and foreign citizens have been killed by Israeli security forces and citizens. On the
of affairs is not that Muslims are objects of fear in this country, it is that they are victims of hate. They are hated for usually not looking like most people here. They are hated for not conforming to the most popular religion in this country. And perhaps most importantly, they are hated because they have been scapegoated as the enemy figure of our times to breed nationalistic and religious solidarity, and deceptively portrayed by institutions of power as the great evil we must unite against. The fact still stands: Islam is hardly the biggest threat to the people of this country. Indeed, it may well be the other way around, looking at U.S. foreign policy and the recent instances of vigilante assaults across the nation. Far from an innocent fear, the attitude of animosity towards Muslims is unjustified, and as it shifts attention from more substantive threats, also unwise. With seven attacks on mosques in 11 days this month, and clear calls for enmity against Islam on public buses, this should be a time for reckoning —are we too attached to the comfort of unaccountability? Or, rising above the convenience of blame and blind antagonism, will we face the values and people most behind terror?
{ LAUREN’S VIEW }
One giant leap for mankind
W
hen you are a child, you are constantly being told that you can be a nything that you want Lauren to be as Noriega long a s Staff Columnist you s e t your mind to it. The psychological implications of this are often questioned, but the plain and simple answer as to why parents ingrain this into our minds is because they want us to be ambitious. They want us to think that we can be a ballerina or a professional baseball player if we so desire. When I was a little kid, I had a wide range of goals for my future. I thought I would be the next Phoenix Suns dancer— the only non-British member of the Spice Girls,but one of my biggest dreams was to become an astronaut. You could say that my love and fascination with outer space and the world unknown had a lot of different origins: from my father’s love for science and space to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s documented space camp adventure, I was smitten. When I was in kindergarten, my parents surprised my sister and I with a vacation to Florida. Naturally, I could not contain my excitement about the potential Disney World visit, but the most important aspect of this trip was that we would be able to see the space shuttle launch. I would later learn that this was not an opportunity many people would be able to experience in their lifetime. Not many people would be able to sit out at Kennedy Space Center in the wee hours of the morning and watch one of the brightest and most spectacular light
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other hand, the Palestinians have killed 1,826 Israelis, alleged Palestinian informants for Israel and foreign citizens. Here in the United States, according to an Anti-Defamation League report from Aug. 2011, 10 times more deaths have resulted from right-wing terrorism since 9/11 than from Muslim terrorism. As per the report, which was written before the Gurdwara shooting, only 7 percent of deaths due to domestic terrorism have been because of Muslim terrorists, as compared to 85 percent because of white supremacists. Yet, in this same phase, it’s brown-skinned people who have almost exclusively faced increased racial profiling at airports. It is Muslims who have comprised the entirety of American citizens killed on Presidential orders without due process. And it is regarding Islam that a “phobia” has lodged itself into our language and thoughts. Despite the broader, non-technical meaning the suffix is intended to take on here, is it apt to use it in this context? There may be a fear of Muslims, but there is much more than that. The word “Islamophobia” does not capture the hostility that extends beyond the fear; instead, it intrinsically downplays it. The point we should be focusing on in the current state
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shows the world could offer. Not many people would be able to witness a beautifully engineered apparatus lift a crew of astronauts, hopes and curiosity into the seemingly unknown universe. It truly was a breathtaking sight to see, making a great memory that would last forever. As I grew older, my dreams started to change and adapt to the logical goals that I deemed more appropriate for myself. Admittedly, my interest in science began to fizzle as my love for other things flourished, and my dreams of becoming an astronaut deteriorated. However, I still admired the select few that were qualified enough to venture into outer space. Over the past few years, the space program has changed in ways both good and bad. Last summer, the space shuttle Atlantis made its final ascent into space. The nation watched with a feeling of pride not felt since the historic space race of the 1960s. This month, we successfully launched the Mars rover, aptly named Curiosity, to investigate if the planet had the potential to support any life in the past. However, this past weekend we were faced with some sad news that has been bombarding news outlets nationwide: Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died. His famous words will always live on; he will always be regarded as an American hero and pioneer. In a lot of ways, he was a symbol of ambition for children. He was the one to prove that doing something as unheard of as walking on the moon was possible. He was an icon for all to think about, both consciously and subconsciously, and this world needs more people like him. I have bright hopes for the future explorers, entrepreneurs, and risk-takers. Go out and seek adventure. Do not be afraid of the world unknown because after all that will mark “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Dereck Freeland, junior in biological engineering
{ MARK’S VIEW } Expanding coverage despite limitations
T
echnician has kept its eye on n e x t w e e k ’s Democrat ic Nat iona l Convention in Charlotte, a nd t he political fight over t he battleground s t at e i s soon to Mark escalate. Herring TechniEditor-in-Chief cian will send a team of reporters to Charlotte to cover the issues pertinent to students in the upcoming presidential election, but what about t he Republican National Convent ion i n Tampa? By the luck of the draw, Technician will head to Charlotte, but the next few days this publication will feature stories from a peer institution’s student newspaper: The Oracle at the University of South Florida. To ensure balanced
campaign coverage, I thought it was necessary to include content from The Oracle’s ongoing coverage of the RNC. In exchange, Technician will contribute content to The Oracle during the DNC. I am coordinating this coverage with The Oracle’s editor-in-chief, Divya Kumar, and what we are arranging is a type of Associated Press of collegiate publications. Though the Technician’s audience is N.C. State, the matters discussed at the RNC will have consequences the nation will have to face, and with the University designated as an early voting site, my goal is to offer the due coverage of politica l events to inform voters. University of South Florida and The Oracle share many similarities with N.C. State and Technician—both schools are large state universities with publications that publish five days a week. More than 22 million young Americans, including many students, voted in 2008’s presidential election,
“If you don’t know who you’re voting against, then you have no idea who you’re voting for.”
Editor-in-Chief Mark Herring
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Sports Editor Jeniece Jamison
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a 10 percent increase from 2004 elections, according to CIRCLE, a non-partisan organization that promotes political engagement in young voters. Student interest will have a lofty stake in this upcoming election, since the job market, the economy and domestic policies are the top of the list for both parties. As we prepare to enter the job world soon, we must also pay attention to the politics that regulate and stimulate that world. Negative ads and the halftruths of campaign speeches ultimately deceive voters, but looking into these conventions, voters will be able to see exactly where each party stands in terms of policies. Ignoring what’s going on in Tampa would detract from how informed we are in North Carolina, so I am thrilled to have The Oracle’s help. Look forward to multiple articles of the shared coverage of the RNC, and start thinking of how these conventions will inf luence your vote in November. If you don’t know who you’re voting against, then you have no idea who you’re voting for.
Technician (USPS 455-050) is the official student newspaper of N.C. State University and is published every Monday through Friday throughout the academic year from August through May except during holidays and examination periods. Opinions expressed in the columns, cartoons, photo illustrations and letters that appear on Technician’s pages are the views of the individual writers and cartoonists. As a public forum for student expression, the students determine the content of the publication without prior review. To receive permission for reproduction, please write the editor. Subscription cost is $100 per year. A single copy is free to all students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus. Additional copies are $0.25 each. Printed by The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C., Copyright 2011 by North Carolina State Student Media. All rights reserved.