Deliberate Ignorance

Nearly ten years after 9/11, a recent survey entitled ''Religious Perceptions in America: with an in depth analysis of US attitudes towards Muslms and Islam'' revealed that Islam provokes the most negative reactions of all religions in the United States. The Us based Gallop research organization found that Americans are more than twice as likely to express negative feelings about Muslims as they are about Buddhists, Christians and Jews. Mohammad Yunis, a senior analyst at the Gallup center for Muslim studies in Washington that carried out the study points out that 43% of Americans self report feeling at least ''some prejudice'' with 9% expressing ''a great deal of prejudice'' against Muslims. The question here is that is it ignorance responsible for these feelings or is it deliberate ignorance?

The report is available on the internet as worried commentaries and analysis. Generally speaking, conclusions state that ignorance is the number one reason for these disappointing results especially after nearly a year of President Barrack Obama's inauguration who reached his ''peaceful'' hands to the Muslim world unlike the one before him, is ignorance.

These kinds of results were somehow understandable after 9/11 immediately. But since 9/11 till now, Muslim people and organizations have been trying hard to change the distorted image instilled in the Western consciousness about Islam. Meanwhile, despite all the efforts the Western Media and journalism shed light only on the criminal actions done by a handful of extremists and strange fatwas by infamous sheikhs in the Muslim world. The majority of Muslims repeat over and over and over again that they want peace and that they are against all the crimes committed by a handful of people in the name of Islam.

Here comes an interesting fact, it is not merely ignorance that Muslims have to deal with, it is deliberate ignorance. In the modern world we live in, ignorance is not an excuse anymore. If a Western citizen wants to know about Islam he/she can simply go to an Islamic center, visit trusted Islamic websites or even try to talk to Muslim people on facebook!

They can find out easily that Muslims are no different from any people in the world. They want to live, they have hopes and dreams for the future, and they are also angry and disappointed because of the injustices thrust upon them.

Meanwhile, what happens in reality is that when non Muslims want to know about Islam, they simply go to the sources that feed their prejudices. They read books written by anti Islamic scholars, former Muslims or extremist Sheikhs. They prefer reading about oppressed Muslim women rather than the successful happy Muslim women and they are a lot.

Jack Shaheen, the writer of the book ''Reel Bad Arabs'' says:

There is this club with hate crimes, with their profiling, with being rounded up again and I think that all stress the power of the film, that despite the reality, despite the material that we know to be true, we still embrace the mythology, the mythology is still a part of our psyches, stereotypes take a long time to wither away and for many of us, we're covered up by our prejudices, we don't want to change, we've grown accustomed to this face.
When we think of Arabs, what do we see? What images come to mind? Do we see actual people? People despite, real culture or geographical differences can simply do the same things that we do? When we think of Arab women, what images come to mind? Do we see women who laugh and play and who adore their children? Women who work in their homes as well as outside? well, it comes as a surprise to know that in many Arab countries the majority of college students are actually women.

What's our media image of Arab men? Do we see loving fathers? Men who want to provide for their families? What about Arab teenagers? Do we see them like the way we would think of other teenagers in other parts of the world?

If you are of the people who claim that their prejudices are a consequence of their ignorance. Ask yourself, what kind of ignorance?