I recently made a comic in response to the poor response of some Muslims to the "Innocence of Muslims" movie trailer. To be fair, only a minority of Muslims and Arabs in these countries are the ones thoughtlessly protesting and acting violently. Most Muslims were against these acts and although it was under reported.
It is also worth mentioning that many people from the regions where the protests are occurring think the United States government is responsible, because they don't understand the freedoms and limitations of speech we have here. We have to understand that many of these countries have a long history of state controlled media. Yes, they should have done their research before protesting, but I doubt most of us would take the time to research how Arab/Muslim societies run before expressing our outrage at something they did.
What I'm trying to say with this picture is that Muslims are ordinary people, just like anyone else. You are not going to see news channels showing Muslims having a picnic with their family. People like drama and sensation, so the news that is being filtered to you is the extreme. The Muslim world has had plenty of reasons to be angry for the past few decades, sometimes justified and sometimes not, so its no surprise that all you will see in the United States media are angry Muslims.
So what can we do to change this perception? A friend posted a status asking how the Muslim community can proactively combat the perception of Muslims in the United states. She said that so far, we've been on the defensive, only reacting to news like this, expecting that it will be the last time when it inevitably isn't. I'm not sure what we should do, but I feel that Muslims need to be humanized in the eyes of the ordinary American, kind of like what the Cosby Show did for African Americans. I see potential in Youtube channels like Fouseytube and Diary of a Badman, where the audience watching is often not Muslim. I also feel that we need more Muslims in positions of influence, like Congressman Keith Ellison, so politicians cant use Muslims as scapegoats as easily. Remember the national attention the Park 51 mosque received before congressional elections, which somehow disappeared after the ballots were cast?
In the comments section, what do you think the Muslim community needs to do to proactively combat the negative portrayal of Muslims that is all over the media?
