By Elery Ostertag
The world as we know it is rife with political and religious demagogues, espousing their particular ideology as the only truth.
With a presidential election on the horizon and the threat of ISIS looming in the Middle East, these demagogues in the United States and abroad have taken their respective stages and drummed up the masses.
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been preaching a medieval fundamentalist interpretation of the Quran, calling for terror attacks, genocide, and the ushering in of the apocalypse. While here in the U.S., politicians actively incite the marginalization and mistrust of innocent Muslims based on the actions of the minute percentage of Muslims who follow al-Baghdadi.
It is this destructive Islamophobic rhetoric that we must challenge every chance we get. Many people in the U.S. have called for drastic measures, such as turning away refugees, requiring Muslim-Americans to wear identification badges, and even interning Muslim-Americans in camps like the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II.
Even though arguing with people who support these kinds of measures often proves futile, it is imperative that we as individuals and as a society speak out against them and show compassion for our fellow man, in the hopes that we sway just one person who may also speak out.
In these situations, countering the inflammatory fabrications of Islamophobes with well-researched arguments based in fact is of paramount importance. We must utilize the logos of Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle, arguments based upon logic and fact.
The politicians who encourage this Islamophobia use pathos, arguments based purely upon emotion, to sway the opinion of those who follow them. Surrendering to the whims of passion and emotion in challenging a topic as heated as Islamophobia gets neither party anywhere.
I find it deeply troubling that so many seem to be willing to forsake the ideals that our country was founded on. These ideals that we have fought for time and time again have fallen by the wayside as our nation’s focus turns toward security, when that security could prove to be nothing more than a facade for something more malicious or illusory and is often based on half-truths or complete lies. In todays social media meme culture, people will believe any picture with a fabricated fact thrown on it, Instead of forming their own opinion.
The concept of not acting at all is equally troubling to me. In doing that, we become just as guilty as the people calling for camps and special IDs.
The history of the U.S. is full of notable figures who have stood up and expressed dissent when our nation was heading down the road towards injustice, and that is what we need right now.
We are barreling down that same road again, while justice and compassion recede into the distance. We must fight tirelessly to stomp out Islamophobia.
To do otherwise would undermine the efforts of all who have fought for justice before us as well as our own desire for a nation, and a world, where people can live free of fear.
