Muslim woman’s exquisite answer to Chuck Todd’s stereotypical question
The exchange between Dalia Mogahed, co-author of the book “Who Speaks For Islam?” and Chuck Todd was a gem. If every Muslim being asked stereotypical questions, not asked of many, would answer in the manner she did, the biased questioning would eventually stop.
Chuck Todd channeled the flawed narrative of those who claim that Muslims have not sufficiently spoken out against Muslim terrorists. There was a passive exasperation displayed by Mogahed as she listened to the question posed as a misplaced assertion.
Dalia Mogahed said that there is a fringe minority that claims to speak for Islam. Moreover she said that the media ignores not the silent majority, but the silenced majority. By this she means that when the majority of Muslims are speaking there is no one to listen. The media sets a narrative and then they try to fit the facts into a flawed narrative. This is what they have done as they have stereotyped blacks, Latinos, natives, and Asians as well.
Mogahed points out the reality that the values of Muslims in general are pretty darn compatible with what is considered American values at large. Moreover she said they are just as likely if not more likely to condemn terrorism. That was the prelude to her most calm and passive intellectual slapping of Chuck Todd.
“But I think we should take a step back and ask a different question,” Mogahed said. “Is it justified to demand that Muslims condemn terrorism. That might sound a little radical just even asking it. The reason I say that is this. Condoning the killing of civilians is to me about the most monstrous thing you can do. And to be suspected of doing something so monstrous simply because of your faith seems very unfair. Now when you look at the majority of terrorist attacks in the United States according to the FBI, the majority of domestic terrorist attacks are actually committed by white male Christians. That’s just the facts. When those things occur, we don’t suspect other people would share their faith and ethnicity of condoning. We assume that these things outrage them just as much as they do anyone else. And you have to afford that same assumption of innocence to Muslims.”
That should go without saying. More importantly an unbiased media would know that. Barney Frank did a great job of encapsulating America’s Muslim bigotry last night on All In with Chris Hayes.