Animated: American Islamophobia, "Muslim Obama" and cabbie stabbing

Michael from NMA submits:

A proposal to build a US$100 million Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero has sparked controversy in the US. While opponents say they are not against Islam, protests against similar mosques far from Ground Zero has raised fears that intolerance toward American Muslims is growing. One church plans to burn the Koran. 20% of Americans and 46% of Republicans believe Barack Obama is Muslim. A taxi driver in New York City was attacked after telling his passenger that he is Muslim.

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gjtorikian

Greg’s Gay Ground Zero Bar? What a mouthful!
brix

funny, it looked just as ridiculous before the computer animation of obama praying sideways on a prayer rug wreathed in flames in the oval office.
bwcbwc

The thing that surprises me the most about this insanity is that no one has gotten a money quote from Louis Farrakhan on the subject. After all, the black Muslims are Muslims, too.
oasisob1

1:18 says it all, with the guy walking out of “Greg’s Ground Zero Gay Bar” and into “Ground Zero Starbucks” for a latte (or whatever he’s having). What potential buildings SHOULD we protest going up AT Ground Zero (as opposed to two blocks away)? The Consumer/Corporate/Capitalist Coffee? Gay bars? A BP?
Abelard Lindsay

Did someone say Zero Bars?
Anonymous

What is the connection between 911 and Muslims? I know the guys flying the planes were supposed to be Muslims, but what about the guys who planted the bombs in the buildings before the planes hit? Were they Muslims too?

John Davis
Fett101

Has anyone mentioned yet how these things are eerily like Xavier: Renegade Angel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Renegade_Angel
Pantograph

Has “Burkini Blanket Bingo” been claimed as a band name yet?
Anonymous

Normally, such a center would run into the same trouble any project would. A lot of Nibmy people. Happens to Walmart, happens to porn stores, happens to churches and schools and highways and housing development and so on. But why such a hyper-negative reaction in this instance? This is my theory:

We are getting cause and effect reverse here.

The attacks on 9/11 were committed by people intent on the decline of the US and the ascendancy of Islam. Down with the US, up with Islam. They certainly achieved some measure of success with the down by smashing a US icon.

Subconsciously, I think people see an Islamic Center as fulfilling the second part of the terrorists intent. Replacing what was smashed with an Islamic icon. Almost like 9/11 – part 2. Thus an unavoidably strong negative association. We’re talking feelings, not logic. And those feelings influence actions.

Yes, America has a degree of Islamapobia. And in this instance, it is unease with the center itself that is increasing Islamaphobia, not the other way around. America would have been uneasy with the center even if we had negligible Islamaphobia.

Like others, I will defend the right to put up the center, but question the wisdom. I believe it is planned by good people with good intentions. But maybe not the brightest.
Unfair Robot

You know which shops would be great at Ground Zero? No shops. Why not have a large open space that aims to be educational? Have displays there with information on the attacks and the causes of them (if only we could agree on that). Saudi Arabia? Islam? American foreign policy? The reasons why Americans didn’t want a Starbucks at Ground Zero? Maybe they should all be given space. I know America is the heart of capitalism, but despite the “rights” to everything that are endlessly defended, it would be nice to tell capitalism to f**k off and just do something meaningful for once.
- neward
  
  There was a debate about a Starbucks at Ground Zero? I have no doubt there will be one in the bottom floor of Freedom Tower or another one of the commercial office building complexes, but it specifically was over a Starbucks?
  
  Your idea is intriguing. I think, for the most part, it will be implemented at the footprint of the twin towers.
Anonymous

Did anyone catch at 0:27 where exactly they think NYC is? News to me….
Bevatron Repairman

The [HIGH PROFILE POLITICIAN] is a [SOMETHING WITH POTENTIALLY NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS TO MANY] polls are pretty much crap. In 2006, if you did a poll and asked Dems if they thought President Bush was “brain dead” or “functionally mentally disabled”, you’d have gotten some numbers that says he was. But I wouldn’t use that as evidence that Democrats are, as a whole, less capable and medical diagnosis than Republicans. It’s inevitably a “I hate this guy and I will say anything to a pollster that makes it known that I hate this guy.” A poll that says, “do you think President Obama is a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Atheist, or Other” you are going to get a skewed result to “Muslim” from people who don’t like the President. Now, setting aside that it’s too bad that people use Muslim as a negative connotation, it makes for a lousy poll. Nowhere close to 48% of Republicans actually think he’s Muslim (I’m a Republican and, to paraphrase that lady who famously knew no one who voted for Nixon, I don’t know anyone, even in the most conservative circles I know, who actually think he’s a Muslim). It’s a proxy — in the context of that poll — for saying, “you suck”
- Anonymous
  
  Now, setting aside that it’s too bad that people use Muslim as a negative connotation…
  
  Sorry, I can’t set aside saying almost 1 in 5 Americans think “Muslim” is an insult. I’d rather they were so uninformed that they believed whatever they heard about the president; at least that can be done innocently.
TimesOfTrouble

I really don’t think that I can say something that hasn’t already been said. May I refer to that guy holding a sign that said “F*%k that guy”. F*%k That guy and all of Those other guys to. It’s America, if you don’t like, then leave! We were founded on shit like this, it’s why we’re here, damn it! Big ups on the amendments, big ups!
MadMolecule

So what’s the deal with this video? Who made it and why are we watching it? (Aside from Greg’s Ground Zero Gay Bar, of course.)
- masamunecyrus
  
  It is a Taiwanese news channel (Apple Daily / Next Media Animation) that has made dozens, maybe hundreds of these exact news skits.
sporkinum

These “R” words should be bitching about there still being a big hole in the ground. Somehow, the Arab world was able to build the Burj Khalifa in less time.
“Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010″
bklynchris

Ladies and Gentleman, as you disembark your flight please bring your passports and completed forms to the appropriate lines. If you are a citizen please head to lines marked “Welcome Home to Crazyland” and proceed to customs if you are caucasian, if not, proceed to holding pen for further scrutinization.

If you have the good fortune of being a visitor from a first world country (excepting China) please head to the lines marked “Welcome to Crazyland”, and then proceed to customs.

If you are not from a first world country, or from China, please head to line marked, “All other visitors to Crazyland”, and then proceed to holding pen whereupon if you are from an American puppet country (that means you China, S. Korea, Philippines, select African countries…you get my drift) proof of income and intention to go back where you came from before visa expiration will be requested. All others will remain in holding pen until appropriate body disposal locations can be indentified.

Cause that’s where I’m livin’ f*cking crazyland, how ’bout you?
Teller

The Empire State Building was built in 410 days. Whatever New Yorkers want to do about Ground Zero or the Not-Ground-Zero center, I figure it’s up to them. They took the hit.
Alessandro Cima

Why shouldn’t Obama be a Muslim?
- Ito Kagehisa
  
  Uh… because he says he’s Christian?
  - Alessandro Cima
    
    Who cares what Obama says he does in a church? Why would it matter if one day he were a Christian and the next day a Muslim? I change my mind all the time, from minute to minute in fact.
    
    Why would anyone hold it against a president to say he was several different religions at once?
    
    Even if he’s lying about his religion and is really a rock worshiper, who cares? He’s free to have any religion or any number of religions that he wants.
    - Ito Kagehisa
      
      Even if he’s lying about his religion and is really a rock worshiper, who cares?
      
      I’d certainly care. I don’t like liars, and I think people who hide their religious beliefs are untrustworthy. I don’t care if he’s Ismaili Nizari Shia Muslim, Jain, or atheist… as long as he doesn’t lie about it.
      
      Incidentally, my (70ish, WASP) mother was brought up on a farm in the American South. She loves her brown grandchildren very much. Not everyone blindly follows the prejudices of their forefathers. I think you are right, though – education is the key.
benher

What in the hell happened to this country?! When did it slip back into the Dark Ages?

If Americans have time to whine about community centers (I guess I’ll be the only person on the Internet to call it what it is) then you have time to do something positive… you don’t have to go down to the Gulf Coast and wipe up oily pelicans… or even set up a community center of your own proselytizing your own version of Bog… but you could volunteer at an existing one. More altruistic competition that benefits the republic as a whole!

Instead of leading by example though, Americans seem more intent on shouting one another down. The only ‘actions’ speaking at the moment seem to be senseless belligerence targeting fellow citizens.

At this point even the DPRK is probably laughing at the US.
- Charlotte Corday
  
  How about turning down the hyperbole generator a notch or two?
  
  There are mosques all over America where multitudes of Moslems prayed today without any interference.
  
  And the list of countries that equal or better the USA in freedom of, and from, religion, is not particularly lengthy.
  
  I’m not opposed to building the Cordoba center in the proposed “almost GZ” location. But if it’s moved a few blocks due to public pressure, that does not mean we’re putting up the stakes for the autos-da-fe.
Alessandro Cima

The country isn’t slipping into the Dark Ages. It is simply revealing itself for what it has always been. The racism and bigotry of 1960 is the same racism and bigotry of today. Little has changed. Because of restraints placed upon them over the past several decades, the subnormals have remained quiet in their racism – biding their time. Drifting under the radar. But they have not changed their minds at all and in fact they have raised their children to hate just like their grandparents hated back in 1960.

Now these zombies are coming out to play. They’re everywhere. What do you think Romero was trying to tell us?
- neward
  
  While history repeats itself in themes, I think it’s a little too easy to blame this on the bigots of yore, perhaps it’s even bigoted. Of course xenophobia isn’t new, but people had to learn the bigotry from somewhere and the language that is used to attack new mosques and Muslims has only been in circulation in the past two decades: “clash of civilizations”, “sharia” (in the context that people fear American Muslims intend on applying religious law to the US), dhimmitude & house of islam/house of war (Islamic phrases that are used by detractors but not American Muslims because they aren’t actually relevant).
  
  Anyway, I am in New York currently and like the composition of the city, some of the people against it are first-generation immigrants who have faced adversity too. I think that’s unfortunate that they hold that view, but it’s dismissive to blame it on the racism of 1960. The only thing is the same is human nature–the ability to be susceptible to scaremongering and learning new prejudices.
  - Alessandro Cima
    
    I could not disagree with you more. We’re not really talking about the anti-mosque episode in isolation. We are talking about rampant bigotry spreading across the country like a virus. And it most certainly is related to the bigotry of 1960. You better believe it is. The point is that this illness was never cured. Not at all. It’s been festering. Now, due to a set of circumstances, it has been allowed to explode and people who have been bigots all along are suddenly free to latch onto this particular brand of hatred and express what they have always wanted to express.
    
    You can’t be bigoted against bigots. That is foolishness. You can be against them though, and you can identify them clearly for what they are. Nothing bigoted about calling a bigot a bigot.
    - neward
      
      Prejudices are learned. Everyone is susceptible.
      
      The concept of Xenophobia and bigotry is not new.
      
      Islamophobia and the language the critics of the Cordoba Center use have all entered the American political lexicon in the past two decades.
      
      Perhaps I misunderstood you, but you previously said “they have not changed their minds at all and in fact they have raised their children to hate just like their grandparents”, and I think that’s a bit unfair and untrue.
      - Alessandro Cima
        
        I’ll tell you how unfair and untrue it is: a few years ago I was down in Biloxi, Mississippi and I was walking along the Gulf. Two pickup trucks drove past me. Someone swung a two by four out of one of them and hit me with it. The trucks stopped. At least six guys with sticks got out and I ran so fast my shoes almost came off. A guy from India behind the desk of a hotel locked the lobby doors and called the police.
        
        I’m Italian. I guess I didn’t look like I fitted in, did I?
        
        That’s how much things have changed since 1960. There’s a lot of complacent wishful thinking in this country about racism and bigotry. But there’s an unchanged population that is looking for something they can easily hate. It never ever ever changes. The numbers may shift slightly down now and again, but it never really changes. It’s inherited. It is in fact learned, as you have said, but that implies a teacher. Someone teaches this stuff to their kids. And those kids end up driving around with two by fours swinging at people they don’t recognize on the road.
      - neward
        
        The only person I’ve had a conversation with this topic was a elderly Chinese American war veteran with an accent indicating English was not his first language who struck up a conversation with me on the 7 train to Queens. He was against building the mosque.
        
        I am blessed that my parents had friends of different religions and backgrounds and never expressed a word or action of bigotry in front of me, but I don’t think I can say the same for their parents to them.
        
        Anti-Irish and even anti-German sentiment once ran very high in this country. Those are the two largest ancestry groups of Americans.
        
        If everyone always passed down their prejudices, we’d all be bigots.
      - Kludgegrrl
        
        The thing about this xenophobia/bigotry/hatred of “the other” that we’re seeing here — I think it is a bit of a red herring to think of it as an inherent human characteristic, although perhaps it may be. The main reason we’re seeing so much of it now is because most Americans are carrying a lot of anger around with them at how life seems to be shaping up for them. People are saddled with terrible debt, unemployment is high, and there’s no real rosy future on the horizon. Times are hard. And when times are hard, folks tend to look for scapegoats. It isn’t an accident that Hitler rose to power after the complete economic collapse of Weimar Germany.
        
        Not that this justifies what’s going on. I am, myself, pretty horrified — and feeling relieved to have immigrated *out* of the good ole US of A.
      - Alessandro Cima
        
        Yes, I agree. There are these circumstances that seem to crop up from time to time that let the cat out of the bag. The problem is that the cat is in there the whole time, waiting to get out. Hard times simply bring out what’s already there inside.
        
        I think in general that bigotry actually is an inherent human characteristic. It’s basically tribal. The way out is probably education. Exposure to ideas usually starts to wash away most bigotry. That’s a generalization I think, but it’s basically correct as a starting point Listen to these crowds of people protesting Islam. Do they sound like they can read so much as a magazine?
      - Kludgegrrl
        
        People may be prone to bigotry, the way small children are prone to want any toy that another kid has, but I don’t think that people therefore will inevitably become bigots. Hating/fearing people that are perceived as different can be mitigated and even eliminated by education and experience.
        
        The current bigotry we’re seeing now in the states (against Muslims, gay marriage, etc) may have roots in the ignorant reactions of individuals, but it *also* serves the political interests of certain groups. We’re seeing considerable fanning of the flames and I would argue that those doing the fanning are not, themselves, primarily motivated by their own bigotry, but rather by self-interest. There are a lot of real social, economic, problems in the US. So long as people stay focused on these objects of hate (which really are not what are causing them problems) they will not work to fix what is really broken in society.
        
        Bigots rail against what they perceive as changes to the “American Way” — and as long as they keep doing that they won’t notice that the status quo they are struggling to maintain is not actually serving them well at all. Yes, I wish that ignorant bigots would open their eyes and realize how idiotic they are being, but in some ways this is blaming the victim. IMHO we need to look at who benefits most from the current social order, and ask what role these groups have in fomenting all this foolish hatred.
tem dmindu

Is there a sub or an English-lang transcript for this somewhere? I’m only getting half of the perspective and it’s annoying – can’t even tell if the dialogue is serious or not.
strangefriend

Animated news: we show you how history REALLY happens. Animated!
Ito Kagehisa

46% of Republicans believe Barack Obama is Muslim.

You should find and publish the source of this inane claim, because nothing else they say should be believed, either.
Cowicide

Ever get the feeling America is now the laughing stock of the world when we’re not busy making them cry?
- Anonymous
  
  Hate to tell you this but America has the been the laughing stock of the world for a good few decades now.
classic01

This is an Asian video making fun of our xenophobic behavior. Our “land of the free” image is completely gone. It is as embarrassing as it gets.
Anonymous

new york city is NOT on the canadian border
sic transit gloria C.F.A.

20% of Americans and 46% of Republicans believe Barack Obama is Muslim.

If the tinfoil hat fits, wear it.
Crispinus211

0:53: WTF?

Also, most of the animated Americans were far too skinny.
- cymk
  
  0:53
  
  Best part of the whole vid. Hilarious. Yet sad, considering this is exactly what a significant portion of the public believes.
caribou

Sometimes clinical language isn’t necessary:

“A proposal to build a US$100 million Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero has sparked controversy in the US.”
Sparked controversy? I think Reactionary Backlash would be more accurate.