uni mini-essay
this was a university assessment i had to do this week, normally i dont think twice aout assessments but i think this ne is really interesting and is defintely worth thinking about
the question was basically we had to write a mini essay and submitt it as a blog entry, the question essentially wanted us to think abotu the ar on terrorim bcoming a war against muslims and has australia bacome racist and do we thnk it is fair to call it a war against muslims.
Some commentators say that the ‘War on Terror has become a war on Muslims’? Is this a fair appraisal? Should all Muslims be held responsible for terrorist acts? Have Australians become racist?
I would firstly like to point out that as an Australian I believe that this attitude towards Muslim peoples can be read as either a safety measure or a racist accusation. I myself hold no particular opinion on this matter as I believe it is both right and wrong at the same, explaining myself further, if for example we have been right about the ‘war on Muslims’ we would have been prepared to fight and/ or negotiate with the Muslim groups in order to protect and defend Australia and our allied countries against this war, however that being said I believe it is also wrong to hold an attitude like this towards an entire population when clearly it is only a variant group within the religion who is acting and affecting us at the moment.
The persecution of Muslims is undeniable, but is it necessary for us to continue this persecution and segregate the entire Muslim population? Many Australians, I am ashamed to admit, as an Australian myself, would believe this statement and agree we should persecute and fight the Muslim population. However I myself believe this is not only a matter of opinion and unfounded argument, but it’s a matter of the country as a whole, the influences of media, government and the ‘labelling’ or ‘tarring’ of certain populations and also the position, for lack of a better term, Australia holds within world and governmental organisations.
That is not to say that all these things are to be held responsible for the attitudes and opinions of Australians towards the Muslim community, and for the most part I’m sure that Australians will agree that it is wrong and racist to accuse the entire Muslim community of such a thing. However I believe what is a major contributor to these thoughts, these accusations is simply lack of knowledge.
As I mentioned earlier, media plays an astronomical role in the society, it influences people drastically, and unfortunately in Australia there is a media bias. Shown on the news particularly there is always images, stories, reports, accidents, bombings, bomb threats, dangerous situations all involving the extremist Muslim community, there is never any information, never any stories about the Muslim population as being a normal group within society, so to speak .
This media influence has ‘tarred Muslims with the same brush’ put them all in the same category, when infact the most part of the population are a gentle peaceful community. Academics who have studied the Koran know that the teaching and ethics of the religion are fundamentally and morally right. So this persecution and resolute attitude we as a nation have towards this community is just essentially a massive and undeniably unfair misinterpretation.
The isolation of Australia as a nation may also play a slight role in this unfounded argument, as would the demographics of the population, being that Australia is a mainly rural nation. That being said, Australians who live in these rural areas are not exposed to a highly populated area often enough to appreciate that there are foreign residents who live in Australian communities and assimilate quietly and peacefully into our culture, so when these people see or hear about the things that go on as a result of extremist groups via the media they often react how you would expect them to, and associate the different groups in society as being exactly that, different. This leads to the belief that foreign religions aren’t right. Therefore it is understandably so that we have this outlook and attitude towards the constituents of Islamic religions when this is all we are exposed to. I can also therefore understand the hostility towards the active extremist groups and I myself have somewhat of a disliking for this particular group but I don’t believe it necessary to hold this attitude for all Islamic variants
I will finish my entry with a slightly controversial issue pertaining to this matter.
It has always been the case that there is wars and fighting’s and malcontent within communities and it is also that case that whether intentional or not he government and media have taken the position in order to instil fear in peoples minds about these occurrences. There has always been terrorism, there has always been denominational malcontent, and there has always been the threat of another war. For example, the IRA bombings, The Sydney Hilton bombings, more recent event like the world trade centre disaster, Bali, Mumbai and London bombings and dating back to more historic events like the Guerrilla Warfare in Vietnam and Korean wars, the fear induced and actions as a result of those like Hitler, weren’t these people and actions those of terrorist nature? Were these people terrorists? Could it be that Australia is simply shifting it focus to suit the day and age and active groups in society?
hurrah for controversial issues
sorry if anyone was offended by this however i belive i was decent and thoughtful in my answer
any suggestions/ opinions or criticism would be appreciated also i really feel strongly abotu this issue and want to know what others think
the question was basically we had to write a mini essay and submitt it as a blog entry, the question essentially wanted us to think abotu the ar on terrorim bcoming a war against muslims and has australia bacome racist and do we thnk it is fair to call it a war against muslims.
Some commentators say that the ‘War on Terror has become a war on Muslims’? Is this a fair appraisal? Should all Muslims be held responsible for terrorist acts? Have Australians become racist?
I would firstly like to point out that as an Australian I believe that this attitude towards Muslim peoples can be read as either a safety measure or a racist accusation. I myself hold no particular opinion on this matter as I believe it is both right and wrong at the same, explaining myself further, if for example we have been right about the ‘war on Muslims’ we would have been prepared to fight and/ or negotiate with the Muslim groups in order to protect and defend Australia and our allied countries against this war, however that being said I believe it is also wrong to hold an attitude like this towards an entire population when clearly it is only a variant group within the religion who is acting and affecting us at the moment.
The persecution of Muslims is undeniable, but is it necessary for us to continue this persecution and segregate the entire Muslim population? Many Australians, I am ashamed to admit, as an Australian myself, would believe this statement and agree we should persecute and fight the Muslim population. However I myself believe this is not only a matter of opinion and unfounded argument, but it’s a matter of the country as a whole, the influences of media, government and the ‘labelling’ or ‘tarring’ of certain populations and also the position, for lack of a better term, Australia holds within world and governmental organisations.
That is not to say that all these things are to be held responsible for the attitudes and opinions of Australians towards the Muslim community, and for the most part I’m sure that Australians will agree that it is wrong and racist to accuse the entire Muslim community of such a thing. However I believe what is a major contributor to these thoughts, these accusations is simply lack of knowledge.
As I mentioned earlier, media plays an astronomical role in the society, it influences people drastically, and unfortunately in Australia there is a media bias. Shown on the news particularly there is always images, stories, reports, accidents, bombings, bomb threats, dangerous situations all involving the extremist Muslim community, there is never any information, never any stories about the Muslim population as being a normal group within society, so to speak .
This media influence has ‘tarred Muslims with the same brush’ put them all in the same category, when infact the most part of the population are a gentle peaceful community. Academics who have studied the Koran know that the teaching and ethics of the religion are fundamentally and morally right. So this persecution and resolute attitude we as a nation have towards this community is just essentially a massive and undeniably unfair misinterpretation.
The isolation of Australia as a nation may also play a slight role in this unfounded argument, as would the demographics of the population, being that Australia is a mainly rural nation. That being said, Australians who live in these rural areas are not exposed to a highly populated area often enough to appreciate that there are foreign residents who live in Australian communities and assimilate quietly and peacefully into our culture, so when these people see or hear about the things that go on as a result of extremist groups via the media they often react how you would expect them to, and associate the different groups in society as being exactly that, different. This leads to the belief that foreign religions aren’t right. Therefore it is understandably so that we have this outlook and attitude towards the constituents of Islamic religions when this is all we are exposed to. I can also therefore understand the hostility towards the active extremist groups and I myself have somewhat of a disliking for this particular group but I don’t believe it necessary to hold this attitude for all Islamic variants
I will finish my entry with a slightly controversial issue pertaining to this matter.
It has always been the case that there is wars and fighting’s and malcontent within communities and it is also that case that whether intentional or not he government and media have taken the position in order to instil fear in peoples minds about these occurrences. There has always been terrorism, there has always been denominational malcontent, and there has always been the threat of another war. For example, the IRA bombings, The Sydney Hilton bombings, more recent event like the world trade centre disaster, Bali, Mumbai and London bombings and dating back to more historic events like the Guerrilla Warfare in Vietnam and Korean wars, the fear induced and actions as a result of those like Hitler, weren’t these people and actions those of terrorist nature? Were these people terrorists? Could it be that Australia is simply shifting it focus to suit the day and age and active groups in society?
hurrah for controversial issues
sorry if anyone was offended by this however i belive i was decent and thoughtful in my answer
any suggestions/ opinions or criticism would be appreciated also i really feel strongly abotu this issue and want to know what others think