Blogtrek

Anti-muslimism and Anti-whitevanism

In the past two years two types of discrimination have appeared. The first appeared after Planeattack, and was directed against Muslims, since it was Muslims who piloted the planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. People looked askance at them, or anyone of Mideastern descent, because of Planeattack. The second appeared while the DC sniper was terrorizing the Washington-Richmond area and was directed against owners of white vans. Police inspected these vans much more than other cars, and people started to avoid and look wary of white vans.

There are similarities and differences between the two discriminations. They are similar in that they are based on unwarranted stereotypes - the Mideasterner as suicide bomber and the white van owner as a sniper. These stereotypes are frequently wrong; it was for the sniper case, as the snipers did their killing from a Chevrolet Caprice instead. The two discriminations are also based on the same human emotion: fear. It is different in that a person's religious beliefs are much more integrated with the person than what kind of vehicle he drives. The anti-Muslim beliefs also are more like to turn into hate, as they are directed against people, while the white-van fear was directed against things.

The white van discrimination makes it clear that discrimination of other types frequently is based on fear. This makes it important that community groups be organized once in a while to allow people to experience each other as for a common cause. This could go a long way to alleviating the fear.