everyone should get to know a Muslim, before they speak

Submitted by LoveYerNeighbor (United States), Jul 11, 2006 at 13:32

I agree with you, Am muslim.

Everyone should get to know at least one or two Muslims before they speak on the issues. I can't believe how many people I've read and heard write or talk as if they were experts on Islam...

The same goes for people of all backgrounds, who generalize about other people who are different from themselves. Here is an example that I've personally witnessed. Here in Texas (which has a very large Hispanic/Latino population), I hear many Anglo (White), Black, and Asian people, who can't speak more than maybe two words of broken Spanish, go off on rants about Hispanics. These people very often lump together all Hispanics as "Mexicans," because they can't tell one from the other. It's as if there are no Salvadorans, Chileans, Colombians, Peruvians, etc.: just "Mexicans." Also, they often don't bother to learn about these VERY different countries. Mexico is about as different from Central or South America, as England is from the USA, and Egypt is from Morroco.

Ethic stereotyping is counter-productive. The reality is that everyone engages in some kind of stereotyping all the time. The solution could be that every person should re-evaluate his or her beliefs and viewpoints regularly to see if they jive with the world outside.

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