Of course, I knew Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism (really, those two concepts are inseparable and feed each other) were very prevalent in American society going back a long time, with it really ratcheting up after 9/11. But ever since the Zionist entityās terrorist pager attack last month, the sheer depth, pervasiveness, and how itās just out there in the open and considered perfectly acceptable has genuinely surprised me. It seems to have started with that attack and subsequent events have only reinforced it.
White Americans just seem to delight whenever they think the Arab/Islamic āterroristsā are attacked. They do not care about who the āterroristsā actually are or how many people suffer. Itās not worth interrogating what the āterroristsā are fighting for or who was harmed because to the white folks, the Muslim/Arab people donāt matter. Theyāve been dehumanized to the point where their lives are considered worthless.
To give an example, there is a person in my life who Iām about to cut out (should have a long time ago) who texted me something to the effect of āthat pager thing was crazy, but looks like they got a lot of terroristsā. I tried to keep my cool and explain how normal people like doctors and ambulance drivers were hurt and killed too, because lots of people use those pagers. Dude literally just used a shrug emoji in response, because I guess those people arenāt worth giving a care about.
Everything Iāve seen especially in recent weeks really shows how bad it is. Brown people in Western Asia donāt matter because they have a different religion and they are āprone to violenceā and they arenāt as ādevelopedā as us. I feel like this is really where the support for Israel comes from. Not from ideas of Israel fulfilling apocalyptic prophesy, but just because white Americans can turn on the TV and see people in Israel who look like them, who have a religion that is semi-compatible with theirs, and who live in a society that seems to be very āWesternā fighting off the āsavage Islamistsā. It plays into their already primed-for-racism-and-chauvinismā brains.
While I donāt think American media is the source of racism and Islamophobia, I do think the last 20+ years of movies, shows, and games has really fueled the fire. I think (hope?) in the future people will look back on this period of ācorn-fed white bearded operators killing all the Muslim terroristsā media in the way we look at minstrel shows now.
I think part of the issue burgerlanders have with conflict is that theyāve never really had to worry about it impacting them
The US hasnāt been invaded in literal centuries, the only real attacks on itās soil in the last 100 years being a military attack on a naval base in Hawaii and a couple of targeted terror attacks
The inhabitants have never experienced what itās like to be indiscriminately bombed or occupied, nor have they really had to fear that since WWII
Of course, this is obviously only a small part of the issue, but still
Incidentally, your first example wasnāt on American soilāoccupied Hawaii was not absorbed into the Union until 1959.
Good point
That makes it worse lmao
It took a loooong time of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan being clearly a pointless quagmire for the bloodthirsty islamaphobia of post 9/11 to die down to a simmer. The only way for Americans to ever care about a war is if Americans are dying and itās not going anywhere. This comes at a massive cost to those they invade. Once Americans spend 10 years getting killed over this and not reaching any conclusive victory, the American people will mildly criticize it.
correct me if Iām wrong but I think you have to go back to the civil war, or if that doesnāt qualify, the war of 1812
AKSHUALLLLYYYYY the Japanese did technically invade Alaska during the Aleutian Islands campaign in ww2 but your point still stands
Edit: yes I know it was a territory like Hawaii at the time but unlike Hawaii, Alaska is physically a part of North America. This made it seem much closer than when the Japanese attacked other pacific territories like Guam.