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Anti-Islam Video Offends American Ideals

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By DIVYA KUMAR Special to the Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 25, 2008

About 4,000 years ago the Code of Hammurabi was written and inscribed the most basic form of justice into stone and society's civilians.

About 400 years ago, the country we live in today was settled by colonists in search of a better life so they could live happily and pursue all that they could - the American dream.

About 45 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered a speech that ignited the flame in nearly every justice-seeking heart. He spoke of the dream, the "American Dream." The dream where all dreams can be fulfilled no matter how big or small. The dream where everyone is happy and anyone can do anything.

This dreamland is no mystical place. It is known as America.

As a proud American citizen, I am disgusted to see the ideals of this nation being so blatantly breached.

I was slightly alarmed recently to find copies of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" in both The New York Times and The Tampa Tribune, yet quickly disregarded it after realizing the ideal of freedom of speech was being upheld. Yet upon seeing the anti-American ideals the DVD sermonized, I grew livid to think that such malevolent propaganda could so maliciously manipulate the American creed in spreading itself.

True, the DVD is factually correct for the most part. Yet the video consistently projected the opinion of the minority upon the majority, thus weaving blanket conclusions with tiny strands of partial truths. It failed to emphasize that Islamic radical terrorists are a minority. What did it seek to achieve by the repetitive images of anti-America rallies? Is it not the identical extremist fear-mongering strategies that we in theory morally oppose?

While we criticize the Islamic terrorists for their casual references to the destruction of American images, how different is that from our own leading politicians who jovially croon "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran"? While by no means does this make us an extremist society, it doesn't make the culture of Islam one either.

As a friend of several Muslims, what inflicted wounds of grief most deeply was the call to action against most Muslims in America who are supposedly here "with an agenda" and are "using our laws and democracy against us." Islam is a religion of peace. Quoting from the Koran: "Whosoever killed a person ... it shall be as if he had killed all mankind." (Al Maidah, Ch.5: verse 33).

Is it not discrimination to lump together the masses of peace-seeking individuals with a few extremists? Suppose the image of the purist-seeking Ku Klux Klan became the American visage. Could America the beautiful truly shine as she once did?

The call to action frightened me most. Dare these seekers of Babylonian justice call themselves Americans as they disregard the morals and values the Founding Fathers who sowed the seeds of democracy into the American terrain, turning a blind eye to the self-evident truths that "all men are created equal." How much longer can we ostracize our fellow countrymen and create polarization based on fear and hatred?

Is it "coincidental" that this DVD was released two weeks before the voter registration deadline in a country in which more than 15 percent of citizens believe that one candidate belongs to the faith of Islam? While it is untrue that Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim, it is sick to watch opponents toss around the word "Islam" and "Muslim" like a negative epithet, a sick manifestation of the fear of differences that penetrates into a supposedly secular government.

If we continue to remain hidebound by our ignorance and fail to embrace our differences, we will soon strangle the beauty out of a nation created to celebrate the harmony of different ideals.

Divya Kumar, who lives in Tampa, is a junior at King High School.

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