Deepa Kumar's Presentation

I enjoyed Deepa Kumar’s presentation on Wednesday, although my first reaction would be that along with informative, it was disheartening to learn (more) about the “construction of the Muslim enemy.” History is filled with events and stories such as those Kumar illustrated; it does not get easier to learn about them. If I took one theme away from her lecture, it was this: language is not static.

There is a consequence to the way we (Western civilization) present the Muslim world. It seems that the words Muslim and terrorist are used in tandem.  This is problematic, as Kumar suggested, because we’re focused on the fundamentalists and the terrorists. Ultimately, it seems many people believe that every Muslim is a terrorist or fundamentalists or that all terrorists are Muslim. People forget that there are other terrorists groups, all over the world, that have nothing to do with Islam.

Consider the Klu Klux Klan from the West (more specifically, America). They may not be involved in terrorist activity anymore, or that we know of, but they terrorized African American’s up through recent history. Maybe the Klu Klux Klan is not comparable to other terrorists groups, however, I believe that the one of the purposes of a terrorist group is terrorize. The Klu Klux Klan did just that.