Raising the Right Awareness

“Obsession” and “SUICIDE KILLERS” were in large, bold, black letters on white fliers that were spread across campus bulletin boards by the New Paltz College Republicans. Many students would wander over to these eye catching and mind triggering words. This was “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” and the two videos they were showing on campus to supposedly support such awareness.

The title, Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week (IFAW), gave me an unsteady feeling. These seemed like some sort of propaganda fliers with their bold wording. They were effective in getting most people’s attention, though, but not many turned out for the videos. There was a sense of opposition within the college community.

Arriving at the showing of “Obsession” I found a room with nobody there and all the lights turned off. Confused, I walked in and found fliers on some front row seats protesting the IFAW. Upon exiting on the opposite side I was met by a few others who were wondering if the video was even being shown.

There were even more fliers outside the room. “We oppose Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week run by David Horowitz, and believe it is an attempt to spread Islamophobia (the fear of anything Islam)," it stated. “We believe their goal has less to do with spreading awareness than it does with fostering fear, suspicion and bigotry.”

Those harsh claims were then met with a face, as I overheard one man defending his fliers to a fellow republican member. The man distributed another flier to me with more reasons for opposition to IFAW.

“By not separating the ideology of fanatic groups like Al Qaeda and the Taliban from the average Muslims, they result in labeling all of Islam under the label of terrorism,” said the flier. “This dangerous label only helps spread hate and fear of the common Muslim by the average American.”

For the most part, I would have to agree with these claims in the title of the week, but the videos would be the real factor.

“Obsession” was a video that could best be explained as a propaganda reel for fear and hatred towards Islam. Of course, the description on the Republican’s flier said, “Uses unique footage from Arab television to create an ‘insiders’ view of the hatred Islamic radicals are teaching in the Middle East, their incitement of global jihad, and their goal of world domination.”

The video, though, seemed to be more of America’s obsession with Islamic extremists. The outlandish claims the video made was rather troubling too. I was happy to see most people did not waste their time by attending.

One of the conspiracy theory elements to the video was the constant and utter repetition of comparing Islamic extremists to Hitler and the Nazis. This powerful, but ludicrous, connection seemed to be used only to instill fear. Over and over they pounded this impression. The video undoubtedly continued to support the claims of being in war with the terrorists. To me, this was rather troubling to see, I had hoped we would not see war propaganda on campus.

The New Paltz College Republicans might have shown one fear implanting video, but their second video “Suicide Killers” was actually a respectable look into the realm of suicide killers and how they affect common Islamic life.

One teenage survivor of a suicide killer described the experience and said, “The smell was terrible, the smell of blood.”

“When I put on that belt I felt proud,” said one of the suicide killers in a detention center. Many of the extremists who were captured often felt great pride in their sacrifice. They did not question what they were doing in their jihad.

One extremist woman in the video was particularly startling in her responses. “I would not be a Muslim if I was afraid to be a martyr,” she said. “This life does not interest me.”

The video also showed how children in families were raised just to be martyrs. In other families though they showed the strong opposition to this ideal and how they wished for their children to understand the joys of life.

This insider look into everyday Islam was very eye opening and did not instill the same fear that “Obsession” did. In many ways it just brought awareness of what it is like to live in a society that suicide killers are common and how the citizens are trying to deal with this ever going problem.

In our society we need to understand that not every Muslim is a terrorist. Many of them are just like us and want to enjoy what life has to offer without the threat of violence. In the future I hope these honorable people who struggle against extremists get the solution they have been searching for. One day they might not live in fear, but for the meantime lets not use their extremists to instill fear in our nation.