Page 108 - Age of Peace Goodword.indd

The Evil of Selective Information

If Muslims are free to engage in their activities, then they
must allow others, too, to enjoy the same freedom. If Muslims
give the title of conspirators to others, then they shall also
have to give others the right to regard them as such. If Muslims
have some reservations, they have the right to make a rational
analysis of others’ statements, but they do not have the right
to label others as conspirators. Doing the latter is little better
than resorting to abusive language.

It is not possible to change these writers’ and speakers’
proclivities. However, we can educate people so
that they do not become provoked but ignore
such events and reports, and refrain from allowing
their thinking to be adversely affected.

This was an example from the medium of the printing press.
Now, consider an example which was reported extensively
both in print and the electronic media. A Muslim chaplain,
Tahera Ahmad, of Chicago’s Northwestern University was on
board a United Airlines flight on May 30, 2015. During the
flight she asked for an unopened can of soda and says she
was told, ‘Well, I’m sorry. I just can’t give you an unopened
can, so no Diet Coke for you.’ When the man next to her got
an unopened beer can from the in-flight service, Ahmad said
she was told by the flight attendant: ‘We are unauthorized to
give unopened cans to people, because they may use it as a
weapon on the plane.’ On her Facebook page, Ahmad claimed
this flight attendant was “discriminating against me.” She used
the hashtag Islamophobia is real for the post. Muslim activists
then took to the social media to brand the alleged incident
as an inexcusable act of bigotry and said they would boycott

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