Between bomb threats and peace treaties, it is hard to know exactly how other countries view or how much they know America. But, thanks to Reza Aslan, we now know how uneducated many in America are when it comes to knowing the people, religions, and actions of other countries.
As the “the home of the free and land of the brave” Americans are provided with one of the highest educational attainments in the world. Yet, Americans lack basic knowledge regarding the whereabouts, religious views, political views, and attitudes of those in Islamic countries, the African continent, or anywhere outside of the United States, for that matter. It is time for a wake-up call and Aslan has done just that.
Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American writer, scholar, and professor who was raised in the San Francisco Bay area with a BA from Santa Clara University, a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, a Masters of Fine Arts from University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop, and a PhD from the University of California Santa Barbara. This 43-year-old has written two books, is President and CEO of Aslan Media Inc., is co-founder and creative director of BoomGen Studios, has written for The Daily Beast as a contributing editor, along with a flood of other outstanding accomplishments.
Aslan has also made appearances on (NPR), PBS, The Rachel Maddow Show, Meet the Press, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Anderson Cooper 360°, Hardball, Nightline, Real Time with Bill Maher, Fareed Zakaria GPS, and ABC Australia's Big Ideas. Therefore, it is safe to assume that Aslan is a well educated, accomplished and credible source.
But, having such a rich background does not mean you have the literacy to make assumptions about anything pertaining to other countries of the world, as Aslan has shown on CNN in 2014. Although this is old news, the video of Aslan's backlash against Bill Maher for his flawed argument about Muslim violence, as well as the CNN newscasters who also made uneducated assumptions about the Muslim population, religion, beliefs, and action, has been circulating around social media faster than ever before.
The topic for discussion was “Does Islam Promote Violence?” which was brought up because of ISIS and Bill Maher’s uneducated statement that female genital mutilation is an Islamic problem. Aslan proceeds to rebuke this statement and claims that yes, violence against women does occur in some Islamic countries, but this is actually a “Central African problem” and is bred in prominent Christian countries.
As the discussion gets heated and another reporter joins the conversation, Aslan makes his overarching point that as Americans, despite our rich education, we tend to make generalizations about populations with certain religious beliefs such as Islam and “paint them all with a single brush “ based on these assumptions and generalizations.
Another key flaw that Aslan points out is that America is too focused on the problems in other continents and countries, but not focused enough on the problems at home. Specifically, he states, “Do you know that Muslims have elected seven women as their heads of state in those Muslim majority countries? How many women do we [in America] have as heads of state?”
This is the moment when the second, male reporter jumps into the conversation. This bold statement is powerful, yet true. As of 2015, America has yet to elect a woman president. Women continue to be sexually assaulted, harassed, raped, and killed in America, the same as how women are mistreated elsewhere. Thus, as a unit, we need to fix our treatment of one another as human beings and stop the mutilation altogether.
Finally, these three participants discuss preserving interests and ISIS involvement. Aslan acknowledges that important news is withheld to preserve the interest of certain countries and religions. He also points out that certain religions do not promote violence, but that people are violent. This pertinent statement is crucial for all to hear with the recent killings in America and Paris. ISIS has attacked Paris and is threatening Rome, America, and other places as well and daily in America people are being shot, bombed, and killed in any fashion.
The big question is “Why?” Aslan answers this question and says a statement that all need to acknowledge, “people are violent or peaceful” it is all a matter of choice and this is determined by “social work, the way [one] view[s] their communities and the way they view themselves”.
So, thank you, Reza Aslan for the wake-up call. This is the takeaway:
1. we all need to become more educated about one another.
2. Stop the generalizations and assumptions.
3. Fix the problems at home before trying to expose the problems elsewhere.
4. People are violent because they want to be violent not because a religion promoted it .
