We All Know Fear…

Last night I heard one of the most powerful statements or comments or maybe speeches ever. Nope, it was not Melania Trump’s speech (or better a remake of Michelle Obama’s). It was done by a TV presenter of one of my favorite shows. And he nailed it. Please watch!

For those of you who do not have the background on the story: Sonia Kruger, a TV host herself, made some comments about closing the Australian borders to Muslims because she does not feel safe anymore due to the most recent terror attacks.

Now, before we all get angry, let’s just take a moment and think about what was said. Can you really blame her for feeling unsafe? Can you really blame her for being scared? No. Can you blame her for being afraid of one group of people? Not even that. But that’s where we need to stop and breathe and think. Let’s just take a step back and stop for a moment so no false accusations are made.

I think it’s very dangerous to make a comment like that. Because it creates more hate and it for sure creates more fear. Everywhere. It puts blame on a group who is already in the center of attention and most probably does not feel safe either. But I believe it’s also the way many people think at the moment. I can’t help but thinking about how Holocaust got started. It was all created out of fear. People who were good talkers fed that fear. They put blame on one group, the Jews. They kept feeding to the point where concentration camps were created. A group of people, a religion was targeted. Right now it does not only sound familiar because we all heard about it in history.

What we should not forget is, that there are black sheep everywhere. That ISIS is recruiting from everywhere and out of every religion (to then convert). And they find volunteers for their cause. Those volunteers are not just Muslim. I think this is an important point. We should also never forget that everyone, every group can be blamed for everything. All it needs is someone who knows how to talk, how to move masses…

I believe we also have to understand where this kind of thinking comes from. All we see, all we hear in the media is that another person with Muslim background has committed a terror attack or a crime. We see, hear and read that the criminal shouted “Allahu Akbar” before committing the crime, the terror attack. This is feeding our fear.

We are all scared. We all know fear. Hand on your heart: Do you look at people the same way you did before shit hit the fan years ago, before the planes crashed into the World Trade Centers? Do you? Well good on you! I admit that I have to stop myself sometimes. Stop myself from looking at some people and wonder if they are okay. Not because my instinct tells me to worry, but because they fit the stereotypes highlighted by the media everywhere.

I believe that ever since 9/11 our fear got fed. And it grew. And it got more food thanks to extremists. Because shit happened. It did. Crazy people blew themselves and others up. People got killed in the name of something. The crazy thing is that not only our fear of Muslims grew but their fear of us too.

I have friends that are Muslims. What they have been through ever since Sydney Siege is crazy. They fear too. They are scared as well. Because you know what: They get shot at too, they get run over by the truck too, they get blown up as well when an extremist goes nuts. But they also have to live with the blame. They are labeled guilty by the rest of us although they are not. They are families like yours and mine.

The problem is that we are blinded by the fear caused by those extremists. We start judging and labeling. I think it’s time to wake up and think. It’s time to have a closer look at things and realize that not every time there’s a Muslim to blame for a terror attack. We need to start blaming extremists. Because, Muslim, Christian, Atheist or whatever, it’s an extremist that pulls that trigger.Extremists can be find in every group…

It’s time to come together as a society, as a community. It’s time to see the person again, not the picture our fear paints. Not every Muslim is a terrorist. Not every German is a Nazi, not every French is a Legionnaire, not every Swiss carries a Swiss Army Knife or eats chocolate. Don’t let fear eat us up. Let’s not run away and forget everything. Let’s face it! It’s time to stop with the stereotypes. It’s time to unite again and stand up against terrorism united. Don’t let history repeat itself.