Whenever there is a mass terrorist attack, especially if it happens in a first-world country, there is a variety of reactions. Mourners worldwide look for a larger culprit, focusing on culture, guns (either too many or not enough), or, most often, religion. Since ISIS has the name “Islamic” in their name, it can be hard for non-Muslims to see the difference between moderate and extreme Muslims.
Muslims in the U.K. have responded to the backlash with a social media campaign featuring #NotInMyName. The hashtag is used to mourn the victims of terrorism, as well as to educate and distance Islam from the actions of Islamic extremists.
https://twitter.com/BilquisRayeen/status/665455944843845632
As is usually the case, extremists groups recruit members not based on their ideological alignment with the “cause,” but based on exploiting other vulnerabilities in order to gain leverage over an individual. It’s possible that many ISIS members joined for reasons such as economic benefit for their families (since ISIS basically destroyed the local economy).
https://twitter.com/ralsadoon/status/665412234995179520
As expected, there has been a backlash against this social media campaign.
Stop Islamophobia, they say. #NotInMyName, they say.
Where's the Million Muslim March? TAQIYYA#RebootLiberty#ORPUW pic.twitter.com/4Z9EjAmN16— AngelaSandersBooks (@angelacarwile) November 16, 2015
Most of the responses have to do with the idea that moderate Muslims are not doing enough to prevent or react against Islamic extremists. I don’t know why there is an expectations that moderate Muslims do more than what moderate Christians or moderates of any other stripe should do in the aftermath of a horrible attack. After all, most people think that by changing their Facebook profile pic to a French flag is doing something important and meaningful.
What’s clear is that we as humans feel loss and grief after a senseless and inhuman attack. We can’t let those feelings turn into feelings of hatred or intolerance. We must not blame a religion when we know that the causes of extremism are varied and usually prosaic rather than ideological.
Featured image is a screengrab from video.
