>And you always have an interesting opinion to offer up.
>
>I think it took some bravery to come clean about this....and
>the difference between you and an islamaphobic asshole would
>be that the latter doesn't attempt to analyze or deconstruct
>his gut reaction. So I think it's commendable to cop to
>having these feelings....and also to have enough sense to
>question them.

Yeah that last one is the one that I think represents the great divide in these issues.

>How many muslims do you interact with? Is it somewhat
>uncommon to see women in a niqab or burka where you live?

Nah. It's not, like, constant or anything but I see it often enough. I even have- wait for it, groan, I know, lol- a friend. A former coworker in fact who converted and started showing up to work in her burka. I see it often enough. It just never occurred to me to think twice when I saw it until Wednesday.


>Not sure if this suggestion sounds too corny....but it might
>be a worthwhile exercise to kinda force yourself to engage
>with a muslim if this same reaction happened again.

I think if this persists- and I don't think it will, but I digress- I plan on further educating myself to mainstream Muslim culture in America. I don't know enough about the differences between the major sects, for example, to understand the broader values of Muslims in America.

Talk to
>them about the weather. Make small talk. This type of
>irrational fear is based on dehumanizing. By engaging in
>small talk....you force yourself to humanize them. It might
>work to force yourself into seeing them as individuals again
>instead of representatives or symbols. Cause really that's
>what it is right? That person became a symbol to you rather
>than a particular, specific person with their own set of
>interweaving characteristics and personality traits....of
>which religion is only one.

Well, I can compare it to my issue with Cholos. I've lost count of the number of times I've been attacked. Jumped. Not Mexicans. Cholos. Gangsters. I can spot the difference. Feel it, even. I know the real deal from a punk kid. Generally speaking, I've never had an issue with anyone who was about shit. These cats saved their balls for enemies. Other gangsters. They don't fuck with you unless you disrespect them and if you fuck up and disrespect in some trivial way, these dudes will call you out on your fuck up. You man up, own your offense, and apologize and you're good.

A perfect example is a dude named Butter I came across when I was a teenager. Older dude, early twenties maybe. I knew who he was but never directly interacted with him. Anyhow I bought the wrong drink at a liquor store and the asshole wouldn't let me exchange it. I was mad and threw it into the trash can, except I overshot it and it landed by his foot. He hit me with "Ay homie, you trying to get fucked up today? You almost hit me and that would have fucked up my shoes if it would have opened." I apologized but he was still kind of heated. I said look, I said sorry, I bought the wrong drink and dude wouldn't let me do an exchange. He understood why I threw it like I did and asked what I was trying to get and I told him and he actually bought me a new drink. He busted my balls since it was a cherry Coke but h recognized me from then on and every time he's seen me since he's called me Cherry.

Punk kids trying to prove how down they were? Those were a dime a dozen and I'd wind up getting jumped for everything from an obvious b-boy style piece on my backpack to having a black eye and a broken hand which somehow meant I wanted to fight all people at all times.

Anyhow, I see these people and judge them differently based on little things i pick up on that tell me where they fall into that hierarchy. I legitimately fear the younger punks and dudes that go out of their way to mad dog, especially now having a family, because I've been targeted by these fools before and know how long that shit can drag on. They really don't give a fuck whereas the more standup guys actually abide by a code.

Without all that interaction, negative and positive, I may never have learned to spot the subtleties that made one sect different from the other.