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Kaleb Scalf
Ms. Fougerousse
English 10H
20 November 2015
Middle Eastern and Muslims arent to blame

People all over the world die every day, some from natural causes, some from freak
accidents, and some of those people die from violent lashes from another human, murder, or in
other words, terrorism. Acts of terrorism have been committed all over the world but when the
subject comes up one group of people are targeted or thought about specifically, Middle
Easterners/Muslims. A survey in 2014 showed that every 6 out of 10 Americans find Middle
Easterners/Muslims to be more likely to commit an act of terrorism than any other group of
peoples. Terrorism is committed all over the world from many different groups of people, but
condemning one group of people for the acts of many is just as bad as terrorism itself, terror and
discrimination in all forms must be stopped.
Terrorism, by definition is a person(s) who use violence and intimidation in the pursuit of
political aims. But now in present day 2015 that definition has been altered towards one specific
group of people, Muslims/Middle Easterners. On September 11, 2001 New York City was under
attack and the twin towers were brought down from one the most well-known terrorist attacks in
history. The attack was committed by 19 men, 15 of those men being Middle Eastern/Muslims.
One act of terrorism has changed the single story of a whole group of people just because the
acts of their few. Even the worlds most notorious Muslim/Islamic terrorist have all denounced

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their fellow Muslims for their acts, but people still discriminate and empower the single story of
Muslims/Middle Easterners.
Since the attacks of 9/11, the single story of Middle Eastern and Muslim people has
grown to be more negative stereotypes than anything else. A poll released in 2005 by the Arab
American institute found that only 35% of Americans view Muslims/Middle Easterners
favorably, another poll released in 2014 by the Arab American institute found that only 27% of
Americans view Muslims favorably. So the negative views towards Middle Easterners and
Muslims are only increasing.
All Muslims/Middle Easterners are viewed as terrorist but even Muslims/Middle
Easterners have been victims of terrorism. Most Middle Eastern counties have high rates of
terrorist attacks. In the past year there have been a documented of over 109 terrorist attacks
against Muslims/Middle Easterners themselves. Terrorist arent just Muslims like more and more
people continue to believe, terrorist are all over the world and terrorism overlooks no race or
ethnicity.
Terrorist attacks on Muslim/Middle Eastern people have been happening since the earliest
forms of terrorism. Some of the first major acts of terrorism were reported predominantly in
Middle Eastern counties. In 2006 there were over 52 accounts of terrorist attacks against
Muslims alone, the attackers themselves not being Muslims or Middle Eastern. Muslims are
victims of terrorism just as well as anyone else, the acts of their few should not condemn them to
being ruled out as victims of any kind of attacks.
Muslims/Middle Easterners all over the world are terrorized every day, whether they are
being discriminated against or attacked in their own homelands, terrorism against Muslims exist
and continues to grow. The sooner we disown the single story of Muslim/Middle Eastern people

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and accept them as people equal to our own status, the better well be. Terrorism isnt based off
any ethnicity, race, or group of people, there are attacks all over the world originating from a
multitude of different people. Its time that Muslims/Middle Easterners are viewed as people
rather than weapons.

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Reference Page
https://encounteringislam.org/misconceptions
http://www.globalresearch.ca/non-muslims-carried-out-more-than-90-of-all-terroristattacks-in-america/5333619
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/14/are-all-terrorists-muslims-it-s-noteven-close.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_attitudes_towards_terrorism