#MuslimRage counters anti-Islam media with humourous tweets
Less than a week after North American Muslims called for a civil rights movement, Newsweek is serving it up. Unintentionally.
Less than a week after Muslim community leaders told The Vancouver Observer about the need for a North American Muslim Harlem Renaissance, fueled by the talent, intellect and social contributions of US and Canadian Muslim youth, Newsweek seems to have offered a kind of call to arms.
The magazine prompted its readers Monday to use the hashtag #MuslimRage to Tweet about its cover story on anti-American violence in the Muslim World, penned by renowned neo-conservative Ayaan Hirsti Ali.
Accordingly, North American Muslims hijacked a hashtag essentially designed to fuel rage and stereotypes against them with artful comments on everything and anything that upsets North American Muslims.
The comments ranged from everyday logistic concerns posed by life in the West to comments on Western society as a whole and the foreign and domestic policy of Western governments.
When you find pink stuff in your Shawarma facebook.com/photo.php?fbid…#MuslimRage
— live (@live2Tripoli) September 17, 2012
Of course, this refers to the perilous pink pickled radishes one sometimes finds in a shawarma.
Messed up the pedicure I thought was dry when trying on shoes at Nordstroms. #MuslimRage
— Fatemeh Fakhraie (@fatemehf) September 17, 2012
What was impressive was the worldwide push to show that Muslims share the same concerns as non-Muslims.
Chicago teachers strike #Muslimrage
— Occupied Muslim (@OccupiedMuslim) September 17, 2012
Monsanto & GMO food #Muslimrage
— Occupied Muslim (@OccupiedMuslim) September 17, 2012
Trader Joe's Kosher peppermint marshmallows are only sold in December, but Eid is in October #MuslimRage
— Hind Makki (@HindMakki) September 17, 2012
When I wear a white hijab to a TV interview with a white backdrop.
#floatingHead#MuslimRage
— Dalia Mogahed (@DMogahed) September 17, 2012
And of course, my own:
When Riyadh and Washington tell women what's up #SameDiff #MuslimRage
— Massoud Hayoun (@mhayoun) September 17, 2012
Some Western Muslims have been ready to respond to an article like this for months. Mainstream media often commissions sensationalistic articles by a handful of Western Muslims and people of Muslim origin professing to speak for the entire Muslim World, Muslim women and Muslim democracy movements by virtue of their ethnic and religious background.
The Newsweek article comes months after Foreign Policy published an article by Mona Eltahawy claiming – without any of the journalistic fairness the publication reserves for non-Muslims – that every single Muslim and Arab man is a misogynist.