"Islam Rage Boy" Feels Offended
Becoming the public face of Muslims protesting against western hegemony and the foreign occupation of Muslim lands, Kashmiri Shakeel Ahmad Bhat finds the "Islamic Rage Boy" nickname given to him by right-wing bloggers and western media deeply offensive.
"I do not like being called Islamic Rage Boy, it is not nice," Bhat told the Guardian in the first-ever interview to a western newspaper on Monday, July 23.
Two American bloggers have unearthed several news pictures of Baht and re-imagined Bhat in a cartoon character, giving him the name "Islamic Rage Boy" and copyrighted it.
Later on, the man’s face became so familiar that T-shirts, mouse-pads and posters are now imprinted with his furious visage.
"Someone I love blew up a bunch of Infidels and all I received was this wretched, blood-soaked T-Shirt," read the slogan on one T-shirts sold in the US.
But Bhat says he used now to take such offenses into his strides, because he is a Muslim political activist.
"I am not happy with people joking about me or making me into a cartoon, but I have more important things to think about," he explained.
Described by his neighbors as a sweet-tempered young man, Bhat has dropped out of school and quickly found his way into the armed struggle against New Delhi's disputed hold over part of the Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Despite being detained more than 300 times, the dedicated young man walks to a protests if it is within six miles and hitchhikes or catches a bus if it is further.
Sometimes he is the only protester.
"My protests are for those Muslims who cannot go out onto the streets to cry out against injustice. This is my duty and I believe Allah has decided this for me."
Islamophobic
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, saw the "Islamic Rage Boy" also insulting.
"I find the term Islamic Rage Boy offensive, as would anyone who applied the term to their own faith. It's an Islamophobic product by Muslim-bashers on internet hate sites," he told the Guardian.
The US Muslim leader compared the "Rage Boy" title to the anti-Semitic imagery of 1930s Nazi Germany.
"The cartoon is part of an overall growth of anti-Muslim rhetoric in this country. Someone is trying to link Islam with violence and anger and profiting from it."
Hooper said that Most Americans see Muslims as peaceful people.
He cited a recent poll showing that nearly 63% believe most Muslims do not condone violence and 40% believe the Qur'an does not condone violence.
He warned that such propaganda is the reason behind hostilities targeting Muslims, particularly in the United States.
"While the majority is not hostile towards Muslims, there is a minority who are, and cartoons like this do not help," he said.
"You cannot combat one form of extremism with another."
IOL.net
Two American bloggers have unearthed several news pictures of Baht and re-imagined Bhat in a cartoon character, giving him the name "Islamic Rage Boy" and copyrighted it.
Later on, the man’s face became so familiar that T-shirts, mouse-pads and posters are now imprinted with his furious visage.
"Someone I love blew up a bunch of Infidels and all I received was this wretched, blood-soaked T-Shirt," read the slogan on one T-shirts sold in the US.
But Bhat says he used now to take such offenses into his strides, because he is a Muslim political activist.
"I am not happy with people joking about me or making me into a cartoon, but I have more important things to think about," he explained.
Described by his neighbors as a sweet-tempered young man, Bhat has dropped out of school and quickly found his way into the armed struggle against New Delhi's disputed hold over part of the Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Despite being detained more than 300 times, the dedicated young man walks to a protests if it is within six miles and hitchhikes or catches a bus if it is further.
Sometimes he is the only protester.
"My protests are for those Muslims who cannot go out onto the streets to cry out against injustice. This is my duty and I believe Allah has decided this for me."
Islamophobic
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, saw the "Islamic Rage Boy" also insulting.
"I find the term Islamic Rage Boy offensive, as would anyone who applied the term to their own faith. It's an Islamophobic product by Muslim-bashers on internet hate sites," he told the Guardian.
The US Muslim leader compared the "Rage Boy" title to the anti-Semitic imagery of 1930s Nazi Germany.
"The cartoon is part of an overall growth of anti-Muslim rhetoric in this country. Someone is trying to link Islam with violence and anger and profiting from it."
Hooper said that Most Americans see Muslims as peaceful people.
He cited a recent poll showing that nearly 63% believe most Muslims do not condone violence and 40% believe the Qur'an does not condone violence.
He warned that such propaganda is the reason behind hostilities targeting Muslims, particularly in the United States.
"While the majority is not hostile towards Muslims, there is a minority who are, and cartoons like this do not help," he said.
"You cannot combat one form of extremism with another."
IOL.net
