Stereotype & Prejudice

"Erwin, hast du schon mal gehört, die Leute in Europa wollen kein Babys und nun gibt es mehr und mehr Muslim Leute! Das ist scheisse!"

Translated to English it would be something like, "Erwin, have you heard that here in Europe people don't like to have children and now there are more and more Muslim? Oh shit!" I was washing my dishes and have for more than five minutes overheard what my house-mate here in Regensburg listening to in her room that was opened (i think it was something like church propaganda called 'call for action' or something), before she came outside and panick.

I said to her I know that is true that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, but what is so 'scheisse'? She then explain that it is really bad if Europe will be run by the Muslim, which according to her always fight on the street and shout at their wives, and that European people should do something about it. She further added that Muslim people always do violence, blowing up buildings and kill other people. Then I asked her, if she's ever seen any muslim doing violence. She said she's never seen it, but that's what she always see about muslim in television.
I then assured her that I have never killed anyone and never have I ever have a plan to bomb buildings. So I hope she won't be scared of me, at least.

I then tried with the basic it's-only-stereotype explanation. But she seemed to be so clueless about the concept of steretotype. She also said that she is always scared whenever she sees people with burka or with beard, fearing that they would to terrible things, and she also thinks that the poverty in Africa are caused by muslim people (i did tried to convince her that there are different nations in Africa and they have different beliefs, also christians, and that Islam is not an absolute majority there). I then tried a more personal approach. I tried to explain that I am myself also a muslim believer (well maybe not a good one as she sees me drinking beer many times), and that I come from a country who has an overwhelingly large muslim population, and that there women are treated equal as man, and we even once had a woman president. Yet we have the biggest muslim population in the world. I then elaborate more what I meant by stereotype. I said to her that what she sees in TV does not represent Islam. I said to her it is 'scheisse' that those terrorist conduct violence under the name of Islam. We, muslims, are the people of peace. Nowhere in our religion condone violence to women, children, and innocent people. I shared to her about the bom that exploded in Jakarta few days ago. I said that they killed and hurt mainly muslim Indonesians, that has never done anything wrong to them. So there is no way whatever they belief in is the Islam what me, and most of 1.3 Billion others believe in.

She was nodding and giving signs that she was starting to understand this concept of sterotype and prejudice. I said to her that I acknowledge that it is not easy to fight stereotype that is echoed by the media. I too, most of the time feel scared with bearded men with turban, especially when I am sitting in an airplane next to one of them. So scared that I pray to God (the same one that those guys believe in i think), despite my pray-less days and all the sins i've been doing, hoping that they wont crash the plane to building or something. I further explain that stereotype against western people also exist in where I live. Some people still think that Germans are nazis and they hate foreigners and they drink beers allday. But that is NOT what I found here. I said to her that only with fighting stereotype and prejudice we can we end all these conflicts, as most of them rooted from misunderstanding towards each other.

So what I was concern was, if an educated university student like her could have such strong misconception, stereotype, and prejudice towards other, what would it be like for those people here in European countries who hasn't got enough education and whose jobs are lost amidst this economic crisis, and those conservative muslim back home in Indonesia, that all they see in TV is only the trashy and crappy part of american culture.

Stereotype and prejudice are, my friends, our enemies of today.