Identifying Stereotyping

BACK WHEN TRUMP was focusing on finding a way to get and keep all Muslims out of the country, I remember having a conversation with someone, presumably a christian conservative, concerning not only the advisability of the idea of keeping all Muslims out of America, turning them away at the borders, but the practical aspects of it, and I decided to argue against it not on any moral, religious, or legal and constitutional grounds, but rather, on the basis of practicality, on the basis of determining how enforceable it would be. I painted a picture of Islamic people, very badly wanting to enter the U.S., and declaring at the border their strict allegiance to the Christian faith, only to resume their Islamic religiosity once safely inside the country and free as a bird. What, after all, could or would prevent someone, anyone, from doing exactly that? Religion, I tried to point out, is entirely inside the head, entirely within the person, and is not a skin color, a clothing style, nor does it have anything to do with general personal appearance. Quite, simply , you cannot tell a person's religion by looking at him or her any more than you can tell a person's attitude about politics and economics by looking at them. A shocking number of Americans seem to think that you can tell a Muslim by "just looking at them".. which, upon a moment's thought, makes absolutely no sense at all. An excellent new study titled "Islamophobia and Racism in America" by Erik Love points out that Americans everywhere conflate terrorism with Islamic religion, although there is no evidence that this is a true reflection of reality, and also categorize Muslims racially as a racial group, which, obviously, they are not That makes even less sense, since the world's nearly two billion Muslims come in all nationalities, skin colors dress styles, and cultural features. Stereotyping is a lazy intellectual way to cope with the world's infinite variety. The real world is far more complicated and confusing than our prejudicial stereotypes, but, overall, far more interesting and worthy of admiration.