Why Islam? in the Bay Area
Most Americans recognize San Francisco as one of the most progressive, free-thinking cities in the country. Some choose to lampoon this fact with seemingly innoccuous yet purposefully derogatory phrases like “San Francisco Values.” No matter on which side of the fence you reside, we can all agree that you will see and experience things in ”Baghdad by the Bay” that you won’t anywhere else.
For example, earlier this year I was boarding the Muni (SF’s local transist system) and in place of a typical bus-side advertisement for McDonald’s or the current movie blockbuster, I had a simply advertised question staring at me: Why Islam? Later in the day, another Muni drove by bearing an ad that read “Islam: Submission to God”. In addition to these messages, each of these traveling billboards included a phone number (1-877-WhyIslam) and a web site (WhyIslam.org).
Even in an open-minded (sometimes to the point of apathy), yet opinionated (sometimes to the point of arrogance) city like San Francisco, this ad campaign somehow caught me offguard. Perhaps I’m used to seeing only commercial messages pasted onto Muni vehicles and kiosks or maybe I have grown all too familiar with typical Western media portrayals of Islam, which is to say…that it is the religion of terrorists. And although I’m semi-worldly enough to recognize the fallacy in this widely-held view (believe it or not, not all Muslims are terrorists and not all terrorists are Muslim), seeing Islam publicized in a positive light was unusually shocking. Continue reading
