Earlier this week, a number of campus groups held a panel called Confronting Islamophobia: A Discussion of Islamophobia in America. The panel was hosted jointly by the Hopkins Muslim Association, College Republicans, Sikh Student Association and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, with the purpose of discussing Islamophobia and its impact on and relation to college students, including students’ use of social media.
On social media websites and apps like Facebook, Twitter and Yik Yak, personal statements are amplified and generalizations can be easily made. Moreover, posting statements on social media creates a separation between who posted it and whom it impacted, so that a post’s negative effect can easily become obscured and ignored. The ability to hide behind an electronic device results in a larger prevalence of racist and Islamophobic statements online, which occur all too often.
It is important to remember the need to be mindful about what we post online. Besides consequences related to future employment and personal reputation, offhand comments posted online can be hurtful to those who encounter it. Even lighthearted comments can have significant consequences, so it is imperative that students think about the people on the other side of the computer who will see these jokes on their news feeds.
It is important to combat ignorance in order to work toward becoming more sensitive and open-minded to those both within and outside of our community. Open discussion and active discourse provide accessible means by which to work toward this goal, and this panel was one such example.
Given the current political rhetoric surrounding the upcoming presidential election, Islamophobia has come to the forefront of national discussion. Heated debates surrounding the Islamic faith and its increasing integration into American society have made Islamophobia a hot-button topic nationwide. This panel served as a means by which to place this discourse within the context of student experiences both on and off campus. This essential quality of the panel connected students more intimately with this important issue by offering personal exposure and stories to a seemingly abstract topic. Events like this panel serve to promote the productive discussion of issues, which otherwise may have been left to fester in ignorance, even at a diverse campus like Hopkins. We hope that the groups on campus continue to provide platforms for open dialogue on difficult topics and that the student body takes advantage of these opportunities.
Editor’s Note: Editorial Board member Will Marcus did not participate in the writing of this editorial.
