I am so fucking done with American tumblr rn.
When Ferguson etc happened, we Europeans educated ourselves, we cried with you.
When Charlie Hebdo and Germanwings happened, what do you…From what I can tell, OP (and other Europeans) isn’t angry specifically at the amount of sympathy posts – it’s the feeling that the victims are being disrespected by the derailment (“please, stop making this tragedy about yourselves”). That this is all they’re seeing on tumblr when they’re trying to grieve. And they’re right that the majority of posts (at least that I’ve seen) are about the copilot not being called a terrorist. I’ve seen several posts that go “he’s white, so they say it’s just depression”, without even a mention of the tragedy or victims. They’re grieving, but it seems a bit like all that a lot of Americans want to talk about is this issue that isn’t really related to what actually happened, and talk about it in a really American-centered way, and ignore the people who are affected.
It would be one thing if there was just a side note about how it might be different if he were Muslim. But for this to take over the whole topic does seem a bit callous. If people aren’t going to talk about the actual events, then I think for European users’ sakes, they should probably wait a week or two to bring up the comparison; just not talk about the crash. I don’t mean to dismiss Islamophobia at all – it’s a serious issue obviously – but I think that this might not be the best time and place. (And while it’s true that insensitivity on tumblr isn’t near as bad as the constant barrage that POC get, I don’t think it’s best to say “it could be worse for you” to people upset over a mass death.)
And I do think there is a problem on this site with being so America-centered. I’ve seen several European users complain about this – that Americans don’t (and don’t try to) understand that Europe might have a different history with terrorism than the U.S. He apparently was immediately checked for ties, because there are white terrorist groups (in Germany and throughout Europe) that no one hesitates to calls terrorists. I’m not going to speak for them on this subject, but I think listening gives a vital perspective.
And that seems to be (IMO) what the OP was pointing out with the Ferguson comparison – that she was willing to educate herself and listen to Americans, and respect our feelings (“we Europeans educated ourselves, we cried with you”), and not derail or turn it into something that we didn’t think was an issue.
Right, but how are people making this about themselves? Most people reblogging the Islamophobia post aren’t Muslim and Islamophobia is most definitely a European and German issue as well? I would suspect a number of the people reblogging aren’t even American.
To most people, these posts HAVE been just single notes, one thing they see on their dash that they’ve reblogged, and then moved past it. They may have seen it as the one remotely productive thing they could pass on from this pretty senseless tragedy. And that’s what I meant about the insensitivity, since it seems as if it’d have been okay for them to say these things if they’d also posted something about the victims. But as for the timing issue, who’s to say how long the period of mourning should be? One week, two weeks, someone could legitimately say three weeks is too soon.
I’m not sure I get how the different history of Europe when it comes to terrorism comes into play here, though. Nobody assumed he wouldn’t be checked for political or religious ties, making this a terrorist act, nor are white people excluded from that scrutiny in America. The point to make was, very simply, the observation that you see how he’s being treated right now? That is not what would have happened had he been Muslim, and the anger and grief you are feeling right now would have been turned on the Muslim community, and this is true for the US or Europe.
As for the Ferguson comparison, again, I don’t think that was a matter of grief, it wasn’t a request to cry with us but to spread the news of this injustice because no one else will. It wasn’t, “see this death and how unfair it was, mourn with us”, but that the whole situation that led to it is still there, the killer was supported by the authorities, there is no change being made to prevent this from happening again, and it has and will again and again, help us stop it. What is to there to be educated on in this pilot situation? Germany themselves are changing their airplane protocols and investigating how to better give mental health care. And also, since we’re talking about the understanding of European context, it would be relevant to point out that the US isn’t made of just one issue. Ferguson was a matter of anti-Black racism, while the conversation here is about Islamophobia. It hardly seems fair to throw this on Black Americans too.