Index IntroductionIslamophobia: Discrimination Against MuslimsBeing Different from OthersImpact of September 11, 2001 on My IdentityMuslim Ban and Immigration ExperienceCultural Toolkit and Expression Through MusicConclusionWork CitedIntroductionFiction , which uniquely represents his information worldwide, whether through an autobiography, journals or lectures. The concept of storytelling is to characterize specific circumstances that have shaped your life, the way you see certain things, or even the experiences you've had. The narrative method connects my personality to a global culture through my daily encounters and intercommunications. According to interactionist theorist Herbert Blumer, his main conception was that society influences the self and what makes you different from others, and communication is representational because you convey meaning to others through language and various other forms (Blumer 1986). The self is generated through the 'mirror' that when you look at yourself because you cannot escape and want to know what you look like from someone else's point of view (Blumer 1986). While culture is a network of shared meanings, according to sociologist Max Weber, who also emphasizes the idea that culture was a tool used to influence society (Weber 1904/1986). There are some events that started my life due to other perceptions towards me, which made me self-conscious. It is similar to a cultural toolkit, everyone has their own individual narrative that is related to their personality due to the experiences a person goes through and that connects to the larger concept of culture. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayIslamophobia: Discrimination against MuslimsIslamophobia, a term that has developed a fear within the people living in the world, against Muslims. The term defines hatred and discrimination against the Muslim community. According to the Pew Research Center, as of 2015, there are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, representing approximately 24% of the global population, yet we are still treated as the most resentful and threatening society (Lipka 2017). And around the world, especially in the United States, Muslims have been heavily stigmatized as “terrorists.” According to Erving Goffman, stigma is defined as the concept of people who have a non-physical mark on them and are not considered accepted within society and continually try to fit into their social identifications (Goffman 1963). Whether through movies, television shows, news, or magazines, people have formed their opinions about Muslims based on what they are shown through the most powerful sources: the media. Events such as September 11, 2001, the Muslim Ban, the Paris Attack, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and many other incidents that characterized Muslims so negatively that these slight misinterpretations turned into serious hatred and violations towards Muslims. Being different from others Identifying as a Pakistani-American Muslim has been very challenging for me since I was very young because people around me made sure to tell me that I am different from them and that they have more power over me since in the first first I am a woman and second I am a Pakistani-American Muslim. As stated by Eviatar Zerubavel, "After all, as we divide the life course into 'separate' age categories, we also group together those who fall into each of those categories..." (Zerubavel 1996 p. 422). Before I moved to the StatesUnited in October of 2005, I had never experienced so much hate, dislike, or even harassment, and to be able to experience all of this twice in my life unfold, one as a child in an elementary school and the second as a young adult at an airport. These two major incidents affected my life greatly and changed and developed me to be who I am as a person now. Impact of September 11, 2001 on my identity On September 11, 2001, a sunny Tuesday morning in late summer, within minutes, the devastating news had spread throughout the world that four American Airlines, headed to California, were being hijacked by members of the Al-Qaeda group, whose goal was to attack important political leaders and areas of the United States. Two of the four planes hit the Pentagon and a field near Pennsylvania, while the other two planes flew directly into the Twin Towers buildings in New York City, killing more than three thousand civilians overall (CNN 2018). This heartbreaking incident not only sparked a conflict but also caused a war and sociological differences between Muslims and Americans around the world. In Robert Heilbroner's article, he writes that “For the most part, we do not first see and then define; first let's define and then we'll see' (Heilbroner 2007 page 36). Assumptions like being Muslim meant you were associated with a terrorist group or that all Muslims were dangerous because they followed the religion, Islam had started to develop. Looking at you, various people were examining any evidence that someone was Muslim, whether through their appearance or their name. Around the world, people also began to create a frame towards Muslims, which means that it influenced different choices made by people which determined the situation and how they responded to it (Goffman 1974). However, out of 1.8 billion people, there are a few people who carry out these activities and yet they all get blamed for their actions, which leads to misunderstandings and mistreatment. Being told something repeatedly in a frustrating voice, and yet still not knowing what my second grade teacher said was the most embarrassing part of my life as a child, due to my limited English proficiency. And on top of that, having numerous pairs of white eyes staring at you, while you, feel like you're the scariest, most unattractive human being they've ever laid eyes on. “Language, however, relies on social conventions and islands of meaning that helps delineate the creation of our own culture” (Zerubavel 1993 p. 428). Within those few minutes, I began to blame myself for not knowing the English language and feeling uncomfortable and exasperated with myself, and my identification due to not knowing any statements coming out of my teachers or my peers. classmates. The education I got from Pakistan was a waste for me because I had to start from the lowest level of educational level. My second grade teacher refused to help me with my English language improvement due to my Muslim identity which prolonged my education. process. I arrive home every day and cry and wail in front of my parents, begging them to return to Pakistan because as a child I could not tolerate the judgment of my teacher, my classmates, and, worse yet, my Americanized relatives. As a teenager, I never understood my second-grade teacher's judgment until I moved to Inglewood, a place full of diverse communities and acceptance for all. However, changing city, state or country does not hide the fact that Muslimsthey were constantly treated badly whether it was pulling them out of airport security lines or men of other religion disrespecting Muslim women while ripping the hijabs off their heads. Around the world, people began to believe that all Muslims were dangerous, and began to look down on them because of how those close to them treated the group. Muslim Ban and Immigration Experience Exactly two years ago, never in my life have I ever expanded. I thought I would relive such hatred and discrimination towards my family and me who are Pakistani-American Muslim American citizens. On March 15, 2017, my family and I were stopped at the US Immigration Bureau at Los Angeles International Airport while returning from Pakistan due to Executive Order 13769 or in other words, known as the Muslim Ban. United States President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13769 on January 27, 2017. This order stated that people from seven Muslim-majority nations such as Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen will not be allowed be able to enter the United States (Ayoub and Beydoun 2017 pages 223-225). Personally, for me, it was a truly traumatizing experience because since 2005, after my move to Inglewood, I had never experienced such discrimination again, until recently The political leader's act of rejecting the stereotype that had been excavated in the ground against the Muslims, was now out in the open. My family and I returned from a three-week vacation in Pakistan, where we were stopped and questioned as if we were terrorists or someone new to the United States, even though our passports stated the obvious answer. Separating us all into different rooms, from the immigration station, three agents followed us into the room, inspecting our bags and continually questioning us about our time in Pakistan. Even though I was a young adult, it was still such a scary experience for me and memories of my experience from second grade flooded into my brain. By repeatedly repeating the statement that I was a student at the University of California at Los Angeles, the deputies failed to consider what I had to say. And the worst part was not being able to communicate with your family or know what was going to happen in the next few minutes. Pressured by the questions I was being asked, at that moment, my mind was blank to the point that I couldn't remember my legal rights and, as a result, I remained silent without understanding what was happening. Sitting at the airport, in a room full of officials, some of the questions they asked me were, "Why the purpose of your visit to Pakistan during that time period?" What did you bring with you from Pakistan? What is your connection to that land?' and many other personal questions, which I will not mention. According to Executive Order 13769, Pakistan wasn't even on the list, so I wondered what made those officers stop my family in particular: my aunt was wearing Shalwar Kameez (traditional clothing), was it because she was also wearing hijab, it was our names or the fact that we went to Pakistan that worried the officials. To this day not knowing the answer nor asking the officers why they detained us for more than an hour of integration still hurts my heart because more than ten years ago, I could never have imagined seeing something similar in my entire life. life or the lives of another 1.8 billion people. Before experiencing these circumstances of discrimination, there was a time in my life when my family and I admired America as essentially the country of the free, however thatconcept changed dramatically instantly because of the decisions that were involved for people like me. Stigma is such an unusual pattern that it can occur anywhere at any time and could upend the plans of your aspirations in life just like it happened to me. Cultural Tools and Expression Through Music If I had never experienced these situations, I believe my life, especially my cultural toolkit would have been different. As mentioned by Anna Swidler, a cultural toolkit is things we have experienced added to a guideline or script, which we can pull out and use based on the situations we find ourselves in (Swidler 1986). The saddest result of these experiences was that we had to distance ourselves from our religious and cultural practices of Islam, only to try to fit into the "American" world. The result could be seen through my behavior, even though I was born in Pakistan, I left my cultural values ​​behind since I grew up in California. I mostly grew up surrounded by American friends and distanced myself from the Pakistani community in my neighborhood. And when I got to college, my cultural tools didn't teach me how to act around other Pakistani/Muslim kids, and as a result, I would do certain things that weren't "accepted" within the community. In her article, Karie Martin, highlights the concept that men and women carry their bodies and themselves differently in the United States (Martin 1998 p. 494). Agreeing with this concept, going through flashbacks, I can say that when we landed in the United States, my relatives told me and my family that we should learn English as soon as possible, start wearing American clothes and think outside the Pakistani mentality . Over the years, the media has become such an important part of society and I remember when President Donald Trump issued the executive order, many took over Twitter to form hashtags like #MuslimBan, #NoMuslimBan, and #RefugeesWelcome. In the article by Jelani Ince et al, they highlight how social media responded to the Black Lives Matter movement using hashtags (Ince et al. 2017). A hashtag is “understanding how people associate words that describe this social movement with other words, and thus add and extend the original meaning of the movement” (Ince et al. 2017 p. 1815). Not just through the hashtag, but the media in general has had a huge effect on people, while, for me, it has affected my educational opportunity and my struggle with hiding my identification from others. Looking back on these experiences, as a child and young adult, it was absolutely such an unbearable age to encounter such hatred and injustice. In twenty years of my life, I would never have thought of having two meetings due to my religious background since I always had in mind the concept of the "American dream" and I had thought of the United States as a country that allowed its people freedom and legal rights. The United States of America has eternally been a country where one came and fulfilled one's aspirations. The opposite of what we imagined happened. We have been treated as if we have ties to terrorists and want to somehow provoke others into causing trouble when in reality, however, I want to contribute to education, employment, and research programs in the United States. I want to prove people wrong, who constantly reminded me of how different I was and that I didn't fit in well in society because of my background and faith. However, realizing now, I can see past all the depression and anger I had experienced as a child and young adult and, as a result, it hasprepared to manage my feelings and, at the same time, also helped me understand how to succeed under unrelenting conditions. Because of stereotypes, I fear for the future of teenagers who look like me and what they have to go through just to hide their identification to "fit in" to society. At the end of the day, everyone is the same and it's a horrible atmosphere to not be welcomed and not respected at all. These circumstances gave me a sense of patience on how to handle situations, they also gave me the courage to overcome these difficulties and the strength to help others facing a similar confrontation. The situation I find myself in today is due to these events that I have gone through and I am gratified by the determination for my achievements that have made me a hardworking and self-sufficient woman, who now never allows anyone to perceive her as if it is unusual from them. PortfolioEmotions can be represented in different methods rather than lyrics, they can be expressed through the creativity of music. Knowing that whenever I face a difficult situation, I can always turn to music because it actually keeps me grounded and the music and its lyrics take over the body, in a way I feel more comfortable. I developed a playlist that contains all the songs (see appendix) that captured my feelings and manifested themselves through verses and musical instruments. However, I will only mention one song that I was able to listen to and it reflects my narrative of what I experience through these situations. The song is called "Khoon Chala" and is written in Urdu/Hindi, which means blood rages. This song is unique because every time I listen to it, a sense of goosebumps runs down my spine and makes my hair stand on end. It is a mixture of people's response to certain circumstances, angry poetry, delicate melody and soothing voice that is a poisonous combination. These cultural objects connect to my narrative because they express the anguish and harassment I have endured and yet being able to remain strong as one moves forward in life is an amazing achievement and that is what my narrative is about. Getting stronger every time someone tried or tried to break down my self-esteem. This list contains a mix of English and Urdu/Hindi songs and I have never mentioned this playlist to anyone because I always thought people might assume that the songs on the list "reflect and influence social structure and economic inequality" (Bryson 1996). Since I was little I was told to never wear traditional clothes, never listen to Urdu/Hindi music, or speak Urdu when I was outside the house. I believe that music has particularly significant meanings for you and should not be judged based on what their social or economic status says otherwise. Music should not define my status in society, music is something only one can listen to without the world knowing. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Conclusion To tie everything together, the world we live in is so insensitive to human life and is taken for granted. Many do not understand that what makes you a terrorist is your mindset, not what your skin color looks like nor is it you. According to American sociologists and authors, Michael Omi and Howard Winant, they mention the word “color blindness”, which occurs when people begin to neglect the perspective of race and begin to stigmatize due to people's faith (Omi and Winant 2014). This is just one of the 1.8 billion stories you're reading about, there's a lot of animosity towards the, 1996.