Question for Muslims, Pakistani Muslims in particular
?
posted about 12 years ago
So, I am a new transfer student from Frostburg State University. It's a small isolated college in western Maryland. It has a pretty bad reputation, but it's a decent college in my opinion. Anyhow, I came to a conclusion that MOST Pakistani Muslims at UMBC are conceited jerks. I have outlined the events below that have led me to this conclusion:
-On my first day at UMBC, I meet a Pakistani Muslim girl in the library and I get excited. I assume she's from Pakistan because of her skin tone and the hijab. I am like "oh a fellow Muslim, I should go and talk to her." So, I go up to her and I greet her by saying Aslam....She looks up at me and then looks back down. For the next ten seconds I am standing there awkwardly waiting for a response, but nothing!!! So I walk away thinking she probably had a bad day.
-The next day, I meet another Pakistani Muslim girl(I am assuming she was from Pakistan) and I go up to her and utter the Muslim greeting and the first words that come out of her mouth are "go away!!!" At this point, I am pretty embarrassed and confused. So, I awkwardly walk away. Later that day, I meet a guy who I am assuming is from Pakistan. I ask this guy for directions to the public policy building and he points towards the direction of the administration building and tells me it's over there......I was 20 minutes late for my class. I am pretty sure he did that on purpose.
-The next few days are pretty similar. So, my question is WHY THE HATE?
Selected Answer...
Have you seen Mean Girls? If so, remember that scene when Cady goes up to a group of black people on her first day and says "Jambo" (or something similar). The black students give her a strange look and then ignore her. (If you haven't seen Mean Girls, you're missing out).
Point it, skin tone and clothing do not dictate upbringing. Maybe the women you talked to were not raised to say the Muslim greeting to every Muslim that walks past. Maybe they misheard what you said. Maybe they were busy and did not want to talk to a stranger.
As for that guy, maybe he was being a jerk or maybe he was genuinely confused. It was your second day on campus. There is a chance that guy was a new student, just like you, who had not memorized the entire UMBC map yet.
To assume that is an entire population of people are "conceited jerks" after a bad experience with just 3 of them seems far-fetched. Perhaps you should interact with Muslims in a different situation (not you talking to strangers out of the blue).
