Hello readers, this week we focused on the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer and how fear can affect a persona’s life. The story mainly focuses on the event of 9/11 but in this post i would like to explore the by-product of 9/11 and how it affected people globally.

The moment the two 110-story high World Trade Centre towers crumble into dust, media outlets rushed to the scene and recorded what happened live for the world to see. People all over the world gasped and cannot comprehend what they saw on the television. Within the next day, every media outlet on earth covered the 9/11 story. In this blog post, I would like to discuss in depth one the lasting negative effect after 9/11—Islamophobia and how the internet played such an important role in encouraging this negative and problematic phenomenon.

Although my memory on that day of 9/11 is very vague, but I remember clearly dinning in the MacDonald’s that’s two block away from my grandma’s home in Burnaby when I heard about the news. I was enjoying my happy meal when suddenly I hear people screaming. I would never forget the look on my mom’s face; the face of horror; the face of confusion; the face of consternation. At that time, I cannot comprehend what happened, but now as a young adult that’s 19 years of age, I can fully understand the fear I saw in my mom’s eyes and why my parents chose to cut our trip to Canada short.

It is clear that what happened on September 11 is extremely traumatizing, and some people they might never get over the shadow of the event. It is evidence that 9/11 marks the start of Islamophobia and it is important to point out that the media and internet played a huge role in spreading this idea. Those who are Islamophobic hold a dislike or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, this group of people arisen mainly due to 9/11 and they tend to stereotype all Muslim and blame the whole race for what happened on 9/11.

I got inspired to write about this topic for two reason; firstly due to my roommate’s constant unpleasant experience and secondly, due to the efficiency of internet and how it helped me connect with others.

I was chatting with my roommate whom is Muslim and from Pakistan. She was telling me about what would happen whenever she goes to a white dominated country. As soon as the customs sees her green passport; her passport would be circled and she would be escorted to another line, waiting to be searched and padded down. It saddens me to hear that she have been searched more times than she can count; it shocked me to know that every time she goes to the airport she would go earlier because she knows the custom would want to talk to her and search her bags.

The other day while I was in Starbucks coffee enjoying my cup of London Fog while skyping my friend in England, I imagined what would have happened during the time of 9/11 if technological communication and the internet is not as widely spread as then and people don’t text each other and live broadcast is impossible. The whole picture would have changed dramatically. People that’s living in the next city would only find out about 9/11 in a month or so (if they are lucky), those living in another continent would very well find out years later. People will not express their anger on the internet and Islamophobia might not exist at all. I understand this scenario is unrealistic and impossible, but just imagine a world where racism does not exist!

After reading the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and hearing about my roommate’s experience, I want to live everyday as if it was my last. I know it is extremely cliche for me to say but just what if the same thing happened in 9/11 happen again tomorrow?

“Why didn’t I learn to treat everything like it was the last time. My greatest regret was how much I believed in the future.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer

Hope you enjoy my blog, see you next week.