Riz Ahmed’s Super Scary Ordeal

by Gary Fouse

Full disclosure: Since I don’t keep up with Hollywood much these days, I had no idea who Riz Ahmed was until a couple of days ago when I read about his bellyaching about being Muslim. Thus, I have no idea what his experiences have been or whether he was “racially profiled” at an airport.

There are plenty of responses to Ahmed’s whining which had refuted his claims very well including pointing out that being Muslim is not about your race, rather your beliefs. Airport security is not a fact of life because of other races out there, but because there is a belief out there on the part of many (not all) Muslims that infidels should die. Thus, we have to live with TSA and magnetometers to prevent any future 9-11s.

Aside from that, I would like to respond to a couple of other points.

1- Ahmed worries about being rounded up on President Trump’s orders and says it’s scary to be a Muslim these days:

“I’m basically here to ask for your help, because it’s really scary to be a Muslim right now, super scary,” he continued. “I’ve often wondered, is this going to be the year when they round us up, if this is going to be the year they put Trump’s registry into action. If this is going to be the year they ship us all off.“ (“Emphasis mine)

As to the latter point, surely Mr Ahmed, being a Brit of Pakistani descent, can avoid that nightmare scenario by not being in the US, right? (I know I’m not supposed to say that, but I just did.) So what if he misses a few Star Wars parties in Hollywood or anywhere else in the US? The Evil Trump and his “registry” can’t touch Ahmed if he is in the “friendly confines” of the UK or Pakistan.

Secondly, if Ahmed (with all his millions) thinks it’s super scary to be a Muslim right now. Think how super scary it is to be:

• A Christian in Pakistan.
• A Coptic Christian in Egypt
• A Christian in Syria or Iraq
• A Christian anywhere in the Middle East
• A Yazidi in Syria or Iraq
• A gay anywhere in the Middle East (except Israel)
• A Jew in Europe
• A Jew, Baha’i or Christian in Iran
• A non-Muslim in one of those “no-go” zones in and around  European cities
• A European female walking around alone at night in Europe
• An Ahmadiya or Sufi Muslim surrounded by Sunni or Shia Muslims
• A Muslim apostate anywhere on Earth

Have I left anyone out?

What Mr Ahmed leaves out is that (with rare and legally punishable exceptions) Muslims in America are not subject to that kind of treatment as their co-religionists dish out in Muslim majority countries. In fact, in just about every Muslim majority country on Earth, it is super scary to be a non-Muslim. 

What puts the lie to Ahmed’s statements is the fact that he is able to speak out as he did. If it were really so scary here in America, he would be keeping his mouth shut. However, in this country-unlike somewhere like Pakistan- Ahmed is free to complain all he wants.

So please pardon me if I am unsympathetic to Mr Ahmed’s “plight”. I could say that he reminds me more of Jussie Smollett-except I don’t want to put any ideas into his head.