What is the difference between freedom of speech and discrimination? The difference is double standards. We see a lot of media attacking Muslims and many people say that it’s not Islamophobia, but rather just freedom of speech. For example, in the 1992 Persian Gulf War, Iraq was invading Kuwait and the US decided to interfere. To prevent them from coming in, Iraq spilled oil in the ocean which caused a lot of damage to the ecosystem. It was then declared that the action wasn’t an act of terrorism, but “environmental terrorism.” However, if these were the actions of a country like Russia, the U.S., or any other European country, it would only be called “environmental destabilization” but have nothing to do with terrorism. 

On January 21, of this year, Rasmus Paludan, a very “far-right” politician burned the Quran in front of a mosque in Sweden. He and many others claimed that it was him practicing his right to freedom of speech. However, Muslims everywhere are infuriated about the subject and are calling it a hate crime. 10 out of the 10 students I asked at Uni said it was a hate crime, rather than freedom of speech. The fact of the matter is that Muslims and Arabs are always and will always be associated with terrorism because of society’s bigoted perspective.