Firing Line: Irshad Manji

Irshad Manji, activist, author, and gay, Muslim refugee talks about the importance of replacing cancel culture with moral courage.

She opens up by talking about how labels can be dangerous. In general, the brain uses labels as a way of making sense of the world. However, the issue is that labels can reduce people to less than they actually are. 

“We are all so much more than meets the eye,” she said. The only way to fight back against this is by engaging with one another. 

One way to address diversity and anti racism in schools is through her no shaming approach.

“We don’t finger wag to white kids that, ‘y’know, you’re white, and therefore, you have to fix yourself,” she said.

The reason for this approach is that every individual is different. Just how there are some white people that need to fix themselves, there are some Muslims that need to fix themselves. Shame is counter productive because it can easily lead to a person being defensive.

One way is by looking at offensive ideas. However, she thinks that bringing offensive ideas to the discussion table is not a good idea. Although they should be exposed, people need to be taught how to handle offensiveness.

“If we’re going to be teaching young people how not to be offensive, we’ve at the same time got to be teaching them how not to be so readily offended” she said.

She also talked about how a lot of red states are lashing against these new concepts. The reason being is that for the longest time, overly educated people have insulted people from the midwestern states. 

One story she gave was a tour in the midwestern states. One of the biggest questions she was asked by people there is why the East Coast hated them. When she came back to New York, one person asked how often she experienced Islamophobia.

This has resulted in Former President Trump harnessing their anger in order to get into the presidency.