The news: In the wake of recent brutal beheadings by the Islamic State, young Muslims took to Twitter with the hashtag #NotInMyName to criticize the radical militant group. But as a new viral hashtag points out, why should all Muslims have to apologize for the actions of a violent few?
In the past week, thousands of people have taken to #MuslimApologies to show that an entire culture is not at fault for the actions of a small minority and that it is ridiculous for people to have to apologize for a radical group's acts when they had no part in them. While some posts were serious, others used humor to point out the hypocrisy of such a mindset, ridiculing the idea of issuing apologies for something you have nothing to do with.
These moving tweets illustrate what it's like to be at the receiving end of constant fear and suspicion:
Some chose to highlight Muslim achievements:
While others brought out the snark and kept their tongues firmly in cheek:
Many female Muslim Twitter users also responded to popular misconceptions regarding hijabs, niqabs and other coverings:
And finally, the mic drop:
Through anger or humor, what these tweets ultimately show is that there's an entire spectrum of humanity that identifies as Muslim and that forcing members of a group to apologize for the actions of one radical subset is nonsensical. While some of these tweets may look silly, it's because the idea of a whole religion needing to apologize for the actions of a few is silly in and of itself.
