(Trying to get warmed up to write.)
Over the last few months a work-related issue has resulted in my once again becoming the target of the haters. I say once again because I got hated on throughout the time I regularly wrote my Chronicle blog. The very first post, in 2006, resulted in my being hated for being Muslim, but also for being religious. It frequently stung but it also became a routine part of blogging. At times I had tantrums and threatened to never blog again or never post comments again, but I got over it and carried on.
Things are different now that I work for CAIR. There’s not that direct a line between my paycheck and my detractors, but it’s a lot harder to say no when I’m getting paid to do things some find provocative.
I’m being kind of vague because I don’t want to give the incident more attention than it deserves. However, I recently saw on Facebook (damn that social media) that as part of the “campaign” against me (really, poor effort) someone has directed people to this website, my work email and my Twitter account.
It feels weird to be specifically targeted again, even though this “campaign” has resulted in very little response.
Words have power. When they’re whiny but trying to give off a sense of power they are much weaker. So I don’t dare my detractors to be smarter. I dare them to use words for power.
Ruth Nasrullah 