I’ve been seeing toxic positivity about Palestine from some Muslims in the West. I don’t think it’s a widespread problem among most, but it’s troubling when I see it come from some faith-based Muslim mental health professionals.
I get it, because you’re a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist, you feel the pressure and expectation to see the positive in literally everything and you want to be uplifting for people, but what’s happening right now is not about you or the professional facade you’re trying to maintain.
I’ve seen some talk about how we need to respond with love, not anger. I’ve seen others shamelessly use the plight of Palestinians to assert that this should increase our gratitude and faith. Palestinian suffering is not about your personal spiritual development.
Telling people to suppress their grief, anger, and rage, and focus instead on teaching the racists and Islamophobes in “the prophetic tradition” is dismissive, dishonest, and disgusting, honestly. We live in societies where there’s an urgency to rush past expressions of emotions that we deem “negative,” particularly sadness, anger, fear, resentment, and so on. There’s an urgency to “resolve,” “fix,” and stuff down these emotions because authenticity is devalued. Embracing the full range of our emotions as human beings makes people uncomfortable. We’re conditioned to shame ourselves and others for feeling hopeless, depressed, frustrated, and enraged.
So if you’re rushing to shaming people for expressing these emotions, or telling them to cheer up or “look on the bright side,” it’s because their feelings bring up your own discomfort, your own intolerance, your own internalization of these harmful positivity ideals.
It’s unhealthy, disingenuous, and, yes, toxic. People are turning away from what’s happening in Gaza. I’m not just talking about politicians. I’m talking about some people who don’t want to talk about it “because I don’t want depress anyone,” or people in our religious circles, who seemingly forget that Islam started in protest against oppression, or as the 14th century Sufi Shāh Nimatullāh Wali put it, in “riot and revolution.”
I can’t speak for Palestinians, but what I hear them consistently say is, “Don’t stop talking about Palestine.” Keep speaking up, keep organizing, keep protesting, keep boycotting, keep the pressure on.
Keep your toxic positivity out of this.
