Ordinary Muslim Man

The Ordinary Muslim Man features a smiling man wearing a Muslim taqiyah hat. They are with captions usually with an initial statement that can be perceived as anti-American, followed by phrase which makes the statement acceptable. The photo originated from iStockPhoto where it was posted in March of 2007 by Pakistani photographer Aman Khan. On January 7^th, 2011 the “Heck Yeah Ordinary Muslim Guy” Tumblr was created and Chris Menning posted a compilation of Ordinary Muslim Man images on October 21^st, 2011. Derivatives can be found on Quickmeme, Meme Generator, and Tumblr under the tag #ordinary muslim man. 

The person who posted the photo was Pakistani photographer Aman Khan. Their religion is mainly Muslim in their country and the creator of the "Heck Yeah Ordinary Muslim Guy" Tumblr is a Muslim girl. The meme uses stereotypes of Pakistani people associating them with a Muslim taqiyah hat and putting Anti-American phrases on the top line may discourage and enrage readers before the even read the bottom line because of the way that ethnicity is portrayed on the Internet. Web surfers may find it humorous and others may find it very offensive depending on their interpretation of the meme. There are several captions that are associated with this template picture meme, but some that are generated go too far with the humor. Below is a generated meme captioned “I did 9-11 a favor by calling the non-emergency line” Creating a joke of a disaster of that magnitude with families lost is not only offensive but generalizes all Muslims and Pakistani of creating the disasters in America. Society generalizes Pakistani being associated with Muslim religion and their actions therefore are seen as terrorists. Society assumes people wearing a Muslim taqiyah hat are terrorists but they’re just following the tradition of their religion. Not all Pakistani are terrorists, but because of the 9-11 disaster they are seen to be associated with them.