Highway Billboard Defining "The Perfect Man" Sparks Outrage Within Local Community

A billboard that has been erected on an Indiana highway is sparking outrage in the community, and that outrage is building across the country as well. The sign - headlined “The Perfect Man” - is being interpreted as a clear shot at the Muslim prophet Mohammad.

The sign lists off a number of derogatory characteristics, and Muslim leaders are expressing outrage over the inflammatory nature of the sign.

As AOL shares, a line at the bottom of the sign says "Educate Truthophobes," and above that are six check boxes next to some horrible traits. Those traits include "rapist," "beheaded 600 Jews in one day," "13 wives, 11 at one time," "married 6 year old," "slave owner," and "tortured and killed unbelievers."

A number of Muslim leaders have checked in with their thoughts, and needless to say, they’re not pleased with the inflammatory nature of the billboard.

"I was a little disappointed when I saw that," said Farial Khatri of the Islamic Society of North America. "We've seen them in New York and several others cities on billboards as well as other transit ads. We do support free speech, but we do realize this is also rooted in bigotry."

"At any point this would have been highly offensive, but we're in the holiest month of our faith, when we slow down and reconnect with our communities. To have an attack on all Muslims during this period is very disheartening," said Rima Shahid, executive director of the Muslim Alliance of Indiana. "It perpetuates hate. It perpetuates misconceptions about Islam, and it makes our neighbors think we believe things that just aren't true."

It’s unclear if "Truthophobes" is the organization responsible for the sign, but a simple search of that phrase on Google yields a number of anti-Muslim messages. The Muslim Alliance of Indiana is working towards raising some money to erect a billboard with a vastly different message in response.

Quite simply, there’s zero reason for this billboard to be placed up. Whether the claims on the billboard are true or not is irrelevant, as the sign is clearly aimed at being inflammatory and spreading a negative rhetoric. There’s more than enough of that going around these days all over the place, and drivers on the highway don’t need to be bombarded with messages.

That being said, there’s such a thing as free speech, and there are far too many instances of that being stifled of late. Even if it’s something you may not agree with, that’s just wrong. Similar to watching a television show, you are well within your rights to find something else to watch if you don’t care for the program.

For speeches that don’t align with your viewpoint, simply don’t listen - or better yet, use it as an opportunity to spark some civil debate about the topic. As for this billboard, looking away is the best approach.

That serves two purposes: you won’t have to view some inflammatory words while rolling down the highway, and you’ll be doing your part to not pay attention to those that feel the need to erect highway billboards with those messages.

Source: AOL
Photos: AOL Screenshot, IndyStar, Fox59, Pixabay