Today, call me a muslim
Sep. 11th, 2010 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumIt's Eid al Fitr. As I understand it, the most important feast day in Islam. For all sorts of reasons, the muslim community in America is not having a loud and raucous good time, to celebrate.
One reason, it's the anniversary of That Tuesday, when a bunch of fanatics made their terroristic splash. So part of it is sensitivity to people's feelings. After all, it was only nine years ago, and these fanatics happened to be muslim.
I'd like to think that wasn't sad, but I don't. Al Qaeda wasn't declaring war on the US. They attacked us. The same way Tim McVeigh did. It was to make a political point.
But a huge part of why they are being quiet about this is fear. I'd be afraid too. Right now, over on Slacktivist I'm engaged in a conversation with a regular (I'm an occasional regular. I can't keep with the pace there. I think, actually, it's a function of the paging, but I digress), about Park51, the so-called, "Ground Zero Mosque".
He wants it moved. Why? Because he's been convinced "a large percentage" of muslims are all-intent on conquering the world and imposing Sharia on us.
He is afraid, and has become bigotted. Facts will not sway him. Islam is monolithhic, wrong, somehow, in it's very nature. Tell him that most of the terrorism in the US is perpetrated by white christians. He doesn't care. There are, "frillions" of sects of Christianity, but only two in Islam (and they are only differing in something minor... he's not sure quite what).
Since a large, absolute, number of muslims (mostly Palestinians, in his example) are in support of terrorism (loosely defined), the low relative, number doesn't matter.
This is, sadly, not uncommon. Worse, the loud cries of it get lots of press. The Terry Jones (not the funny one from Monty Python, but the asshat, control freak, scary, cult leader from Florida) of the world get big play, and the media; not just the Malkins and Scarboroughs, but the NYT, the Washington Post, and even the bloody President of the US, weigh in, as if this sort of nonsense were sensible.
And it's bigotry. Plain and simple. All of it. Even if this were a mosque being built, I wouldn't care. No, that's not true. If someone had proposed building a mosque inside the boundaries of what used to be the World Trade Center, I'd be all for it. I donate money.
Because that would be tolerance. A lot more muslims died in those fallen buildings than ought to have, because, for some reason, they were overrepresented in the buildings. There was a prayer room in the towers, no reason not to have on in the memorial. Just the same way we have chapels in hospitals; some of which aren't really useful for anyone who isn't a christian, because there is a big honking cross, or crucifix, on the wall.
So yeah, a lot of why the Americans celebrating a religious holiday today are being quiet about it fear, and a fear that I can't call unreasonable. I'd like to think it doesn't matter, but I know that were they to have big parties, the Coulters, the Jones, the Malkins, the Becks, the Bachmans and all sorts of those who listen to them, would be vilifying that celebration as insensitive at best, and gleeful celebration of their "War on America™".
So today, call me a muslim.
One reason, it's the anniversary of That Tuesday, when a bunch of fanatics made their terroristic splash. So part of it is sensitivity to people's feelings. After all, it was only nine years ago, and these fanatics happened to be muslim.
I'd like to think that wasn't sad, but I don't. Al Qaeda wasn't declaring war on the US. They attacked us. The same way Tim McVeigh did. It was to make a political point.
But a huge part of why they are being quiet about this is fear. I'd be afraid too. Right now, over on Slacktivist I'm engaged in a conversation with a regular (I'm an occasional regular. I can't keep with the pace there. I think, actually, it's a function of the paging, but I digress), about Park51, the so-called, "Ground Zero Mosque".
He wants it moved. Why? Because he's been convinced "a large percentage" of muslims are all-intent on conquering the world and imposing Sharia on us.
He is afraid, and has become bigotted. Facts will not sway him. Islam is monolithhic, wrong, somehow, in it's very nature. Tell him that most of the terrorism in the US is perpetrated by white christians. He doesn't care. There are, "frillions" of sects of Christianity, but only two in Islam (and they are only differing in something minor... he's not sure quite what).
Since a large, absolute, number of muslims (mostly Palestinians, in his example) are in support of terrorism (loosely defined), the low relative, number doesn't matter.
This is, sadly, not uncommon. Worse, the loud cries of it get lots of press. The Terry Jones (not the funny one from Monty Python, but the asshat, control freak, scary, cult leader from Florida) of the world get big play, and the media; not just the Malkins and Scarboroughs, but the NYT, the Washington Post, and even the bloody President of the US, weigh in, as if this sort of nonsense were sensible.
And it's bigotry. Plain and simple. All of it. Even if this were a mosque being built, I wouldn't care. No, that's not true. If someone had proposed building a mosque inside the boundaries of what used to be the World Trade Center, I'd be all for it. I donate money.
Because that would be tolerance. A lot more muslims died in those fallen buildings than ought to have, because, for some reason, they were overrepresented in the buildings. There was a prayer room in the towers, no reason not to have on in the memorial. Just the same way we have chapels in hospitals; some of which aren't really useful for anyone who isn't a christian, because there is a big honking cross, or crucifix, on the wall.
So yeah, a lot of why the Americans celebrating a religious holiday today are being quiet about it fear, and a fear that I can't call unreasonable. I'd like to think it doesn't matter, but I know that were they to have big parties, the Coulters, the Jones, the Malkins, the Becks, the Bachmans and all sorts of those who listen to them, would be vilifying that celebration as insensitive at best, and gleeful celebration of their "War on America™".
So today, call me a muslim.
