ebrown writes:
Quote:Yes. It is wrong.
The assumption is that people in the Middle East are somehow less human because of their religion (i.e. they are Muslim) or their ethnicity (i.e. they are Arab). This is a bigoted opinion, and it is wrong.
I don't see that Williams said anything like that. What he observed is that it isn't Irish Protestants or Catholics or Lutheran Germans or Buddhist monks doing and/or condoning these attacks. It is radical militant Islamic terrorists. Muslims. To say they are Muslims is neither incorrect, racists, or bigoted. It's the truth.
Quote:First of all, the jubilation you are referring to (I assume after 9/11) is completely despicable. However it speaks to the dark side of human nature. It is part of all of us, and not specirifically Muslim.
You know of people other than Muslims who are firing their rifles into the air, dancing, laughing, rejoicing when Islamic terrorists kill, burn, pull apart and hang civilian contractors on fences? Use car bombs to kill innocent men, women, and children? Assassinate civilian leaders who want to lead Iraq into free and open prosperity? Who fly airplanes loaded with innocent passengers into buildings? Really? Where are these non-Muslim terrorists on any kind of large scale?
Quote:I remember in 1991 during the first Gulf war, people in my church (yes a church) were selling tshirt celebrating the so-called "highway of death" where thousands of Iraqis were slaughtered by US bombs. Think of how you would have felt about this if you were Iraqi. (Incidently this marked an important point in my journey away from organized christianity.)
Do you recall that it was Iraq who was the aggressor in 1991? That Iraq invaded and almost destroyed a smaller country and would have taken Saudi Arabia as well if the coalition hadn't stopped them at the border? Were the people in your church celebrating deaths? Or victory? There's a huge difference. Militant Islamic terrorists by contrast celebrate the brutal decapitation of a civilian who wasn't doing anything but helping them build an infrastructure.
Quote:The celebrations in the Middle East also marked a small number of Muslims.
Small in comparison to the whole Muslim population of the world, I agree. I further agree, as does Williams, that most Muslims are not angry, not militant, not dangerous. But it is the small number who are getting the press. And there are almost no Islamic heads of state or other leaders who are standing tall to denounce terrorism and demand their Islamic brethren cease and desist. Their media is non critical and sometimes even complimentary of the terrorists. When Muslims will not condemn Muslims, a consent is implied.
Quote:Secondly, 23% of Americans approve of the actions of this "small number" of soldiers in Abu Graib (i.e. sodomy and dog attacks). People tend to let themselves hate in times of conflict. 23% of Americans is not a small number.
Where do you get this 23%? And is it the specific activity in Abu Ghraib to which they consent? Or is it the belief that aggressive interrogation techniques can be justified when innocent lives are at stake? If it is the later, I would refer you to several other threads where this has been debated at length.
Quote:Thirdly there was strong condemnation of 9/11 from within the Middle East. There is strong condemnation of the beheadings now.
Again show me in the Islamic media where there is strong condemnation or any condemnation. Where are the Islamic leaders standing up to publicly condemn these practices and promising retribution to those who do them? Yes a few have stated it is against orthodox Islamic law. But I have seen precious little public condemnation and/or demands to cease and desist.
Quote:In times of conflict, people tend to demonize their opponents. If you demonize people you fear, you don't have to treat them as human beings. You accept, or even celebrate their hardships.
This is true in the Middle East as well as in America. This explains how 9/11 terrorists can justify the murder of thousands of innocents. It also explains how soldiers can sodomize prisoners, and how 23% of Americans can support it. It explains how a country that is based on liberty and justice for all can imprison people as young as 14 years old for years, and it explains how Middle Easterners and Americans alike can celebrate the deaths of fellow human beings.
Again show me where widespread terrorim is occuring that does not have fundamental islamic terrorists involved in it if not specifically doing it.
Muslims are human beings. They are subject to the same loves and joys and passions and hatred that we are.
Yes they are. And most aren't terrorists. It's just that most of the terrorists are Muslim.
Quote:In a conflict they can be driven by bigotry to accept things that are inhumane.
The perspective shown by Williams and others is not that different than the perspective of the 9/11 terrorists. They say our enemies, and everyone like them, are less then human and deserving of ill.
Again I cannot find anything in Williams' piece to suggest this. What he is suggesting that people who strive so hard to 'understand the anger of the terrorists' and who 'sympathise' with the terrorists are the ones who are most likely to be overrun by them and cause the rest of us to be overrun by them too.
I think I'll stick with Williams' take on this. I vote for getting mad at the terrorists instead of those who oppose them.