Does anyone else think this rioting over the cartoonist drawings of Muhammad is getting out of hand? I just, for the life of me, can't understand that kind of ... of... passion? hatred? Religions conviction? I'm not really sure what to call it. What I do know, or think, is that Islam as a religion, on a whole is peaceful. I'm not sure - now I don't practice Islam so this is stated with a Christian background - that Muhammad would agree to killing hundreds/thousands of people in his name. Just like I'm not sure God approved of the Crusades. At any rate, I just don't understand the whole point.
Clearly the West, who believes in freedom of speech, doesn't understand the Arab world, who have never experienced anything even remotely like our level of democracy. And for men (I say men because you rarely see a woman out there protesting) who really don't have any other avenue for expression in these countries...maybe protesting verbally for a religion is the only channel they have for expressing themselves?
I have an acquaintance that I work with that does practice Islam and was telling us that he is sad for his religion. He sees what's going on and while he understands where they might be coming from, he can't help but wonder if they are just looking for a reason to protest. That years of rage have been bottled up and finally they have a reason to let it loose.
The latest thing is Pakistani cleric has put a price on the cartoonist head of $1M if anyone kills him. Would Muhammad really approve of that? I just don't think Muhammad, or any other form of him, would approve of killing another person in their name. I may be wrong, but it seems to go against what religion to me is about, peace with one another.
1 comments:
What would Mohammad do??? (Sound familiar?)
Let's clear up one thing first, there have been many women protesting.
But that is meaningless. Here's the point: Have you ever heard of Americans getting incensed about someone speaking poorly about Jesus? Or, worse, saying that black people should have the same rights as white people?
Those in the middle east don't hold a license for insane behavior. Look at our own crazy evangelists. Pat Robertson says this person or that person should die on a weekly basis. And the KKK was born here.
It's easy to look over there and say THEY are crazy.
As for "free speech", I think the point was illustrated best, recently, when an Iranian drew some insensitive pictures about the Holocaust - and the paper that ran the original Mohammad cartoons wouldn't run it for fear of offending people.
He who is without sin, etc. etc. etc.
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