I AM A POLITICALLY
INCORRECT INAPPROPRIATE BIGOT...please set me straight.
A cranky opinion for
CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
A cranky opinion for
CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
The following is the opinion of a
cranky old man with limited knowledge on the subject opined. I am probably completely off base, please enlighten
me.
I do not
have a problem with the Muslim religion.
That would be ridiculous and totally against everything our country
stands for. There are facets of every
religion with which I do not agree.
I am sure
the vast majority of Muslim people are very nice and only want, prosperity,
harmony and to be able to raise their family in a peaceful environment in their
own culture. I have met Muslims that clearly
fall into that category.
I do have
issues with what I see as part of the Muslim culture. If I am wrong, if I have the wrong
impression, please, Muslim people, please set me straight. Stand up and declare these things
which non–Muslims associate with your culture to be wrong and offensive.
I see a
culture that encourages child brides for old men and I find that to be
offensive.
I see a culture which finds nothing wrong with sexually abusing little boys.
I believe the chopping off of body parts, especially heads, to be inappropriate.
It disturbs me when I read of a woman being buried to her waist and stoned to death because SHE was raped.
A culture that treats women as second…no third class citizens is not a culture that I can understand.
A culture that still believes in slavery, has no issue with selling women and children into slavery, is not a culture I can accept.
Suicide bombers, especially women and children, comes out of a culture which I cannot fathom.
I see a culture which finds nothing wrong with sexually abusing little boys.
I believe the chopping off of body parts, especially heads, to be inappropriate.
It disturbs me when I read of a woman being buried to her waist and stoned to death because SHE was raped.
A culture that treats women as second…no third class citizens is not a culture that I can understand.
A culture that still believes in slavery, has no issue with selling women and children into slavery, is not a culture I can accept.
Suicide bombers, especially women and children, comes out of a culture which I cannot fathom.
Some of
these aberrations exist in my culture. There are monsters in my society, but they
are not quietly accepted, they are rooted out and punished.
I am told
that Islam is the religion of peace.
Perhaps it is, but the culture that embraces Islam seems to me to be one
that embraces violence and hate, and often turns the scripture of the religion
of peace around to justify the violence and the hate.
I am
probably wrong. I am probably a
politically incorrect old man who is too quick to stereotype a vast group of peaceful
loving people. Please prove me
wrong.
Please stand
up and tell me that your culture does not embrace the way of life I have stereotyped. Please tell me you are upset that an old man,
a blogger in Saudi Arabia, will be flogged (probably to death) for expressing
ideas. Tell me that ISIS is a disgusting
aberration and in no way represents the Muslim culture. Tell me that your women
and children are cherished and respected.
Tell me that your culture accepts and respects the traditions of other
cultures.
I am sure I
must be wrong in my view of your culture, please shout me down; please tell me I am wrong.
So far all I
hear is silence, and the silence is deafening.
The preceding was the opinion of a
cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.
hoping you hear something in return. i am ignorant to the beliefs of this religion and many others as well.
ReplyDeleteI have a young niece that lives in Paris now, and she is quick to tell me of all the wonderful Muslim people she knows. And I am quick to point nt out that there were some wonderful Nazis as well, that doesn't mean the group was not dangerous!!!
ReplyDeleteI cannot condone (nor do I understand) what I believe to be the beliefs of Muslim people. Like you, I want to be proven wrong!!
ReplyDeleteSo far most of the things I hear about them are negative; If proved to be wrong, I'll stand corrected though I don't think that will be the case.
ReplyDeletebetty
Greetings from Lisboa
ReplyDeleteFirst, I think the likelihood of you having a Muslim reader is pretty small, second, I think a majority of your readers will agree with you. There is a lot of stuff out there (on the web) that talk about this very issue, and some reasoned responses from both Muslim and non-Muslim alike.
(and what happened to the 'no more politics for me...)?
I did not think bigotry and the failure of the Muslim Majority (I hope) to speak against atrocities was political. I think Scott touched on a big issue, intimidation within the Muslim community.
DeleteNostradamus saw it all.
ReplyDelete"There are monsters in my society, but they are not quietly accepted, they are rooted out and punished. "
ReplyDeleteWe all know there are hundreds of thousands of Islamic jihadists around the world, perhaps millions even, who actively engage in evil. But what I can't understand is why, according to worldwide opinion polls, there is such a HUGE percentage of the "peaceful" Muslim population who shows sympathy for them? Why aren't they being rooted out and punished? Obviously the peaceful ones who do NOT sympathize are being intimidated.
So how are we non-Muslims supposed to look at the Muslims living around us every day and know which are evil "sleeper" jihadists, which are sympathizers, and which are just silently cowering? The odds are pretty good that the majority come from the first two categories, particularly in Europe where they have not been integrated into mainstream society very well. Is there any wonder the degree of distrust is as high as it is?
I just look at it as Westboro doesn't represent the vast majority of Christians, so neither do Muslim extremists represent most Muslims.
ReplyDeleteHi Cranky,
ReplyDeleteReligion is open to interpretation and that includes all religions. People interpret the teachings of their religion in a way that satisfies their own personalities. If you have a tendency to oppress people you will find "evidence" that your views are valid in books like the Bible and the Koran.
All religions are flawed in this way. For example, how about numerous Catholic priests who sexually abuse young boys? I'm Catholic (not practicing) and that absolutely appalls me.
Islam seems more extreme but such practices that you list (and are quite rightly offended by) do not represent all Muslims.
I recently saw a film/documentary about Scientology, a truly man-dame religion that cat was spawned from the brain of total nutcase (L Ron Hubbard) and is maintained by another lunatic and drones who don't seem to understand what is going on.
I would suggest that religion in general is a problem - but then again if religion were to be banned, something else would take its place to justify heinous acts of barbarism and war.
:o)
Cheers
PM
If you go to large cities in any majority Muslim country, you will find that the major daily newspapers there are published in both Arabic and English. You can find the English versions online.
ReplyDeleteEvery week at least, every one of those papers publishes at least one article decrying the violence. Most of the people fleeing the violence and in refugee camps are Muslims who are trying to get away from extremists because they don't want to live like that.
Yes, they have things in their culture we would not like, and yes, sexism is deeply ingrained. It is in several cultures, and our own has only seen that as wrong in the last couple of generations. There is still a great deal of sexism in our culture (just ask the women in the military who are sexually molested and nothing is done about it). It's going to be a long battle for all cultures to become what we know humans can aspire to be, and there will always be the ones who don't want to change, which is sad for them.
One thing i can suggest is to go visit a mosque in your area. Muslims prize hospitality, and if you go visit and ask to just talk to them and ask questions and get answers, just telling them you want to foster better understanding, they will probably love it and be glad to talk to you. When people from our church did that here, we were welcomed with open arms and huge smiles, and the leader of the mosque has had lunch meetings with our pastors to try to work out a way for us to open more dialog. Yes, really.
I can't add anything, except to say it's up to true Muslim leaders to protect their faith by denouncing extremists who would hijack their religion for political purposes. I do like Messymimi's comments.
ReplyDeleteI don't see Islam as a religion, it's politics. I see the same things you see, and feel the same as you do. It certainly isn't a religion of peace. More like hate and intolerance.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
All religions do have extremists that feel anyone outside of their circle should be discriminated in some way or other. All religions get crazy leaders (political and religious) that hijack the religion and then use fear and anger to win over the weak minded and fearful. Needless to say, I avoid formal religion as much as possible and welcome moderates in all venues.
ReplyDeleteYou raise vexing and even challenging issues which seem to undergird a faith or
ReplyDeletereligious system. A couple of quick thoughts in response. Fundamentalist principles, in any belief system, pander to the least educated and enlightened. Muslim extremism arises from fundamentalist strains. Secondly, ISIS and Taliban are not so much about religion or faith as they are about power and politics. They simply use religion-sharia law for example-as a tool. It is not unlike right wing Christian evangelicals who try to use the Bible as a weapon-inflicting "authority" and judgement.
My own challenge in understanding Islam is with the origination of the faith and with the founder. His experience and "revelations" in a cave may have moved a superstitious people toward a monotheism, but he also advanced principles that required armed struggle. That is a departure from most other religions or faith systems. Then you overlay all of this with the Wahhabist strain favored and generously funded by the Saudi Royal family. Through their influence and minions they have poisoned a religion, which even in its more "pure" form still posses practices and ideas about women and equality which are reprehensible and repugnant to standards of human dignity. At least that's my take.
At least you're not a sexist egotistical lying hypocritical bigot. Like Dabney Coleman in "9 to 5".
ReplyDeleteI know a number of people who claim to be Muslim but the inconvenient truth is that none of them ARE practicing Muslims. Not that they don't do the prayers, attend the Mosque, or practice in other ares. They do most or all of that. They even listen to messages from their Imam and give and work for the local Mosque and Muslim community.
ReplyDeleteWhat they don't do is 'correctly' follow the Quran. All of the things you note that are so heinous are required practices according to the Quran and/or the teachings of Mohammad. Read it and you will find that truth is undeniable, any Muslim in America who believes what the Quran holds as the basics of faith should be working diligently to dismantle this country and to put in bondage, of one sort or another, all of the non-Muslim population.
You are not wrong - you are very right! Sadly...
ReplyDelete