Those Muslims

The precipitating event that led me to begin this blog was the recent uproar over the insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published in Europe, and the following characterizations of people throughout the Muslim world who protested against them. I personally don't agree that such an ignorant and disrespectful thing as a cartoon of a revered religious figure merits a violent reaction of any kind. I also don't agree with the European papers' decision to simultaneously publish the cartoons-- it seems a little too much intended to provoke, in my eyes.

Anyway, what bothered me the most was discussions I heard locally: "THOSE PEOPLE don't understand democracy and human rights and freedom of expression," blah blah blah. Well, actually, human rights and democracy are some of the basic tenets of Islam. And the common people who are protesting are poor and under-educated, but they know when their beliefs are being insulted and they have a right to protest. Finally, the repressive regimes that seem to plague the Muslim world should in no way be equated with the intelligence or desires or abilities of the people.

Those kind of comments just highlighted for me, once again, how little most people in the U.S. know about the rest of the world, and how eager they are to make massive, derogatory generalizations about extremely diverse groups of people.

A great opinion piece from the Hartford Courant: Vilifying The Victims

And a wonderful letter from a Connecticut Muslim in the Hartford Advocate.