supersock wrote:
What most of us know about the muslim people is what is largely published. We have more examples of extremist muslims then we have of those who condemn them.
It makes for better television.
In time you'll find that things "everyone knows" are often patently false. Do you still think early north-american settlers bought the island of Manhatten off the Indians for beads and trinkets?
Most Muslims are violent extremists, advocating suicide bombing, death to Israel, and death to America -- in the same way that
most Germans were hard-line *****, roasting Jews in their ovens and working hard for Aryan racial purity.
..by which I mean, most weren't. Judging the whole by the actions of the few that get press coverage isn't particularly fair.
Now if you're advocating shooting the folks that get out there and protest, that throw firebombs at embassies, that plan terrorist attacks and that call for the destruction of other nations -- that I can definitely go for. I like people to be directly responsible for their actions. If we lobbed a cruise missile into the next group of Muslim fanatics got together to burn our flags and chant "Death to America", I'd likely write it off as dramatic irony.
But please, take care not to extend your diatribe to cover the entirety of a given people.
On a similar note, I have a new co-worker in the office. He's Pakistani; he came to America in 2000 for college and has been here since. Given that he had his primary education in Pakistan, I asked him for his view on Kashmir.
I was treated to a rather interesting Pakistani history lesson, wherein I learned all about how the Hindu maharajah of Kashmir signed away his protectorate's independance, cutting a deal with Lord Mountbatten (the Viceroy of India in '47) that allowed Indian military to move in and take control of a region with a majority Muslim population.
Modern history has a different view on this, of course, but that's what they teach in Pakistan. It's not wholly true, much like the news media you read every night that implies that all Muslims are suicide bombers. It's simply the perspective that's being pushed. Learn to look past it.
On a related (and interesting) note, said co-worker mentioned that the people that helped him most when he arrived in this country were actually a group of Indian guys who were attending the same college as he. At first he found this to be utterly bizzare as he had been raised to think of India as an enemy. It took him a little time to figure out that People are People pretty much everywhere you go, despite the official positions and hardline posturing of the various States involved.
