Libertarian Librarian

As Iraq, one of the more secular Islamic states believe it or not, teeters on the edge of civil war, riots continue over something as minor as "blasphemous cartoons" and the Port security/UAE issue continues to be debated, it is interesting to take a look at Islam, Muslims, and our own perspectives. Given the horrendous behavior of many Muslims in recent weeks, it would be easy, and appealing, to lump all Muslims together and castigate the entire lot.

But that would be much like a Muslim, or a Jew, or a Buddhist looking at the atrocities of the KKK and saying all Christians are racist arsonists and killers. Now, the analogy is far from perfect as significant differences exists in things like the fact that members of the KKK have been marginalized by the mainstream of Christianity in a way that Wahabbist and other fundamentalist Islam traditions have not been marginalized in the Muslim world, but if the internal strife in Iraq is good for anything, it is to illustrate that Muslims are not one homogenous group of 1 billion believers. To expect that they would be is ludicrous and self-defeating.

So, do we dismiss all Muslims as intolerant, reactionary, xenophobic religious fanatics and make the struggle of the 21st century Our God vs. Their God, or do we attempt to work with the secular forces and the moderate Islamic forces to bring Islam through the sort of transformative process Christianity went through over the last few centuries? A third option, I suppose, is to just hole up in our little USA stronghold, close the borders as best we can, and hope for the best. 'Course, that didn't work so well back in September of 2001.

No easy answers, then, but for a way of looking at things that I think is probably both proactive and effective, read this post. The guy likes Monty Python, so he's already got cred in my book, and he makes a very good case for avoiding knee-jerk hatred of Muslims. I don't agree with everything he says, but I agree with most of it, and I definitely agree that folks like Ann C., Roger Simon and LGF/Charles Johnson have become far too strident of late-- becoming a right-wing version of Howard Dean. Which helps the situation not at all.

The bottom line-- we are all people. We naturally coalesce into various groups because of our ancestry, our environment, and our reactions to the world around us, but we are all people. It is important, I think, to remember that groups are made up of other people who share similar ideas or interests, but who are still distinct.

I have a feeling history may look back at the first ten years of the 21st century and judge that decade to be an incredibly impactful and transformative period in human history. The jury is still out on whether the impact and transformation will be good or bad. To help it be good, thoughtful, perspective and influential people need to be thoughtful, persceptive and influential. Knee-jerk reactionism is none of those things.

Labels: Politics, War on Terror