(Unintended) Benefits of the Paris Rally
When the rally
in Paris happened after the Charlie Hebdo murders, I was curious: What was the
purpose of this rally? What were they trying to show? To whom? Turns out it may
have served a purpose after all. I say that after reading Andrew
Sullivan’s blog:
“I was actually surprised and gladdened
by the response to the slaughter – an overwhelming wave of revulsion and
disgust, expressed with great dignity and courage.”
That dignified,
non-violent response has robbed the liberals of the world the option of changing
the topic on Charlie Hebdo. Their choice to never call a spade a spade is visible
to all:
“Even now, many will not concede that
religion was the root cause of the attack, and that the name of that religion
is Islam.”
The usual weasel
approach of the liberals flies in the face of the facts, says Sullivan:
“(They say) Islam
has nothing to do with this. There are just a few loonies who are suffering
from false consciousness, and their real motivations are economic or personal
or secular or just purely violent. You can believe that, if you want. Or you
can pretend to believe it because it might be more pragmatic to do so. Or you
can open your eyes. This is not to say that most Muslims support this kind of
mass murder – and the global Muslim response was particularly encouraging. But
it is to say that it is not
a coincidence that
so much terror and violence all over the world is currently being committed in
the name of Islam. Some core parts of it are, quite simply, incompatible with
post-Enlightenment thought and practice. And those parts have all the energy
right now.”
Can Islam change
anytime soon on topics like religious liberty and free speech?
“It’s too great a cultural gulf. I have
tentative hope that this vast gap on a fundamental question may take as long
for Islam to arrive at as Christianity did. But that means a century at least
of more bloodletting.”
The change-and-become-tolerant
ball lies solely in the Muslims’ court. And the signs aren’t exactly
encouraging. Take the famous Al Jazeera,
a Muslim paper/site that is as good as any such news agency can be. Its English
editor, Salah-Aldeen Khadr,
sent a staff-wide
mail that said:
“Insisting on the right to be obnoxious
and offensive just because you can is infantile…Baiting extremists isn’t
bravely defiant when your manner of doing so is more significant in offending
millions of moderate people as well.”
That triggered
angry responses from its English speaking (read Western) staff. One of the
Muslim employees supported the editor (big surprise):
“I guess if you insult 1.5 billion people
chances are one or two of them will kill you.”
Yes, guys, you
have the right to be offended. But murdering as a response isn’t. Especially in another country. Step back
for a minute and check how you treat people of other religions. But try telling
that to the religion of peace and its liberal supporters…
The quotes given are coming out well and the overview emerging from them is realistic.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Sullivan's quote's second part, which goes as, "It’s too great a cultural gulf. I have tentative hope that this vast gap on a fundamental question may take as long for Islam to arrive at as Christianity did. But that means a century at least of more bloodletting" reflects on both the need for the Muslim community as a whole to mend their ways as well as a hint at the time duration in which not much can be expected. Considering the extraordinary depth and the darkness of the well in which the Muslims live, another century of massacres by the Muslim terrorists looks a realistic expectation, one can say.
As far as broadening their outlook to the level of Christianity today (it may be an acceptable benchmark, and religious people other than Muslims may not find it unfair), knowing the core nature of their faith and the way their scripture induces them into violence, it may take some centuries longer. Here the word 'meme' coined by Richard Dawkins to describe sustained traits in groups of people generation after generation, induced just due to surrounding social behavior, which can can by means be traced to the genes, makes sense. For the Muslims, emerging from their dark world of violence will take many, many, many generations.