We should be better

by | June 24, 2016

I have coworkers who are Muslims, and fortunately I work in a place where the employer attempts to accommodate minorities who don’t fit the traditional mold. It makes some people whine about special treatment, but I think treating people with a basic amount of respect is good for all. Not everyone agrees.

A young Muslim mother, who said she was spat on, punched and had her hijab pulled in front of her baby while shopping at a London, Ont., supermarket earlier this week, says she is worried about the safety of all Muslim women, according to a report.

This is what happens though when you reduce an individual to an identity, and stop treating them like a person.

The London assault is one of two high-profile incidents this week that have drawn outrage from the Muslim community. In the other, a pig’s head was left outside a Quebec City mosque Monday

We should criticize Islam, and the actions of Muslims, when the need arises, but we should do it as adults, not childish cowards.

15 thoughts on “We should be better

  1. Charles Heroux

    The problem is that the book used by Muslims (just like its Christian counterpart) contains so much stuff, that you can read into what you want, and ignore the conflicting ideas. Both (all, really) major religions have good and bad ideas, and it is important to be able to point this out, either directly or through satire and ridicule when necessary, without worrying about getting your head cut off. So you are absolutely right, we need to be able to do it directly and have dialogue about it.

    Reply
    1. Robin

      Charles you are correct, but there are specific differences with Islam that make it much more threatening than Xianity. I think it’s important to know what some are.

      * Islam has declared itself to be the one true religion, Mohammad to be the last Prophet of god, and the Koran to be the Perfect Dictated Verbatim word of God – nothing (much) is subject to revision under this scheme.
      * Islam allows itself to kill and enslave non-Muslims.
      * Islam orders death for Adultery, Apostasy, Atheism, Homosexuality, and encourages FGM, wife-beating, child marriage and 2nd-class status for all women. Etc.
      * The Koran has the not-well-known Doctrine of Abrogation to promote violent verses OVER peaceful ones (bet you didn’t know about that).
      * ISIS justifies EVERY horrible thing they do by CLOSELY following the Holy texts of Islam, including the Koran and the Hadiths.

      I recommend watching YouTube videos of Robert Spencer, or reading his book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, and visiting his website, https://www.JihadWatch.org. Spencer is a bit of a firebrand, but he has his Master’s in Religious Studies and has familiarized himself with the problems of Islam in ways that Sam Harris doesn’t so often touch upon. He has often been consulted by departments of the US government, including the military – he’s taken seriously.

      Reply
  2. Robin

    “We should criticize Islam, and the actions of Muslims, when the need arises”

    The need has arisen! So far N. America hasn’t had noticeable problems with Muslims adapting to local culture, but the same cannot be said of several countries in Europe: Britain, Sweden, Germany, France, Belgium.

    The problem does need to be seen as a global one of ideology, not an array of individual small problems belonging to less fortunate nations. We have 2 things to avoid here: Islamophobia, and Islamophilia – cowtowing meekly to their every second-guessed demand, eg. England’s Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams literally suggesting that British Muslims be offered Shariah Law coverage while British Muslims themselves hadn’t even thought of asking for it. That is no way to maintain a happy, tax-paying, voting, peaceful populace.

    Reply
    1. dusttodust

      “That is no way to maintain a happy, tax-paying, voting, peaceful populace.”

      As evidenced…ie. Brexit

      Reply
  3. Fred

    Around here, (Alberta) the Muslims do not integrate into our society. They tend live in communities of Muslims, or “ghettos” and return after work to those same, and avoid other not essential mixing. They do not talk to non Muslims. They keep them self’s separate and do not try to integrate. The Syrians have created private separate schools where they do not need to learn English. We see what Trudeau has brought us.

    Reply
    1. Robin

      This is exactly what needs to be avoided. Especially separate education, and not learning English – it isolates women from the Canadian justice system and leaves them subjected to FGM, underage marriage, domestic violence, and other Shariah-like impositions.

      Forcing them into fully secular schools with 100% Canadian curriculum is absolutely vital to integration, and to everyone’s ultimate happiness,especially theirs.

      Reply
    2. Tim Underwood

      Because of the potential violence, private interventions, with people having Islamic connections, has to be cautioned.

      In agriculture, when free enterprise could not step up and solve a major problem, like the dust bowl, the government established agencies to carry out the required research and training.

      Because Islam has developed a congenital gangsterism affliction, the government has to establish an agency that people can turn to when they are experiencing any unlawful forms of intimidation. This has to go well beyond what police agencies can offer.

      This is the price we must pay for welcoming religiously conservative cultures. Nobody forced us to adopt these immigration standards.

      Reply
    3. Dianne Landry

      I live in Toronto where the same could be said. It could also be said about the Chinese, Italians, Portuguese, Greeks and Jews. We have Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Portugal, Greentown and Little Israel and most of the residents in each area are from that specific ethnic background. It has always been that way and always will.

      Reply
      1. Indi

        Truth. “Difficulty integrating” is not and never has been a “Muslim issue”. It is an immigration issue.

        Reply
  4. Indi

    > We should criticize Islam, and the actions of Muslims, when the need arises, but we should do it as adults, not childish cowards.

    It doesn’t look like the point of the post is getting through to the commenters.

    Reply
    1. Robin

      Are you saying you find some of the comments to be childish or cowardly? Could you clarify?

      Reply
      1. Indi

        I could, but it probably wouldn’t be worth the effort. Anyone who could write anything as histrionically whacked out as your bullet-point comment (praising Spencer of all things!) is probably beyond the reach of reason, and anyone actually capable of thinking reasonably should be able to see how ridiculous that comment is on their own.

        Reply
        1. Robin

          “I could, but it probably wouldn’t be worth the effort.”

          Aww! Go ahead and give it a real shot, Indi. That 1st attempt is empty except for rudeness; why waste time like that? Now I have replied again: your turn. Pls. omit insults and fallacies and reply “in good faith”. I’ll check back. Btw, none of what I originally said was sourced from Spencer. It comes from Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz.

          Reply
          1. Robin

            It’s 25 hrs since I asked Indi to respond. My guess is that he’s a drive-by troll, though I’m happy to let him prove he isn’t, if perchance he’s interested.

            FYI, my original comment (2nd from top) is well-sourced and I stand by my comments, including that Robert Spencer is sufficiently academic in his approach to the topic of Islamism to be taken seriously by governments and generals, if not Indi.

  5. Randy

    “We should criticize Islam, and the actions of Muslims”

    To be clear, there are no “Muslims”. There are people who promote Islam. It’s not something a person IS, it is something a person HAS. Islam is a dangerous and hateful ideology, and I will absolutely oppose people who promote it, regardless of how violent they are personally. They enable and provide cover to the true believers.

    Reply

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