Reasoning With The Unreasonable -- Muslim Cartoons
Mike Williams
February 09, 2006
I’m sure most of you have heard about the Muslim cartoons and the backlash they have caused. While most of us certainly have a problem with some of the cartoons, there are others who simply don’t understand what all of the fuss is about. They are just cartoons after all. To a religious group, they represent much more then that.
As human beings, the one thing we’re all good at is offending people. We do it all the time. We do it when discussing a variety of topics and perhaps the most heated variations come from discussions about politics or religion. You think you’re right. They think they’re right. In the end, you both walk away from each other wondering why they don’t agree with you and your position. It’s been this way since man’s humble beginnings and will remain unchanged until long after we’ve gone.
In Pennsylvania many years ago, a group of people wanted to come to the new world to practice their religion their way. Since one of the founding principals of this great country was “freedom of religion”, it seemed like a perfect fit. Those folks are still around today. We call them Amish. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Witness”, you get a pretty good idea of how these people live. Almost a throwback to the days of “Little House On The Prairie.” These people just want to be left alone. Do we honor that wish? No. They are still made to pay certain government taxes although they get nothing from the government. They are made fun of in cartoons and jokes. As a society, we just can’t let those folks alone.
The Muslim faith dictates that a likeness, in any form, of the prophet Mohammad is a big “no-no.” As a society, do we honor their law? No. Danish cartoonists go to town and create a small myriad of work depicting Mohammad in a variety of ways. Do I think these cartoonists knew about Muslim law prohibiting such displays? No. I honestly don’t believe that it would have made a difference if they did. You see, nobody seems to care about doing the same thing to Christians or Jews so why should Muslims be treated any differently? After all, don’t they understand that it’s all in good fun?
Well, no.
What we have here is a failure to communicate. We may be transmitting but they aren’t receiving. The problem is… they never will. Treating this situation as though everyone involved comes from the same basic background is the recipe for failure. Have you ever discussed something with a co-worker and while it was as plain as day to you, they just couldn’t grasp the concept of what you were talking about? Maybe you thought you were smarter then they were. Maybe you just made far too many assumptions.
I remember a friend of mine a few years back thought it would be a great idea to introduce a union into our place of business. Other districts had unions so why couldn’t we? He pitched the idea to upper and middle management who basically thought it was a terrible idea. My friend couldn’t see how the managers didn’t “get it.” For one thing, he assumed that they knew everything that he knew. More importantly, my friend assumed that he knew everything management knew. In the end, my friend was fired for being a “troublemaker.” Something he assumed wouldn’t happen.
As far as these cartoons are concerned, most of us are also making assumptions. We assume that while most Muslims may be offended, they also have a thread of civility at least in the way that we understand it. For the most part, that would be a good assumption. Most Muslims don’t get angry and then decide to go set an embassy building on fire. It’s not a majority of Muslims acting in this manner but a mere few. We call those Muslims “radicals.” They don’t fit in with the majority population of this planet. They enforce their point of view through fear and intimidation killing their own kind if it proves a point. One could say that they are a Muslim mob of sorts.
Let’s say that these “radicals” represent 10% of the Muslim population. What we have here is 10% of the people dictating to the other 90% what their views should be and how they should feel. They probably don’t understand why more people don’t join them in the occasional “fatwah.” If anyone openly speaks out against them, they resort to violence. I keep reading numerous authors here in the U.S. talk about how Islam is supposed to be “a religion of peace.” For those 90% I spoke of earlier, it is. I prefer not to throw a wide blanket around Islam and cover the 10% who consistently goes “over the top.” It’s not a religion of peace to those people. I’m not going to imply that it is. I’m neither going to imply that they are peaceful nor am I willing to imply that they want peace. They don’t. When given the chance, they will tell you that.
If given the chance, they would kill you.
It is a completely ignorant position to assume that we will ever have peace with this radical 10%. What’s even more astounding is the fact that these people tell us that they want us dead. They want a world that is 100% Islamic. That is their goal. And yet, former President Jimmy Carter thinks we can “make nice” with these murdering thugs. I call it-misplaced enthusiasm mixed in with a whole lot of assumption and a dash of hearing loss.
If these radical groups weren’t out in the streets burning flags, murdering people, and setting buildings on fire because of a bunch of cartoons, it would be something else. It took them over a year to figure out that the cartoons offended them. If they had a little more time and with the U.S. media’s help, I’m sure they would have found something else to be upset about.
Finally, the question that begs to be asked of the peaceful 90% of Muslims around the world is this. If the radical elements are out in the streets burning flags, murdering people, and setting buildings on fire, why don’t you round them up? You have all of the riff-raff in one place. They are all right there. No need to even have to weed them out. All the work has been done for you. How much easier could it get?
Unless. We assume that the radicals do in fact, represent you and your views.
Are we making another false assumption?
(Note: Thanks to my co-blogger E.L. Frederick for the percentage angle.)
As human beings, the one thing we’re all good at is offending people. We do it all the time. We do it when discussing a variety of topics and perhaps the most heated variations come from discussions about politics or religion. You think you’re right. They think they’re right. In the end, you both walk away from each other wondering why they don’t agree with you and your position. It’s been this way since man’s humble beginnings and will remain unchanged until long after we’ve gone.
In Pennsylvania many years ago, a group of people wanted to come to the new world to practice their religion their way. Since one of the founding principals of this great country was “freedom of religion”, it seemed like a perfect fit. Those folks are still around today. We call them Amish. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Witness”, you get a pretty good idea of how these people live. Almost a throwback to the days of “Little House On The Prairie.” These people just want to be left alone. Do we honor that wish? No. They are still made to pay certain government taxes although they get nothing from the government. They are made fun of in cartoons and jokes. As a society, we just can’t let those folks alone.
The Muslim faith dictates that a likeness, in any form, of the prophet Mohammad is a big “no-no.” As a society, do we honor their law? No. Danish cartoonists go to town and create a small myriad of work depicting Mohammad in a variety of ways. Do I think these cartoonists knew about Muslim law prohibiting such displays? No. I honestly don’t believe that it would have made a difference if they did. You see, nobody seems to care about doing the same thing to Christians or Jews so why should Muslims be treated any differently? After all, don’t they understand that it’s all in good fun?
Well, no.
What we have here is a failure to communicate. We may be transmitting but they aren’t receiving. The problem is… they never will. Treating this situation as though everyone involved comes from the same basic background is the recipe for failure. Have you ever discussed something with a co-worker and while it was as plain as day to you, they just couldn’t grasp the concept of what you were talking about? Maybe you thought you were smarter then they were. Maybe you just made far too many assumptions.
I remember a friend of mine a few years back thought it would be a great idea to introduce a union into our place of business. Other districts had unions so why couldn’t we? He pitched the idea to upper and middle management who basically thought it was a terrible idea. My friend couldn’t see how the managers didn’t “get it.” For one thing, he assumed that they knew everything that he knew. More importantly, my friend assumed that he knew everything management knew. In the end, my friend was fired for being a “troublemaker.” Something he assumed wouldn’t happen.
As far as these cartoons are concerned, most of us are also making assumptions. We assume that while most Muslims may be offended, they also have a thread of civility at least in the way that we understand it. For the most part, that would be a good assumption. Most Muslims don’t get angry and then decide to go set an embassy building on fire. It’s not a majority of Muslims acting in this manner but a mere few. We call those Muslims “radicals.” They don’t fit in with the majority population of this planet. They enforce their point of view through fear and intimidation killing their own kind if it proves a point. One could say that they are a Muslim mob of sorts.
Let’s say that these “radicals” represent 10% of the Muslim population. What we have here is 10% of the people dictating to the other 90% what their views should be and how they should feel. They probably don’t understand why more people don’t join them in the occasional “fatwah.” If anyone openly speaks out against them, they resort to violence. I keep reading numerous authors here in the U.S. talk about how Islam is supposed to be “a religion of peace.” For those 90% I spoke of earlier, it is. I prefer not to throw a wide blanket around Islam and cover the 10% who consistently goes “over the top.” It’s not a religion of peace to those people. I’m not going to imply that it is. I’m neither going to imply that they are peaceful nor am I willing to imply that they want peace. They don’t. When given the chance, they will tell you that.
If given the chance, they would kill you.
It is a completely ignorant position to assume that we will ever have peace with this radical 10%. What’s even more astounding is the fact that these people tell us that they want us dead. They want a world that is 100% Islamic. That is their goal. And yet, former President Jimmy Carter thinks we can “make nice” with these murdering thugs. I call it-misplaced enthusiasm mixed in with a whole lot of assumption and a dash of hearing loss.
If these radical groups weren’t out in the streets burning flags, murdering people, and setting buildings on fire because of a bunch of cartoons, it would be something else. It took them over a year to figure out that the cartoons offended them. If they had a little more time and with the U.S. media’s help, I’m sure they would have found something else to be upset about.
Finally, the question that begs to be asked of the peaceful 90% of Muslims around the world is this. If the radical elements are out in the streets burning flags, murdering people, and setting buildings on fire, why don’t you round them up? You have all of the riff-raff in one place. They are all right there. No need to even have to weed them out. All the work has been done for you. How much easier could it get?
Unless. We assume that the radicals do in fact, represent you and your views.
Are we making another false assumption?
(Note: Thanks to my co-blogger E.L. Frederick for the percentage angle.)
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