You Know What Makes Me Peeved?

A bit of a controversial topic here but I trust my followers to be mature about this.

I got in an argument on a forum with someone who I will not name.
The argument was about Islam and how some people feel as though people who practice it are less than human.
As if that's any different to any other form of discrimination religious groups have suffered across history.

But what really stunned me was how misinformed some of it was.

For starters, the guy ranted about how ISIS, Taliban and Saddam Hussein are a bunch of (And I quote) 'Murdering Sunni Arab F**ks from a barbaric world with nothing to separate them'.

Ignoring the derogatory there, let me clarify how many things are wrong with that statement.

1. ISIS are largely Syrian or Iraqi. Hence the term 'Islamic State of Iraq and Syria'. Saudi Arabia is not part of their junta. In fact, they're opposed to ISIS. Perhaps we're forgetting that it's the free people of the Middle East who are currently most set on combatting the group. There may be Arab people in ISIS but I dare say there are plenty of Arab people in the NATO forces opposed to them. Calling ISIS Arab is like calling Charles Manson a Pennsylvanian or Jack the Ripper a Norwegian.
2. On top of that, Iraq is largely Shi'ah Muslim. So calling them Sunni is like saying the KKK work for the Pope! The two groups have a long history of hostility towards each other as Protestantism does for Catholicism. ISIS is, admitedly, based on Sunni creeds but its chosen movement, 'Salafism' is actually a fairly modern concept originating in 19th century Egypt that is considered controversial to some more common schools of Sunni faith. And while terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Taliban have worked together on occasion, that's largely down to desperation. Given enough power and groups like this will fight among themselves at the first opportunity.
3. Saddam Hussein, and this bit made me laugh, was a Ba'athist. The Ba'ath Party under Hussein were anti-religion. So saying he was motivated through religious beliefs carries about as much weight as saying the same about Stalin!
4. Calling the Muslim World 'barbaric' is the height of ignorance. A short list of inventions and concepts the Muslim world has given us include algebra, guitars, coffee, optics, the concept of the Earth's rotation on its own axis, modern chess, dissolvable sutures in surgery, cataract surgery, parachutes, shampoo, windmills, pay-checks and both national and geographical charts. What the Middle-East going through right now is the aftermath of the Cold War which still leaves its scars on many parts of the world outside of the Middle-East. The Taliban originated out of anti-Soviet groups financed by the US.

Bottom line here is that sensible people don't think the Ku Klux Klan, the Spanish Inquisition and Jim Jones are prime examples of Christianity.
Islam follows the same rules. For good role models in Islam, you have Malcolm X, you have Saladin, you have Ali Jinnah, you have Hafez, you have Malala Yousafzai.
The violence committed by Islamic people doesn't sum up their entire creed just because its 'modern'. There is still plenty of violence and persecution practiced by Christians and indeed most religious groups. It's a sad side-affect of religious belief.
But there is also plenty of good committed by Christians and Muslims all over the world.
So there you have it.
I love Muslim culture. I think it among the most beautiful and thought-provoking styles of art and literature known to man and modern people wherever they are have a lot to thank for it.
I do not approve of the actions of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Taliban or any other Islamist militant group. I think they are repulsive people with no cause other than violence.
But so does most of the Muslim world. For them, the damage these groups are doing to the world hits closer to home. It is their beliefs, things they hold dear, that is used to justify the violence and it is their world and lifestyles that are threatened from both sides of the conflict. It is the hardships they've endured in the past that is used by violent men to excuse inflicting more hardships.
I cannot begin to imagine how that must feel.
So please, I ask everyone at home and everyone who may be listening, reflect on what's going on.
For us, getting mistreated and attacked by these groups of people is a possibility.
For people in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and places like it, it is a certainty.
Do not give them the same spite they've already received from the people they flee from.
Yes, you hear about people too fixed in misguided thoughts of vengeance and grudges that they harm those who try to help.
But what you may hear is not always necessarily the full story or the full explanation.
And surely more harm can be done by not taking the risk to open one's hand to those who need it.

I'm happy to get this off my chest and I hope I've let you know just how important this is to me.
If you'd like to say something please be polite and mindful.
Thank you.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Good point, my friend. Some people are just stupid in that regard