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This actress shouldn't be worried. There isn't a "witch hunt" for the participants in the film, even for the creator of the film, who happens to live in an adja
by mkhattab 14y ago
This actress shouldn't be worried. There isn't a "witch hunt" for the participants in the film, even for the creator of the film, who happens to live in an adjacent city next to mine, which (Inland Empire) has a sizable Middle-Eastern and Muslim population.
In fact, I was discussing the situation with my fellow Muslims and Arabs (fyi I'm Muslim and Egyptian) and we're completely disgusted with the situation in Libya. I've called my family in Egypt and they expressed the same sentiment of disgust at protesters for a film that most have never seen. I'm also saddened by the complete ignorance of some of the Muslims protesting, yet I understand that the issue at hand is not entirely about this movie, it's more about United States' foreign policy, among other things.
- praptak 14y agoSadly, all it takes is a single fanatic with a knife, even if the overwhelming majority condemn the violence.
- mkhattab 14y agoI agree, but in the case of a single or a few fanatics, there's not much anyone can do. These types of people will use any excuse or none at all to harm others. It's not limited to Muslim extremists. Take a look at the several shootings that happened these past few months, e.g. Sikh temple shooting and another failed attack at the Sikh temple, the crazy Aurora theater shooter, etc.
- saraid216 14y agolignuist's suggestion is something that could be done. It won't have a huge effect, but it may have enough of an effect.
- Tichy 14y agoGerman newspapers report that there is already a death sentence fatwa against all participants in the movie, issued by a salafist egyptian imam. No idea how that works - but I assume you and your fellow muslims also wouldn't murder Salman Rushdie if he happened to walk down your street? So unfortunately just because there are reasonable muslims doesn't mean that actress is out of trouble (I presume).
- mkhattab 14y agoIt's common knowledge that these "fatwas" don't mean anything. In fact, these fatwas are complete bullshit. In fact, in regards to the Salman Rushdie case, Al Azhar (at the time), the highest and most prestigious Islamic institution, stated that Salman Rushdie was not to be touched and that it was against the Islamic principles to harm him.
- Tichy 14y agoSo are you saying Salman Rushdie is safe and should come out into the public again? People have been killed before. There have been attacks on the Danish cartoonists, too (I know of one attack, not sure if there were more). Of course it is complete bullshit.
- einhverfr 14y agoYou know, even if we agree that religion is a divine gift it is up to us to decide what we do with it. If I give you $20 and you go out and buy beer with it, and end up cheating on your wife, you don't come back to me and complain my $20 was evil and tell me I should have given you money in Euros instead. People are going to do what they will. The religion and the fattwas don't really matter. I have been in Indonesia when there were clerics issuing fattwas saying that killing Americans was ok. I just think it's tragic they get listened to.
- Tichy 14y agoI can assure you it is even more tragic for the people who get killed. I am not sure what you are saying. Are you saying that if no Muslim fanatics were out to kill Salman Rushdie, then surely somebody else would be out to kill him (maybe somebody who had a beer beforehand), so the involvement of Islamic faith in the case is completely irrelevant?
- einhverfr 14y agoI think religion plays second fiddle to every other factor out there. It's more often justification than motivation. The thing is that I can't think of any religion or non-religion that hasn't had extremely violent organizations use their ideology as a basis for this sort of thing. I was attending a Christian church in Jakarta once (no I am not really a Christian, and partly because of this), and the preacher recommended trying to convert Buddhist children as practice for converting Muslims. The thing is though that this wasn't well received by the Congregation even though it fit in perfectly well with their worldview. They chose to do something different with their religion and not be one minority victimizing another. People choose what to do with their religion. Blame people, not what books they read.