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This conflation of "anti-Islam" and "criticizing Islam" is what's holding us up. Those in the West should reserve the right to criticize the tenets of Islam (of
by Aqueous 12y ago
This conflation of "anti-Islam" and "criticizing Islam" is what's holding us up. Those in the West should reserve the right to criticize the tenets of Islam (of which there is plenty to criticize) without being slandered as anti-Islam.
Similarly with Judaism. There is a distinction between 'criticizing Judaism' and being 'anti-Semitic.' Let's figure this out.
In both cases we should be making these distinctions without resorting to slurs and violence.
- nashashmi 12y agoMuslim hate speech is rampant across the media. But Muslims hardly ever raise a finger at such issues. However, when the issue is desecration of religion, Muslims go nuts. This contrasts with Judaism. Anti-judaism speech is ok. Anti-semitic speech is not. To me, it's more of a preference of identity. Either I identify me by faith, or I identify me by my people.
- brandonmenc 12y agoIt's not a perfect contrast because "Jewish" describes both a people and a religion whereas "Muslim" is only a religious designation. In the West - America, at least - religious bigotry seems more acceptable than racial bigotry. Bigotry against Muslims is not, then, the same thing as bigotry against, say, Arabs.
- totony 12y agoImo I don't think a distinction should be made, as it is sure to be biased. What is called "anti-semitic" should just be where in belongs, as free speech.
- Aqueous 12y agoBeing called 'anti-Semitic' because you dared to criticize the actions of Israel shuts down debate and effectively removes certain areas of conversation from free speech. It is possible to criticize fundamentalist Judaism, and the actions of Israel, without being anti-Semitic. At the exact same time, it is possible to criticize the many illiberal components of fundamentalist Islam without being anti-Islamic. It is only because we accept that some areas are 'off limits' for conversation that these conflations are allowed to be made.
- girvo 12y agoJust like criticising my government here in Australia doesn't make me a Communist. It's the same debate tactics that have been used since the 50's, just applied more widely. It makes me sad, but emotional manipulation is difficult to fight without sinking to their level.
- Karunamon 12y agoThis conflation of "anti-Islam" and "criticizing Islam" is what's holding us up. You will find this conflation in just about any widely distributed group of people you can imagine. It extends from Islamists, to Jews, to feminists, and that's just off the top of my head. There are certainly more. People who parrot the "criticizing X means harassing members of group X" angle shouldn't be given the time of day, and yet, they are. It's a surprisingly effective tactic for shutting down debate, since apparently being called "anti-X" has become a worse thing than actually taking concrete action against X.