(Return to my home page) : Blog Home : February 2006
The Infamous Danish Cartoon and The Reaction in Islamic Countries
February 8, 2006 12:13
My first instinct was to write an entry on my blog saying "Way to go guys...Someone depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist and so you protest by engaging in acts of terrorism? Not smart!" But then I realized that this simply plays into the misleading media stereotypes about Islam that I try to counter in my classes and my conversations.
Just think about it for a second. We are told that a mob of a few hundred people ransacked the Danish embassy in Syria. The population of Syria is 18.5 million. I wonder what this percentage of the population compares to statistically in other countries. Is it more or less than the proportion of the population of Northern Ireland who have engaged in violent acts? Is it more of less than the proportion of the American population who engage in child abuse of some form? Would it be fair to depict Americans as "generally evidencing a tendency towards child abuse" on the basis of such statistics? Or more to the point, could we use the number of acts of violence that are racially motivated in this country as evidence that we are a racist nation?
Are those being fair who suggest that the violent expressions of outrage around the world are typical of those nations or their religion? The vast majority of Muslims are, I am certain, equally offended, but out of the billion or so Muslims in the world, most are showing self restraint. Why is it that this clear expression of an admirable trait by the majority of Muslims goes unnoticed, when the acts of a small minority who throw a tantrum get all the publicity?