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Trends of thought; discuss
Aug. 7th, 2012 08:16 pmSo I'm sure everyone has heard of Mr Clusterfuck Dogfucker Whatever-His-Name is who shot up a Sikh temple the other day.The things that struck me was the first thing I thought of (apart from oh fuck not again) was 'I bet that moron though it was a Mosque'.
And by the sounds of it, that's exactly what that moron thought.
This was echoed in a comment I saw on the Guardian website: "Why Sikhs? They haven't hurt anyone."
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why when I try and imagine what people generally thought of Jews in Germany March 1933 to November 1938, I point to how we think of Muslims and go 'Pretty much that only for even less reason, if at all possible.'
I'm not meaning you, person who is reading this, personally. But there is an entire culture of thought surrounding Muslims in most Western nations which encourages us to fear muslims as a whole, to see them as a threat. Hell, even some of the rhetoric might was well be lifted wholesale from EwigJude Muslemann. The Muslimisation of Europe theory only needs to change the little flying Rabbis (best part of the godawful film) with little flying Imams to be perfectly relevant.
Now, this is not me defending Islam. Religion is shit, and Islam is shittier than most (tied with Christianity, and particularly noticable in contrast with, say, Hindus, who whatever their problems remain easily ignorable by the rest of us). But I am seeing some rather unpleasant trends in cultural thought in the Western world. The same trends that make us so surprised to hear the victims of a shooting are not Muslim.
(note, this is not me saying there's going to be a Muslim Holocaust or whatever. Unless there are some pretty spectacular political gymnastics that even I can't see happening, it's pretty impossible. But shitty is shitty, on any planet)
And by the sounds of it, that's exactly what that moron thought.
This was echoed in a comment I saw on the Guardian website: "Why Sikhs? They haven't hurt anyone."
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why when I try and imagine what people generally thought of Jews in Germany March 1933 to November 1938, I point to how we think of Muslims and go 'Pretty much that only for even less reason, if at all possible.'
I'm not meaning you, person who is reading this, personally. But there is an entire culture of thought surrounding Muslims in most Western nations which encourages us to fear muslims as a whole, to see them as a threat. Hell, even some of the rhetoric might was well be lifted wholesale from Ewig
Now, this is not me defending Islam. Religion is shit, and Islam is shittier than most (tied with Christianity, and particularly noticable in contrast with, say, Hindus, who whatever their problems remain easily ignorable by the rest of us). But I am seeing some rather unpleasant trends in cultural thought in the Western world. The same trends that make us so surprised to hear the victims of a shooting are not Muslim.
(note, this is not me saying there's going to be a Muslim Holocaust or whatever. Unless there are some pretty spectacular political gymnastics that even I can't see happening, it's pretty impossible. But shitty is shitty, on any planet)