When people only focus on that which stirs their ire, they close themselves off to the rest of the real world and thus make poor choices.
Take a look at the cartoon image above by ultra-conservative cartoonist Michel Ramirez. You have to appreciate Ramirez’s gift of saying a lot with mere images. But what is says a lot of is how the religious right around the world narrowly view Islam. A view that sees only how Westerners have been tortured by the a small extremists element within the 2nd largest religion in the world.
It is said that for every action there is a reaction and for all the murderous rampage that Muslim radicals have inflicted on Western civilization they were likely responding to some murderous event inflicted on Muslim cultures by Westerners. Cruelties and deprivations that don’t always get publicized in the main stream media and most certainly won’t be reflected in Ramirez’s political cartoons.
Islam has made great contributions to civilization but in the eyes of the radical right and their fundamentalist religious views they are little more than a threat to the world at large. It is this limited and unjust view that perpetuates the destructive force that kills thousands in Palestinian refugee camps as well as innocent civilians in Western urban areas.
Juan Cole, who’s an authority on the Middle East, has taken this notion to task and pointed out the hypocrisy of those who believe that Islam as a religion is different and decidedly worse than all other religions, including Bill Maher. It’s a relatively short read and packed full of insightful information that will broaden your understanding of something many Westerners, especially Americans, have a poor grasp of.
Hansi
hey…I thought you were gonna take a break?
lbwoodgate
This IS a break. I didn’t mean it to contribute nothing on the blog. My brief synopsis of Juan Cole’s work was really pretty effortless. This is a flash in the pan for me.
My posts that are entirely mine and require some research are the ones you won’t be seeing for at least another week.
But then maybe I am more of a work-a-holic than I’m ready to acknowledge.
lbwoodgate
P.S. It 9:30am here and I’m off to take a mid-morning siesta. I wouldn’t be doing that if i weren’t taking a break
lobotero
Larry, as usual a very good post. I follow Cole on Twitter and read his stuff often…..this is a really thoughtful news source in the ME……http://asharq-e.com/
lbwoodgate
“this is a really thoughtful news source in the ME”
yes, Cole’s expertise provides great insight on Mideast issues you won’t get in the MSM
Sherry
the right wing fundamentalists need to take a look in the mirror. They are perilously close to being terrorists themselves, at least by their rhetoric and the claims they make about what “they are prepared to do” should the President be re-elected.
lbwoodgate
“They are perilously close to being terrorists themselves, at least by their rhetoric and the claims they make about what “they are prepared to do” should the President be re-elected.”
Yes we have at least one of those down here, as a county judge no less.
Lubbock County Judge Tom Head is convinced that Mr. Obama winning a second term would lead to a revolt by the American people and he’s is pushing a tax increase for the district attorney’s office and the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office. He says the money is needed to “beef up” its resources in case President Obama wins the November election.
okjimm
//require some research // What’s research? Most writing should be conducted with as little as possible…….unless it is the type of research that goes into finding the ‘write’ variety of beer…. I am on a bit of a hiatus as well. More that ten minutes or so on a computer screen gives me a headache…..or I can’t see the screen at all.
lbwoodgate
“Most writing should be conducted with as little as possible…….”
And that’s where I am at with this hiatus. This post today got thrown together in about 20 minutes. A far cry from the 1-2 days effort I put in on a lot of my stuff.
The “tired eye” is the symptom I get when sitting at the computer for more than twenty minutes, along with a few joint aches and numbness in the gluteus maximus
Spinny Liberal
That was a great article. There are 82.5 million people in Egypt. 2000 protested. That, thanks to a calculator, is 0.00002424242% of the population. Be afraid. Be very afraid.