Thanks for posting this. I particularly like this quote and believe it to be true.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by from the article
"The problem that the Muslim leadership has is that it's basically made up of medieval men that generally have the right views when it comes to terrorism or political violence, but they have no media skills. When asked a question, they look grave, invoke the name of God and then address it in a rather complicated and beautiful way the mass media can't cope with.... This statement seems to be much more on the ball."
|
I used to belong to a politics forum at which it was very popular, among even some of the moderate contingency, to assert that Islam was an inherently brutal and intolerant religion and that "most Muslims" support the use of terrorism either explicitly, or implicitly by their silence. Completely dismissing the facts that 1) there is very little reliable journalism and public opinion data coming out of ME countries and 2) unless you go looking for it and read about it, you will not be savvy to the wide diversity of Islamic societies and cultures. It's very disheartening when you realize how many Americans there are whose basis for supporting the war against terrorism is founded on these totally narrow, misguided perceptions of almost 1.5 billion of the planet's inhabitants. I mean, it's really bad when you speak with someone fairly knowledgeable about the war in Iraq and they don't realize that Iraqi women didn't have to be veiled or wear the hijab before the war. We've been given all of the
very real examples of Muslim extremism in the world and very little else in the way of understanding the totality of the cultures and mindsets we are dealing with.
But regardless, I am very happy to hear about this letter. I hope it helps.