Showing Moslem as Human is Offensive
Last Saturday, Portland Press Herald published a story on the celebration of the end of Ramadan on their first page. It's a positive story, showing Moslems as human. However, some of the American public reacted strongly about it, citing it's not sensitive to show peaceful Moslems on 9/11.
The PPH counteracted by publishing an apology the next day.
I think it's a huge mistake of the paper for doing that. What they did the first time was great. It showed Americans that most Moslems are good law abiding citizens, far from terrorists of 9/11. By apologizing, they made amend with one part of the community at the expense of the another. It was supposed to be a teachable moment of tolerance, but the letter undid that. The letter also imply that it should've somehow connect every day Moslems to the terrorists to make it balance.
It is sad to know just like in Indonesia, even in the land of the free, some still think that you have the rights to worship, but you have to do it somewhere else, or on another day.
3 comments:
Fear and cowardice.
I can't speak for the US but the situation may be quite similar to the one in Western Europe. While over decades it was politically correct and socially rewarding to cherish a multicultural philosophy of live and let live, nowadays the opposite is true. We've got almost in a situation where you have to be pretty cool to stay immune for the ghost-stories of "Islamisation" and have the courage to stick to your deviant opinion.
But then there fortunately still are people like Deborah Lindsay.
In relation with that article on engineers-terrorists connection, does it mean Americans would find it sensitive that on 9/11 an article on engineers is published? *wink*
Yes, why not show Muslims as aliens ala district 9? ; )
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