Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Rational thought from Muslims

There's nothing like drawing grand inferences from a few noisy data...for leading ones self astray. For those who suppose that violence by radical Islamists means that Islam is inherently totalitarian, here are a few good counterexamples that sink the thesis. The first strictly concerns the Danish cartoon affair. The other two are more general. All are thoughtful and worth a look.

We Are Sorry

Moderate Muslim Network (Denmark, has both English and Danish pages)

Freedom for Egyptians

Comments:
Charles,

I don't mean to sound like a cynic, but I believe these apologies were written in hope that the West don't withdraw their Aid.

There are Muslim organizations in the US petitioning Pres. Bush not to withdraw Aid to Palestine after HAMAS won the election. I can imagine that other Muslim organizations are begging the US & other Western nations not to cease Aid because of this cartoon nonsense.

I would be very impress if these Muslim spokespersons wrote a letter to the Arab League and the OIC expressing their condemnation of the genocide that is perpetrated by Muslims in Sudan. This seems to be a more meaningful and pressing issue.

However, this is not to say that this letter was not sincere.
 
Anon, thanks for your comment. Your hypothesis seems unlikely to me. The cartoon affair is not relevant to the question of U.S. aid and Hamas; the U.S. government has long defined Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Also, the apology is addressed to Danes and Swedes, not Americans.

But regardless, it is quite all right to sound like a cynic -- in these matters we often observe humans at their worst, and a measure of cynicism is appropriate. I think it may be mislplaced here, though.
 
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