During my previous life, I was lucky enough to be employed by a company that saw fit to relocate me to a different country every few years. Having stuck me in one particular place, they then gave me a job that required me to spend half my time visiting other assorted locations around the globe. They also gave me a decent enough salary such that I could spend my holidays in yet more countries that had not yet had the pleasure of stamping my passport.
As a result, I have met, worked with and made friends with people of many, many nationalities. And from this I have drawn a not particularly radical conclusion: Most people you meet, irrespective of ethnicity, colour or religious beliefs; are pleasant, decent human beings. And some people that you meet are complete assholes, and this tendency does not equate in any way to ethnicity, colour or religious belief.
Sadly, this truism is ignored when a group of people are looking for a fall guy to blame for their current perceived misfortune. Popular whipping boys in the past included black people, Jews, Catholics and Caucasians (although we tend to be the whippers rather than the whipped). The latest soft target are Muslims.
At this point I should confess my own complete lack of spirituality. I believe we are a product of evolution, as a result of which we achieved sentience. This has led us to look for some meaning in life, which in turn has led to the establishment of religions. I can see the need for the human mind to require the existence of what I perceive as an imaginary friend; but I personally don’t accept it. I think we are born, we live a meaningless life, and then we die and our body rots. During the meaningless life part, have some fun, enjoy the living, and respect other people. And if those other people want to believe in some form of higher being, then I have no problem with that, provided they don’t attempt to impact my life with their beliefs.
I lived for more than ten years in countries that had a majority Muslim population. I worked with many fun and interesting people who just happened to be Muslim; and I am happy that many of them are still my friends, if only through the occasional contact through Facebook nowadays. My Muslim friends are the same sort of people as my Christian friends, my Buddhist friends, or my friend who believes that a god lives in the attic of his house. They care about their families and their career, they indulge in silly hobbies, they laugh and sometimes they cry. Underpinning their life is a set of beliefs that I don’t share, but it doesn’t interfere with our friendship.
So, Muslims are cool, why the hell pick on them? Well, the current shitfest that is the Middle East, where the West is desperately trying to secure oil supplies by the delicate twin processes of invasion and subversion, has given rise to a version of radical Islam which has resulted in the likes of 9/11, 7/7 and the shooting of more than one hundred villagers in Kakarak (oops, sorry, the last was courtesy of the Americans, cleverly ensuring that, along with many other similar incidents, there will be no ongoing shortage of young men prepared to strap explosives to themselves). But terrorist/insurgents/freedom fighters (use the title that appeals to you), using radical Islam as a rallying call, have fuck all to do with the millions of ordinary Muslims around the world.
What saddens and surprises me is that people who I know to be otherwise pleasant and reasonable human beings seem happy to jump on the Muslim-bashing train. It’s almost as if it is accepted behaviour to circulate scurrilous emails containing vindictive, sneering attacks on Muslims. And yet, if you replaced the word “Muslim” with “black” or “Jew”, then no doubt the sender would be as shocked and appalled as I am when I receive this malicious crap.
The latest was from a photographer living in Hua Hin who I doubt has regular exposure to anyone of any faith. An interesting chap, always ready for a friendly chat. Out of the blue, he sent me a nasty, sneering little diatribe. I politely replied: “I am so weary of anti-Muslim crap like this. Please don’t send me any more.” His response was to advise that he would never contact me again, and he never has. Interesting. He sends out hate mail, not dissimilar to what the Hitler Youth would have been circulating in the 1930s; I ask him not to send me any more and this is considered to be such a heinous act that he immediately terminates our friendship. Something is seriously out of whack here.
Anyway, I am fighting back with my own personal mail campaign. This will be my response to any more unpleasant circulars I may receive:
The recent riots in England highlighted the worst of people, and the best of people. The worst were those who took it upon themselves to loot and destroy businesses across the country.
The best was Tariq Jahan, father of one of the boys murdered by the rioters who, at a time of immense pain, showed dignity, compassion and humanity by calling for calm and no reprisals. The Chief of the West Midlands Police said “The intervention he felt able to make was one of the most powerful, generous and far-sighted that I think I have ever seen, at the moment of absolute grief and devastation”.
The other shining star was Ashraf Haziq, a Malaysian student who was assaulted, robbed and left bleeding on the ground. He was then approached by more looters and the contents of his backpack were stolen. Obscene behaviour; and how does Ashraf respond? About his attackers: ““I was really sad for them because amongst them there were children”. About staying in the UK: “Britain is great. Before I came here, I was very eager and I haven’t got any ill-feeling about what happened.”
Tariq and Ashraf are both shining examples of grace at a time when grace would not be the natural response. Tariq and Ashraf are Muslims, and I don’t believe that this fact and their graciousness are unconnected.
Comments 🔗
2011-08-24| PsA_Batman saysWow, a bit different from your usual social banter, but extremely well said. That quote of Tariq has me squirming though. I have two sons and if one of them was taken I really don’t know if I’d have the strength to reply the same way. Hence the squirming. The guy is a superhero.
2011-08-24| Billy the Brush saysI am in the invidious position of having to agree with almost all of what you say for once, perhaps I need help.
Moslems, and like you I have had the pleasure of knowing a great many of them, indeed have the same hopes, fears and pleasures as the rest of us. Their problem is the tiny minority of wackoes who find it appropriate and/or convenient to carry out their abominable activities under the Islamic flag, and the guilt by association that ensues in our media driven world.
It has long been a mystery to me why the faiths, all the faiths, which almost without exception preach tolerance and love of one’s fellow man have, since time immemorial, attracted such vile people and continue to attract them to this day. Christianity, Islam,, Hinduism, Judaism and the rest all have their fair share of this trash, with Islam more than pulling its weight at the moment it has to be said.
What can fair minded people do in response? Continue to support their leaders in the taking of actions against the trash, or tell them to do so if they are not taking those actions. And continue to judge a man not by the colour of his skin or his religion but rather by the content of his character (with apologies to MLK).
I said I agreed with almost all of what you said as I have to disassociate myself from at least some of your para 6. Don’t pursue me on this as I am bored with the argument and you are as likely to change my mind as I to change yours on the benefits or otherwise of the role of the US in the world.
2011-08-24| Wally saysThere is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it doesn’t become any of us to talk about the rest of us. (I can’t recall where I first heard that, but I have always remembered it) That covers every human race in the world.
2011-08-26| genuinej saysWow! Great stuff and so true! Are you up for being the next Archbishop of Canterbury because, hopefully, there may soon be a vacancy, and you sound like the man for the job.
2011-08-27| Spike saysSuspect that my failure to accept the “purportedly magic Jew” (tm) as my friend will exclude me from the list of candidates.
2011-08-29| Billy the Brush saysI understand that belief in the afterlife or indeed the Purportedly Magic Jew is no longer strictly necessary, far more important is looking the part (humble and holy looking, preferably bearded) and bringing a decent business plan, one which fully addresses monetisation of surplus church assets. like, er, churches
Step forward Arch Bish Spike …
2011-08-29| Barry saysQuite simply, I share everything you say. And especially all of paragraph six. George W-for-War Bush was the greatest recuiter of suicide bombers it could be possible to find, along with Tony Blair who managed to alienate many of the muslim youth of Britain with his short-sighted lick-ass policies. People are fine. Until they become politicians. Then they morph into idiots. Someone should do a study, find out why, shoot them and then we can all live in harmony.
2011-08-29| Spike saysAmen to that my son.
Arch Bish Spike (application pending)