Silence of the Flock

I should state before you read this, that I have a problem with terrorism from whatever religion is purported to be, it just so happens this post is based on a Muslim’s comments and caught me at a time when I was paticularly grouchy.  So taking a leaf out of Ren’s book I went for a bit of politics and as ever I welcome any constructive disagreements on the piece below, as challenging and thought-provoking discussion is always good.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/201325045812703869/

I don’t normally get political and whilst I was reticent to do so as I have neither the eloquence or the patience for such things usually; coupled with the face that this blog is usually an outlet for book passion and whimsy I felt I had to deconstruct an article I read on Facebook entitled Moderate Muslim: Where Are All The Moderate Christians Denouncing Planned Parenthood Shooting?

Usually it’s a stimulating pastime to pick something off the net to research and argue it, I am continually trying to challenge my critical thinking, what I know and from what source I derive it.  Anyway I couldn’t sleep and Idly started reading this wonderful gem (full link above) uttered by 27-year-old Muslim Anika kaber and felt the need to write about it

“I just want America to be the kind of country where I don’t have to denounce assholes that have nothing to do with me and where other people don’t have to fall on the sword for people they don’t know. That’s not American. That’s not even common sense. We need to get back to the place where it’s just presumed that good people condemn bad people, no matter what political or religious group they belong to”.

Complacency is a wonderful thing, let us assume from silence that we are condemning bad people for the carnage both politically and ideologically, how did that work out for the silent majorities in 20th century, Russia, Germany, China, Japan, any number of African countries and so forth because the list goes on and the body counts gets more astronomical the more you research.

These ‘assholes’ claim to represent her religion, she should be angry, irrespective of the beliefs she has, she should be condemning the violence, as should we all. Using other people’s silence or lack of conviction as an excuse not to speak out is both a stupid, irrelevant and a lazy course of action, the silence of the majority of moderate Muslims  could seem to this outsider to be tacit agreement rather than condemnation.  (To balance this there is a growing movement of condemnation but this isn’t reported much in the press, unsurprisingly)

“But until that day comes, yeah, I’m going to speak out every time a white, middle-aged, Christian fundamentalist goes on an anti-abortion killing spree and the same bastards who demand that I bow and scrape to them over the Paris attacks don’t immediately condemn people of their own ilk. Sue me.”

By all accounts there has been no clear motive mentioned yet but let’s assume (as is most likely) that it is an attack by a Christian terrorist, this man was a recluse and seemingly had little contact with the outside world according to locals, which would back up the lone wolf theory that the media are reporting.  Nonetheless it will be interesting to see if Christians do stand up and condemn him over the coming days and it is right that they do.  I’m not sure why Kaber feels the need to bow and scrape so dramatically when a simple denouncement would be enough.

There is a schism in Christian politics (especially and most vehemently in the US) that has been highlighted many times before which is due to the Reformation which has both seismically shifted the West’s understanding and views on Biblical texts (or perhaps that should be confused it), allowing for discussion on such things as contraceptives and abortion, re-examining the texts has been something undertaken in both Judaism and Christianity and should be under continual scrutiny.  Islam being a younger religion has steadfastly refused this self-examination which I fear is both dangerous and myopic, especially in the face of the violence that continues every day.

“the fact is that since that day far, far more Americans have been killed in domestic mass shooting events than have been killed in Islamic terrorist attacks. So why do they insist,” she asked rhetorically, “on demanding that I apologize for the Paris attacks and specifically condemn those psychopaths, but they get to just put their hands up and slide-step six paces to the right away from this Planned Parenthood shooter?”

The rarity of attacks on American soil is partly down to the foiling of plots and the tightening of security, whilst there have been a lot of shootings in the US, there have been many more killings (of many different nationalities including the US) that have been carried out abroad in the name of this religion that Western Media hasn’t given much coverage to but nevertheless attest to a shocking waste of innocent human life.

The arguments Kaber uses are generally weak, working on the assumption that the motive is established which it, in all fairness probably will be as expected, he was acting alone.  Lets not misdirect ourselves here, he didn’t learn how to kill in a training camp, did not murder people in the hope his own soul would enjoy 72 virgin (which in itself could be a mistranslation) or any other reward.

The biggest threat to the world are Islamic fundamentalists and whilst what happened in Colorado was abhorrent and should be vilified by everybody, with the church leading the way, we should not back down to any religious person who thinks their divine duty includes murder, as soon as we do that, they will just keep pushing.

Should Christians condemn the shooting, absolutely they should and Kaber is right to bring attention to the fact they seem to be quiet at the moment but should she use that as an excuse to ‘slide-step six paces to the right away’ herself, certainly not!  Is it not morally unacceptable to pick and chose what crimes we speak out against.