Monday, December 1, 2008

A note to ZTruth (and others) - Islam isn't the enemy.

I've become increasingly disturbed and offended by the continual racism spewing forth from blogger ZTruth and others on the fringes of the political spectrum. It seems that every post written by Ztruth is some story about how Muslims are evil because of this anecdotal evidence or that incident or this connection between some Muslim somewhere and a guy who once made a phone call to someone connected to Hamas.

We have to be careful not to define a whole people by the actions of extremists. It's kind of scary that I have to even say that, but apparently folks like Ztruth don't get it. We had an enemy once about sixty years ago that tried to define people based on false stereotypes. Do I really have to say anything else here?

The vast, vast majority of Muslims want nothing more than to live peacefully and participate in society as equals. They want the right to worship as their faith dictates. They want the respect that an enlightened society affords all of its citizens regardless of religious, political, or other affiliation.

ZTruth - your racism is offensive and scary.

Islam is not your enemy. The enemy is ignorance, extremism, and the unwillingness to dialogue with those we don't understand. The enemy is racism, sexism, and xenophobia. The enemy is fear - fear of the other without the willingness to learn about the other.

Take it from a Jew who grew up learning about the horrors of the Holocaust. I've been to the camp at Auschwitz/Birkenau. I've seen the ovens. I said Kaddish over the frozen pond where the ashes of a million Jews were dumped.

Hatred of an entire people is a disease that spreads and leads to nothing but death and ruin.

Wake up, Ztruth. Please.

Find the humanity in those you fear.