Ambinder: The insanity of blaming Islam

[cali]

We are still speculating about virtually everything right now, but I feel as though I need to explain why I find the quick and easy conversation about Muslims being radicalized in America to be so illogical and laced with bigotry.

<snip>

But when a white kid murders dozens of children, we don't ask whether the predominant Christian religion in America somehow radicalized him, or whether his upbringing was somehow less American than anyone else's. Stupid questions! Glad we don't ask them.

It is far more plausible that American gun culture, the way that Americans are uncomfortable with people who are different, the gaps in the mental heath system, and a hundred other things, some of which cannot ever be controlled, pushed these two men over the edge. If it was Islam, or a hidden network of radical jihadists, then these types of events would not be rare in America. That they are is the answer to whether Islamic radicalization is a problem that Americans can and must contend with by stigmatizing Muslims.

What is it about America that so alienates young men?

<snip>

http://theweek.com/article/index/243051/the-insanity-of-blaming-islam

[CJCRANE]

1. Good article

but I think there's no need to blame America either. There is nothing uniquely American about alienated young men.

[still_one]

2. No, in this case it was radical Islam that influenced them. That does NOT mean Islam as a whole

For the last two years, that is what these two, especially the older brother were up to.

It is what it is. That is not bigotry, because two brothers were radicalized, and it is NOT Americas fault either.

It is not bigotry to call things as they are, in fact, THEY were the bigots.

Baruch Goldstein was a Jewish bigot, and by calling him such, that is not a bigoted statement, that is fact also.

To deny the facts , and what they posted themselves, is an alternate reality.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Radical Islamists cause problems for all Muslims,

but radical Christians don't seem to cause problems for all Christians. There is a glaring double standard here. When an abortion clinic is attacked or blown up or doctors are killed by overzealous Christian pro-lifers, no one blames the entire Christian faith. Everyone knows it's crazy people on the extreme radical right. Why don't we think of the crazy people on the extreme radical right of the Muslim faith in the same way? People are so prone to generalize out to all Muslims, when most of the billion-plus Muslims in the world hate this kidn of thing as much as the rest of us.

[still_one]

5. This time many Islamic leaders are coming out and condemning it. After 9/11 many hurt themselves

badly by saying such things as because of America's foreign policy in the middle-east, 9/11 was justified. Both sides have matured greatly since then.

A perfect example:


The Los Angeles Times reported that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was kicked out of the mosque three months ago after he interrupted a Friday prayer service to argue with the imam. The imam leading the service had enraged Tsarnaev by talking about Martin Luther King Jr. A congregant told the newspaper that Tsarnaev shouted, "you cannot mention this guy because he’s not a Muslim!”
Imam Suhaib Webb, of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, the city's largest mosque, said in an interview that he had recently heard of the incident. "That's a sign right there that his views aren't mainstream," Webb said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/20/boston-bombers-mosque-cambridge_n_3125192.html

[MOTRDemocrat]

9. They made a good call.

Anyone swimming against the stream during a time like this will and should face enormous criticism.

[cali]

4. one influence doesn't rule out others. Most likely it was a confluence

of things.

[still_one]

6. This was not America's influence that caused it.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was kicked out of the mosque three months ago after he interrupted a Friday prayer service to argue with the imam. The imam leading the service had enraged Tsarnaev by talking about Martin Luther King Jr. A congregant told the newspaper that Tsarnaev shouted, "you cannot mention this guy because he’s not a Muslim!”
Imam Suhaib Webb, of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, the city's largest mosque, said in an interview that he had recently heard of the incident. "That's a sign right there that his views aren't mainstream," Webb said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/20/boston-bombers-mosque-cambridge_n_3125192.html

[Warren Stupidity]

7. When Timmy Mcveigh turned out to have radical Christian ties, questioning

The role of radical Christian organizations was entirely appropriate. Radical Islamist organizations preach jihad against us. We should be concerned. We should monitor their activities. We should, within our constitutional framework, seek to prevent the next attack, learning from our failure to prevent this one.

Gun control is indeed a related and very relevant issue. They are not mutually exclusive.

[oberliner]

8. This insanity of ignoring religion

"We don't ask whether the predominant Christian religion in America somehow radicalized him...Stupid questions! Glad we don't ask them"

Not a stupid question at all. Many people are radicalized by Christianity. Are the attacks on abortion clinics not a result of radicalized Christians?

To pretend fundamentalist/radical religious beliefs aren't a major factor in cases like these is insane.

It is idiotic to simply say that something about America "alienates young men" without looking at the role various extremist religious movements. From the Salafists to the Kahanists to the Westboro Baptists and everything in between.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Exactly my point.

Concentrate on the extreme fringes of all the religions, don't demonize all Muslims or all Christians for the actions of a few. I think sometimes these unbalanced people use religion as an excuse to commit criminal acts. They're just criminals like any other murderers, but they need a religious justification so they don't have to think of themselves as anything less than righteous. This is one of my major issues with Bill Maher and his Islamophobia. He wants to blame the entire religion rather than putting the blame on the fringe group or the individual.