“A History Lesson”

I have heard many racist, hateful and ignorant statements in my life, but I have never been so offended as I was when I read yesterday’s article. Throwing around statements such as “all terrorists are Muslim” or that Palestine is simply out for the “destruction of the Jews” or that the Islamic religion actually promotes any sort of death and destruction is nothing short of uninformed and ridiculous. The author tells us “I won’t quote the Koran but…”, no you certainly will not quote the Koran because you clearly have no idea what it says. Islam, Christianity and Judaism all promote many similar moral values and even have many of the same parables used to illustrate these values and one of the major traditions in all three of these is that of brotherly love. The idea that any one of these religions would ever promote the murder of anyone for any reason is preposterous. So perhaps it’s the author’s research that needs brushing up. The majority of the violence that he is referring to is that of the Palestinians who are simply attempting to defend themselves against the Israeli army; one of the most powerful armies in the world attacking a country that doesn’t have a military to defend itself. So these people defend themselves in the only way that they know how, terrorism. It’s interesting though to think about the fact that there is just as much death and destruction committed by the Israeli’s against the Palestinians, but because Israel has the backing of their armed forces it’s okay, but it’s not okay for Palestine to attempt to try and fight back for their land and freedom. Which is exactly what they are fighting for; they are not fighting for the “death of all Jews” by any stretch of the imagination. And the example given by the author of Palestine’s refusal of the land offered to them in the Camp David Accords is yet another example of ignorance. That land would have been completely bordered by Israel on all sides and would have in no way lead to any sort of freedom for the Palestinian people. Israel has been held in contempt of the U.N. regulations in regard to Palestine more than sixty four times. That is more than any other country in history; the Palestinians certainly do have something to be fighting for and it is not about the extermination of the Jews, but rather real and true freedom for their people. While it is lovely that the author cites his “numerous friendships” with Muslims, it is quite clear to me that these friends would certainly have educated him about the Islamic religion so that he could have written a more informed article and not seemed quite as hateful and racist as he comes off. To say that he is not trying to pigeonhole anyone in one sentence and then in the next to say that all terrorists are Muslim because it is a belief endogenous to their religion, is completely hypocritical and does not in any way make the author come off as any less racist or hateful. The problem here is clearly not whether or not we should be more politically correct. Being politically correct has never been the problematic. What is troublesome is that a student at a liberal university could make such ignorant and hateful statements, statements that propagate the cycle of violence in the world, especially between these two countries. Hatred and ignorance, not political correctness, have always been the main issue behind violence of this kind, and it is that historical lesson that I believe is being overlooked.