A Tolerable Blog
Mohamed Elmasry is the head of Canadian Islamic Council is currently under fire for allegedly saying that any Israeli over 18 is a fair target for terrorists. He says his comments are misunderstood and apologized for the misunderstanding, but not for saying them.
Another Canadian Sheik Younus Kathrada compared Jews to swines and monkies and preached for the death to Jews. He later said that his comments were taken out of context- and declared in a written statement “We do not perceive the entire Jewish population as having these traits or qualities”. How magnanimous of him.
Isn’t Canada supposed to be the land of tolerance? Aren’t we supposed to be pillars of racial and cultural acceptance? I don’t mean to sound one sided here- but I can’t recall the last time that I read about a Rabbi, Cohen or representative of a Jewish Group declare that Muslims are swine, monkeys, dogs or any other beast – but I for one would certainly encourage them to take perhaps a long hard look at whether their anger and hatred is anything but a burden to themselves and us all.
Tolerance is one of those great words that is often misunderstood. A Common trait is people conflating tolerance and acceptance. If you tolerate something- you keep yourself from acting out spite for it. If you accept something- there’s a note that you encourage it.
A Muslim Interest Group will probably have a vested interest in the Palestinian position- I can see how they could conceivably feel indignant about how Israel treats them. The leaders then rally their followers to a point of umbrageous vitriol.
There are errors in that logic- Israeli does not equal Jewish. So calling for the murder of all Jews is unfounded and inexcusable racism. Using it as a rallying cry to whip your impressionable teens and young adults into a frenzied Jihad is not morally right.
Why do they do it? Well- It’s a theory put forth by Emile Durkheim. While Durkheim initially conceived it to relate specifically to deviants and marginalized- it many find to be pretty accurate for all interest groups. In order to create cohesion effectively in an interest group you have to have a unifying cause, specifically- persecution. If you’re persecuted- people will be passionate about that interest group. They will encourage others to attend. They will follow the preaching of the leader, study the text (Bible, Torah, Koran, Vedas or what have you) and give generously to the cause- not just monetarily (and I don’t want to insinuate that the motivation is greed), but also your attention, and your energy.
No one asking anyone else to accept a foreign culture- what we do require is tolerance for all our sakes. Tolerance is the first step towards acceptance- and you can make that leap on your own if you have made that choice.
Instead of preaching hatred- perhaps spiritual leaders would do well to preach acceptance. Our laws enforce tolerance; our spiritual guidance should encourage us to move towards acceptance, not the other way around.
That of course- would make people think for themselves, and when they do- they tend to make their own decisions. When a large group of people think for themselves, the group has minimal cohesion and tends to have a short life span.
Another Canadian Sheik Younus Kathrada compared Jews to swines and monkies and preached for the death to Jews. He later said that his comments were taken out of context- and declared in a written statement “We do not perceive the entire Jewish population as having these traits or qualities”. How magnanimous of him.
Isn’t Canada supposed to be the land of tolerance? Aren’t we supposed to be pillars of racial and cultural acceptance? I don’t mean to sound one sided here- but I can’t recall the last time that I read about a Rabbi, Cohen or representative of a Jewish Group declare that Muslims are swine, monkeys, dogs or any other beast – but I for one would certainly encourage them to take perhaps a long hard look at whether their anger and hatred is anything but a burden to themselves and us all.
Tolerance is one of those great words that is often misunderstood. A Common trait is people conflating tolerance and acceptance. If you tolerate something- you keep yourself from acting out spite for it. If you accept something- there’s a note that you encourage it.
A Muslim Interest Group will probably have a vested interest in the Palestinian position- I can see how they could conceivably feel indignant about how Israel treats them. The leaders then rally their followers to a point of umbrageous vitriol.
There are errors in that logic- Israeli does not equal Jewish. So calling for the murder of all Jews is unfounded and inexcusable racism. Using it as a rallying cry to whip your impressionable teens and young adults into a frenzied Jihad is not morally right.
Why do they do it? Well- It’s a theory put forth by Emile Durkheim. While Durkheim initially conceived it to relate specifically to deviants and marginalized- it many find to be pretty accurate for all interest groups. In order to create cohesion effectively in an interest group you have to have a unifying cause, specifically- persecution. If you’re persecuted- people will be passionate about that interest group. They will encourage others to attend. They will follow the preaching of the leader, study the text (Bible, Torah, Koran, Vedas or what have you) and give generously to the cause- not just monetarily (and I don’t want to insinuate that the motivation is greed), but also your attention, and your energy.
No one asking anyone else to accept a foreign culture- what we do require is tolerance for all our sakes. Tolerance is the first step towards acceptance- and you can make that leap on your own if you have made that choice.
Instead of preaching hatred- perhaps spiritual leaders would do well to preach acceptance. Our laws enforce tolerance; our spiritual guidance should encourage us to move towards acceptance, not the other way around.
That of course- would make people think for themselves, and when they do- they tend to make their own decisions. When a large group of people think for themselves, the group has minimal cohesion and tends to have a short life span.
posted by Mike at 10/27/2004 01:51:00 p.m.
2 Comments:
There's one thing I can't tolerate and that's hate crimes in CDN. Assume what these guys said was said, then they should be prosecuted. That's the law.
That's a common view to persecute for hate crimes. They are both in Canada. We'll have to see if justice will be served.
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