On Sunday I posted a diary entitled I'm Getting A Little Sick Of "Muslim Outrage," in which I expressed my frustration with what I perceive as some Muslim leaders' self-righteousness in the face of criticism, and specifically Western criticism. To my surprise, the diary set off a mini-firestorm of controversy, and garnered numerous responses, many containing pointed criticism of their own.
(Note: In both this diary and the one preceding it, I use phrases like "Muslim society" or "Islamic civilization." I am well aware that this is a generality, and likely not even a particularly accurate one. Obviously, the Islamic world encompasses many different cultures. For my purposes here, what I am referring to might more accurately be termed Middle Eastern Muslim Society; that is, the part of the Islamic world stretching from northern Africa to Pakistan, and encompassing the Arab, Persian, Turkish, and many other cultures. I realize that even this is a generalization, but in this part of the world religion and culture are heavily intertwined, particularly in the Gulf states, and it is this region that has occupied the lion's share of American and European attention in recent years. Similarly, I use the term "Western" as shorthand for American and European societies, again a conglomeration, but sharing some fundamental values and tendencies. If nothing else, the use of these terms makes the writing – and reading – less cumbersome)
After reading the comments and criticism, I reread the diary. And I realized that I had expressed myself poorly. There was a significant divide in what I was trying to say, and what it sounded like I was saying. Not to put too fine a point on it, I sounded like a jerk. I guess that's what happens when you 1) post late at night, and 2) don't take the time to edit properly. My bad. So now I am going to attempt to say what I was trying to say in the first place.
I have no quarrel with the vast majority of Muslims. I may disagree profoundly with the belief system their religion propounds, but it is not my place to question the method in which others choose to live their lives, so long as they afford me the same consideration. Indeed, I would say the same thing about the followers of any religion, or any -ism, one might care to name.
But it sets my blood boiling when people try to impose their beliefs on others. There's a word for such people: fundamentalists. Or, for that matter, fanatics. With this in mind, perhaps a better title for my original diary would have been "I'm Getting A Little Sick Of Fundamentalist Muslim Outrage."
There seems to be a feeling among many fundamentalist Muslim leaders that any criticism of any aspect of Islam or Muslim society is not only unacceptable, but overtly insulting to the Muslim community as a whole. It doesn't matter to whom such criticism is directed, or whether it is legitimate; it is the mere fact of criticism itself that generates outrage.
Therein lies the rub. In the worldview of fundamentalist Muslims – or indeed fundamentalists of any stripe – criticism is not to be tolerated. Lack of deference to the opinions of the fundamentalist is simply unacceptable. And in societies where fundamentalists hold power, criticism is forbidden and lack of deference punished. One wonders how many right-wing Christians which it were so in America.
What bothers me is the idea – prevalent among Muslim fundamentalist leaders, as well as some well-intentioned Westerners – that our institutions and media need to go to extreme efforts to avoid even the appearance of insensitivity to that fundamentalist worldview. This is, to me, not just incredibly arrogant on the part of those such leaders, but hypocritical, inasmuch as they show no such respect to Western institutions, mores, and values.
Thus my mention of the Danish cartoon controversy. Yes, the Jyllands-Posten was critical, even irreverent, towards Islam. But that very act of being critical and irreverent is very much a feature of modern American and European (i.e. "Western") society. It's what we do. It's not as if Western media singled out Islam as the target of it's criticism and irreverence. On the contrary, American and European leaders and institutions are regularly the subject of such "attacks." How many cartoons depicting George W. Bush as an incompetent buffoon appear in American newspapers every day?
By the same token, how many virulently anti-semitic cartoons appear in newspapers in the Muslim world every day? Quite a few, I'd wager.
I just don't think it in anyone's interest to cower before the self-righteous anger of a small group of fanatics whose opinions are not even reflective of Muslim society as a whole. No one should be afraid to publish editorial cartoons or broadcast a documentary showing some – some – Muslim leaders in an unflattering light. No one should be afraid to print an "Opus" comic strip. Such decisions not only smack of intellectual cowardice, but strengthen the position of fanatics. And I'm not just talking about Muslim fanatics – we should be just as aware of bullying by our own, home-grown brands of fanaticism. Hatred should be called out wherever it lurks.