Pankaj Mishra Quotes

In September of 2005 a Danish Newspaper published some political cartoons showing the hypocrisy of some Muslims who use Islam to justify murder of innocents and terrorism. Many in the Middle East protested vehemently because the Prophet Muhammad's visage was depicted against Islamic tradition. Many Muslim leaders claimed that insulting religion was an “abuse” of freedom of speech including those from nations which regularly publish material that is virulent against Christians and Jews. Momani reprinted the cartoons and wrote this editorial arguing that the cartoons insulted Islam far less than the terrorism and murder—especially a recent murder of Muslims in Amman attending an Islamic wedding ceremony, He was fired by the newspaper owners and then actually arrested by the Jordanian authorities for “Insulting Religion.”

This quotation was used both by those illustrating “Islamaphobia” even in the United States Congress, but also by those illustrating the level of ignorance or some members of Congress. While it is true, that the majority of terrorists at the time of this erroneous remark were Muslims, there were many others in addition to McVeigh. In addition to McVeigh’s accomplice, in America alone, there were many terrorists in prison for various bombings, sniper attacks, and the like. In Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers (Hindus), the inventors of modern suicide bombing, have been terrorizing that region for years. And in Nepal, a rash of Buddhist terrorists had almost paralyzed the country when she made her statement. And in the past, Muslim terrorism was far less than when she uttered the quotation and the Irish Republican Army, the Stern Gang in Israel, and dozens of others have been Christian and Jewish.

This quotation is one of history’s great examples of the classic problem of quotes taken out of context. The Blog was dealing with the potential reactions if Islamic terrorists set off a nuclear device or a radioactive dirty bomb in the United States. Lowry was reporting that in the event of a retaliation there was then a considerable amount of sentiment for attacking Mecca, the holy city of Islam. However, the Arab press picked up Lowry’s quote and Muslims throughout the world were told that the Editor of a prestigious American Journal admitted that there was much American public sentiment for a nuclear attack on Islam’s holiest city. By the time this “fact” was spread by word of mouth, a huge proportion of Muslims the world over truly believed that America was indeed out to destroy Islam. The fact that the “sentiment” was only in the context of a hypothetical retaliation for a first nuclear strike was totally lost by the time it reached most Muslims.

The Alawites, always a Muslim minority in Syria, have been hated, distrusted, discriminated against, and physically persecuted by the majority Sunni Muslims as long as they have existed. When in Syria, the Alawites, although a minority, gained political control of the country and for the first time were secure in their own country. In the early 2000s, the Sunni majority tried to oust the Alawite leadership, but the Assad government put down the protests brutally. Most Western observers did not know of the anti-Alawite history of persecution in Syria. Returning to that position of victimization was so feared by the Alawites that they fought tooth and nail, murdering many civilians, to be sure that the historical position of the Alawites would not occur again. This makes talks and negotiations over the Syrian Civil War so difficult. The Alawites believe that if they do not control the nation, they will be massacred by the majority. The Christians and the Jews also believe that if the Sunni’s get control, their communities will be in great danger. Complicating the situation even further, is that fact that of the insurgent Sunni groups, the tolerant secular ones who started the revolution are no longer in control of the insurgents. De facto dominance has passed to the Jihadist, Islamic extremists who hold the view expressed by this quotation.

At the time, General Flynn was campaigning as a part of the Donald Trump Campaign Team. There was a great deal of Islamaphobia and Flynn and Trump thoght that given the history of Radical Islamic Brutality and Gross Violence, the rear was reasonable. Critics however pointed out that while some Southernors were still violent White Supremicists leaders should not encoruage a fear of Southerners. They argue that the fear should be of extreme radical Muslims, and not Muslims in general. The generalization of fear to all people of any group for the actions of a small subset of the group is actually dangerous and leads to prejudice, feal, hate and often violence such as when many American Blacks feared all pol;ice in the beginning of the 21st century becasue dozens of police officers short and killed unarmed black men,, or the West Cast American fear of the Japanese in WWII, or the terrible result--the Holocaust-- of many Germans' fear and hate of Jews for the "trangressions" of some. All human groups have some bad souls within the greater body of good people--including Muslims.