"If you can’t say it about Jews or Catholics, you can’t say it about Muslims."
Exactly. Because the end result is that if you empower sectarian violence, it will turn on you. Once you say about Muslims, it WILL be said about Jews and Catholics. It's just a matter of time.
One of the biggest problems in Europe is the Jewish population, normally the voice of reason in equality measures, chooses to encourage and contribute to this dialogue. There have been grass roots movements, but for the most part all the press I read still feeds into the deep racism of the right. Don't they understand that hate breeds more hate, and once the right-wing is done with the Muslims (who are not a global minority like us) they will move onto the Jewish population (more empowered than ever)? The same neo-Nazis that they pander to now in order to increase the racial divide, they give power to. And this power will be turned on them eventually. As an American who is Jewish, I always try and make an effort to defend - or humanize - Muslims when possible. Often I get weird looks and if they ask for an explanation I either quote Niemöller's "first they came for..." or Chris Rock's hilarious take on the logical conclusion of ignorant patriotism, "I'm an American!"
Either way, I think most understand. I hope American Jews don't go to the dark side as in Europe. I realize we have our extremists, but for the most part, we're still sane. But lately, I've noticed a gradual shift towards paranoia even here. And I don't like it.
"If you can’t say it about Jews or Catholics, you can’t say it about Muslims."
Exactly. Because the end result is that if you empower sectarian violence, it will turn on you. Once you say about Muslims, it WILL be said about Jews and Catholics. It's just a matter of time.
Maybe OG ment "peaceful" compared to us. You know, it's been a long time since they invaded a country...
One of the biggest problems in Europe is the Jewish population, normally the voice of reason in equality measures, chooses to encourage and contribute to this dialogue. There have been grass roots movements, but for the most part all the press I read still feeds into the deep racism of the right. Don't they understand that hate breeds more hate, and once the right-wing is done with the Muslims (who are not a global minority like us) they will move onto the Jewish population (more empowered than ever)? The same neo-Nazis that they pander to now in order to increase the racial divide, they give power to. And this power will be turned on them eventually. As an American who is Jewish, I always try and make an effort to defend - or humanize - Muslims when possible. Often I get weird looks and if they ask for an explanation I either quote Niemöller's "first they came for..." or Chris Rock's hilarious take on the logical conclusion of ignorant patriotism, "I'm an American!"
Either way, I think most understand. I hope American Jews don't go to the dark side as in Europe. I realize we have our extremists, but for the most part, we're still sane. But lately, I've noticed a gradual shift towards paranoia even here. And I don't like it.
I think the media can only handle one case of human rights violation at a time. 2000? They wouldn't know how to cover that story.