Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Bigotry Accusation

After my last posting, a fellow blogger has accused me of bigotry, predictably enough. My question mark in the title, to which I called attention, stressed my lack of certainty, but the central points of the posting stand: Cho used the Muslim spelling for "Ismail" and his video called Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold "martyrs," as he criticized American "debauchery," both of which Jihadists do. His videos, which came out after my posting, show him saying he is going to "die like Jesus," so he appears to be borrowing metaphors from both religions to some degree. My critic questions whether any Muslim traditions have Abraham wielding an ax. The source for my posting, came from an article to which Melissa Drosjack, Paul Wagenseil and the Associated Press contributed, posted here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266523,00.html. The exact source of the ax reference was one who spoke to the Chicago Tribune. I had not heard that story previously either, but trusted the authority of the AP, Fox News and the Tribune.
One minor element of my posting was slightly inaccurate. Christians believe that the Dome of the Rock marks the spot where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac. Muslims do not, placing the location near Mecca. The religions differ, but my posting was correct for the Christian version of the site. If you really want to split hairs, the Dome of the Rock is a shrine, not a mosque, and the Al Aqsa Mosque is near it. Muslims hold that the Dome of the Rock marks the spot on Mount Moriah where Mohammed ascended to Heaven.
Perhaps we should define bigotry. Bigotry is promoting some unflattering and inaccurate image of a person or group. It is not bigotry to call the French surrenderers based on their war record, but it would be bigotry to warn, for instance, that French people have voracious sexual appetites and want to rape American women. In view of the violence that Muslims have perpetrated in terrorist fashion over the last several years, it is not bigotry to ask a question when a mass murderer uses Muslim spellings for a Muslim icon, uses Jihadist terminology, and tapes himself taunting the outside world with the violence he is preparing to perpetrate. Jihadists make video tapes of themselves delivering messages routinely. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but so many terrorists are Muslims that my question had a historical foundation.

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