Muslim Intolerance And Fanaticism Rears Its Ugly Head Again...O Wait!

Anti-Islam bigots have a common practice of seeking to amplifying the worst aspects of the Muslim world and presenting them as mainstream and exemplary of Islamic values and contrasting this with the most idealized version of a non-existent West where religious pluralism, tolerance, secularism and feminism prevail. Taking the worst from one region with the best from another and then pointing and shouting "Look at how awful those people are as opposed to our enlightened selves." It is a nice gimmick which amuses only the delirious chauvinist. An pertinent illustration, because it is often so widely the case at hand, will allow us to see how this works.

Take the matter of women's rights. Westerners often lecture Arab countries and Muslims nations about the lack of women's rights in many, if not most, of these countries. Admittedly women's rights are lacking. But such criticism is voiced often with an ideology of hostility toward the very people and condemned as a peculiar Islamic phenomena. While we in the West are told that are superiority is reflected by are perfect record in the treatment of women. But this is a great fallacy. There is no us vs. them. Most Muslim nations afford women basic rights, some more than others like Turkey and Tunisia, four Muslim nations have had elected heads of state, and only one - Saudi Arabia - prohibits women from voting.

What about West? An equal number have elected heads of state, many Western nations do not afford women reproductive rights, Switzerland did not give women the right to vote until 1970, and domestic rates of abuse are equal to that of many Arab nations. The number one reason for female admittance into the emergency room in America is domestic violence.

So the contrast presented is often dubious and solely crafted to make a prejudicial point. Which leads us to this week's installment of what if they were Muslim.

First up, those darn Muslims...fundamentalists Catholics and their inability to respect freedom of speech and resorting to lunatic behavior because of offended religious sensibilities:

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Photo Credit AP.

"The controversial work Piss Christ by the New York photographer Andres Serrano has been destroyed at a gallery in France after weeks of protests. The photograph, which shows a small crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine, outraged the US religious right in 1987, when it was first shown, with Serrano denounced in the Senate by the Republican Jesse Helms. It was later vandalised in Australia, and neo-Nazis ransacked a show by the artist in Sweden in 2007. The work has previously been shown without incident in France, but for the past two weeks Catholic groups have campaigned against it, culminating in hundreds of people marching through Avignon on Saturday in protest. Just after 11am on Sunday, four people in sunglasses entered the gallery where the exhibition was being held. One took a hammer from his sock and threatened security staff. A guard restrained one man but the remaining members of the group managed to smash an acrylic screen and slash the photograph with what police believe was a screwdriver or ice pick. They then destroyed another photograph, of nuns' hands in prayer."

And you thought the only people protesting was because of Danish cartoons!

Those damn Muslims...Jewish fundamentalists always trying to exclude women:

"In the Hasidic enclave of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, there are many things that women can’t or just don’t do: Be counted as one of the 10 people needed to make up a minyan, or prayer quorum. Walk around in pants. But vote?

According to the bylaws of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, a social service agency and community pillar that has received millions of dollars in government grants over the years, only those who meet the following requirements can vote for its leadership:

Jewish and religiously observant residents of Crown Heights

Married, previously married or at least 30 years old

Male"

And the Republicans will tell you that only Shari'a will usher in repression of women!

Muslim nations are such bastions of intolerance and hate:

"On April 6th, a large group of Israelis in South Tel Aviv marched into an area comprised primarily of Blacks, against the presence of Africans [and Filipinos, but primarily Africans - both native and migrant workers] in Israel, demanding the expulsion of the ‘thieves and rapists.’"

Only Muslim countries discriminate against minorities!

So ask yourself: What if they were Muslims? How would the media and anti-Islam bigots treated such stories?