While I have known a few Muslims that were great people, and I know there are many more out there, I think the onus is on them, meaning muslims as a whole, to improve their overall standing in the world. I am all about personal responsibility and it is unfair to pass of the responsibility to represent these people on our media etc. the greater population of Islamists (there are billions) need to do some in-house self policing and improve their own face that is being shown to the world. At this point, rather than just say "I'm not like that", get off your collective asses and prove it to the world.
Now, I feel the need to state that if this were an ethnic group, I would not take this stance. But in this case this is a religion that has violent extreme elements (very large numbers of them) who do what they do IN THE NAME OF the religion traditionally spread at sword point that you are trying to sell me as being benevolent and nonviolent.
I am reminded of an MCSE course I took in early 2002 that was taught by an instructor who is Egyptian. He was traveling for work on 9/11/01 and flew back home with a group of co-workers. As he put it "You better believe they had me up against the wall frisking me and to tell you the truth, I didn't mind. In all honesty, not all of Arab Muslims are terrorists, but all of those terrorists were Arab Muslims".
After the last decade of global events carried out in the name of one Muslim sect or another or just in the name of Allah in general (because he, like pretty much every other all powerful god appears to be completely incapable of intervening and solving his own problems) combined with the general petty and bigoted intolerances that the religion is filled with (it is, it is as simple as that) I do not feel inclined to be open minded any longer, not like I used to be.
In my opinion, I don't hate muslims, I just feel that globally it is time for them to prove the stereotypes wrong themselves since the most actively vocal among them keep showing the world otherwise. Seems like we have reached that point.
Now, I feel the need to state that if this were an ethnic group, I would not take this stance. But in this case this is a religion that has violent extreme elements (very large numbers of them) who do what they do IN THE NAME OF the religion traditionally spread at sword point that you are trying to sell me as being benevolent and nonviolent.
I am reminded of an MCSE course I took in early 2002 that was taught by an instructor who is Egyptian. He was traveling for work on 9/11/01 and flew back home with a group of co-workers. As he put it "You better believe they had me up against the wall frisking me and to tell you the truth, I didn't mind. In all honesty, not all of Arab Muslims are terrorists, but all of those terrorists were Arab Muslims".
After the last decade of global events carried out in the name of one Muslim sect or another or just in the name of Allah in general (because he, like pretty much every other all powerful god appears to be completely incapable of intervening and solving his own problems) combined with the general petty and bigoted intolerances that the religion is filled with (it is, it is as simple as that) I do not feel inclined to be open minded any longer, not like I used to be.
In my opinion, I don't hate muslims, I just feel that globally it is time for them to prove the stereotypes wrong themselves since the most actively vocal among them keep showing the world otherwise. Seems like we have reached that point.