Recently some Twitter hashtags were created in relation to the multiple rioting in the Middle-East. The rioting has been a response to a hilariously crappy 14-minute movie trailer called, “Innocence of Muslims.” Now there are some people who are upset with these hashtags.
One complaint is that the hashtags generalize all Muslims. I don’t think that is valid. Why not all Muslims are rioting and not all Muslims support the rioting, as a point of fact all (or at least almost all) those rioting as a result of this film are Muslims. I don’t think pointing that out necessarily generalizes all Muslims.
Another complaint is that these hashtags are racist. I don’t agree with this criticism either. Muslim is a religion, not a race. While it is true that there are probably many Americans who are racist and who hate Muslims because most Muslims are not white-skinned, not all people who take issue with the Muslim religion and the actions of many of the adherents of that religion are racists. That would be a hasty generalization.
A third complaint is that using these hashtags is Islamaphobic. I’m not really sure what that means. Do I fear the religion of Islam? Yes! I also fear the religion of Judaism and Christianity. So I guess that I am Judaophobic and Christophobic. I think these religions are dangerous. I think they spread dangerous and ridiculously false ideas and that they distort people’s sense of morality. I think they threaten human happiness, human progress, and human lives. I also recognize however that some adherents aren’t as influenced by the dangerous ideas of their religions.
These are some religious believers who are obviously more dangerous than others. There are many Muslims in the world who support free speech and are open to criticism of their beliefs. Many can even take a joke mocking their prophet Muhammad. There are also many Christians and Jews who can’t take a joke mocking their sacred beliefs and I till reserve the right to mock those beliefs. I might even do it on Twitter and I might even create a hashtag to do it. If religious believers don’t want their beliefs to be mocked, they shouldn’t has such ridiculous beliefs.
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