09.19.06 - 2:19 am

im so confused. so very very confused. baffled. dumbfounded. shocked. and most importantly....angry.

what the fuck is wrong with you fucking people?

once again im reading news articles about the muslim world being upset over some comments someone made. this time the pope. since when are muslims so fucking emotional? since when does every word or conversation criticizing them become such a "deep wound in the hearts of muslims that won't heal for a long time"?

that quote coming from the egyptian religious affairs minister, mahmoud hamdi zaqzouq. seriously now, a deep wound that wont heal? hey fuckhead, what about people from your religion ramming a few planes into our buildings? what do you think of that deep wound? or is the text of the popes speech inflict the same amount of physical and emotional damage as the killing of 3000 people? i guess im confused as to why you have a right to be bitching right now, because i also clearly remember how fucking barbaric you assholes acted when some dutch guy drew some cartoons.

some fucking cartoons.

granted, i know this is the Holy See here commenting on the islamic religion. the pope, the pinnacle of christianity, carries alot of weight with the words he uses. it was popes who used holy wars to wipe out thousands of muslims centuries ago. so there is a hefty amount of hypocrisy. however, to many westerners he was merely quoting ancient text of 14th-century byzantine emperor manuel II: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." why he used this quote, i dont rightly know. was it appropriate during these sensitive times? probably not. was it only an example out of a longer speech with a larger meaning? most likely. apparently the greater message of the speech was that violence in the name of religion is wrong. but to others, specifically muslims, their interpretation of his speech, and in particular that very small quote, was that of an insult to the islamic faith.

but whats insulting is constantly reading how they respond to comments of this nature with violence and aggression. im confused over the irony of their aggression, hurt and anger. here we have a religion that is trying desperately to seperate itself from the extremists and terrorists and violence and spread what it claims is a religion of peace. but then you have a whole group of people using violence and death and car bombs and mayhem and flag burning and shootings as an expression of....what? is that how they persuade the rest of the non-arab world that they arent violent? that their religion demands respect? whenever there is an open criticism of the islamic faith, there is always angry protests and firebombings. this does little to convince me and all the other westerners of the tolerace and peace that islam allegedly teaches. why is something of this nature, and that of the muhammad cartoons something to hold mass protests for, but where are these same angry mobs swarming the downtown markets and villainy filled cities in iraq protesting against the mindless sectarian slaughters? where is the constructive anger for the real, tangible damage to the image of islam?

the constant and seemingly endless bombings and deaths of middle eastern civillians.

comments from terrorist groups in iraq are allegedly posting messages like this on their web forums: "...the west [is] doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the 'jizya' tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion [to Islam] or [being killed by] the sword."

and in iran, supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei stated, "Those who benefit from the pope's comments and drive their own arrogant policies should be targeted with attacks and protests..."

attacks? are you kidding me? youre a supreme leader, cant you be a bit more level headed and constructive? i have no problem with demonstrations and protests. but how about open dialogue? how about catholic and islamic councils that carry on discourse and work together through their religious incompatibilities? how about all the leaders of muslim countries travel to all the universities of the world and help everyone understand just what is going on over there. in your heads. in your churches. in your religion.

i did enjoy the careful statement by pope shenouda III, the head of egypts orthodox coptic church. he said, "these comments, seen by many muslims as hurtful, risk encouraging extremists on all sides...and put in danger all the advances in dialogue made in recent decades."

although i dont know what advances in dialogue hes referring to, hes right. if there had been any progress, its definetely stretched a bit thin at the moment. it really feels like there werent any of this anti-islamic sentiment prior 9/11. if there was, it didnt concern the world enough to remark on it through the media. from what i can recall.

it just would make sense if the muslim world would stop getting in such a furor over minute criticisms and instead start focusing on ending the violence in the middle east, and then actively demonstrating just how peaceful and tolerant they can and are supposed to be. basically, just stop killing people, and everyone wont think youre all a bunch of guys out on camels chopping peoples heads off with explosives strapped to your chests.

please, could you just stop for the next 500 years? is that too much to ask?