Entirely bad idea

Submitted by suitepotato (United States), Jan 12, 2009 at 14:03

Not just because it ignores that Islam has the same roots as Christianity and Judaism in middle-eastern monotheistic thought and hence has no need of a separation based on origin, nor because it denies the commonality of their humanity with us as being under the same basic ethical and moral notions, but also because of the wrongheaded message the holding of that idea sends, that the west agrees with the Islamist premise that we are totally different, which is an important foundation of Islamic supremacism. By agreeing to their denial of commonality, we make the next step to assumption of superiority that much easier.

It also sets us up for subliminal condescending bigotry on the other side as when people do not see commonality between them, they tend to hold themselves as inherently better than the other, thus the other being lesser, because the only frame of reference they have is their own, and with that they are familiar and comfortable, not so with the unknown other.

Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Bahai, Zoroastrians, atheists, and agnostics all function perfectly well in western society. So too can Muslims if both sides stop denying their common human senses.

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