Toon misses the mark.

[cleanhippie]

Last edited Wed May 14, 2014, 11:26 AM - Edit history (1)

This was posted in N2doc's toon round up in GD, and I think it totally misses the mark.




To me, it implies that Islam itself is not part of the problem, but an innocent.

I'd say the same if the labels were changed to "Christianity" and "Christian Extremists".

What say you?

[Act_of_Reparation]

1. Muslims are disproportionately the victims of Islamic extremist groups...

...perhaps that is what the cartoonist is trying to convey. I agree, however, that the choice of words makes the intent somewhat vague.

[upaloopa]

2. I am not anti religion like some on this board

I think most agree that the actions of a religious person is what matters most. In my opinion most religious people do not deserve the bad rap given here.
To be absolutist anti religion is not an enlightened point of view I think.

[Lordquinton]

5. Religious people are not given a bad rap here

Religion has it's many, unforgivable flaws pointed out on a regular basis and that gets turned into an emotional appeal to the individual instead of joining in on, say, condemning an organization that is running a global pedophile ring.

Atheists, on the other hand, are very often given a bad rap, and no one bats an eyebrow.

[upaloopa]

6. You make it very clear to me that we see the world

through different paradigms.

[Lordquinton]

13. It's sad that so many theists can't separate themselves

from their religion. I do my best to never direct my statements at a specific person, unless they display signs that they are bigoted (knowingly or not) if it's someone here I'll try to raise their awareness (like, why do you affiliate yourself with an organization that runs an international pedophile ring) so they can maybe see that religions aren't just the faith, and you can't choose to only be on the good part of the group and not the bad.

However, atheists are talked about with a broad brush all the time, and juries rarely acknowledge it.

I don't think you know what a paradigm is either.

[rug]

8. Did you actually type this with a staright face?

Religious people are not given a bad rap here

. . . .

Atheists, on the other hand, are very often given a bad rap, and no one bats an eyebrow.

I don't even need to repeat the second paragraph to point out how ludicrous that statement is.

[Lordquinton]

14. Hang on, let me re-read it

Yea, I got it right. Maybe you should work on separating the self from the group. When I, and others, talk about a church, or leaders of a church, it's not about the individual person, but I've noticed that theists tend to associate so strongly with their beliefs that they see anything about their church applying directly to them, and can't compartmentalize.

Atheists on the other hand have gotten used to blanket statements and don't even bother pointing it out anymore because of how ludicris it is

[rug]

15. You are a remarkably sensitive person if you think that is the case.

[Lordquinton]

17. You went from butthurt to "you mad?" so fast in this thread

I think I got whiplash.

[cleanhippie]

16. +1.

[DetlefK]

3. Every religion has good and evil parts.

Christian extremists hijacking political agendas to further their social/political goals and blemishing the reputation of Christianity in the process?

When was the last time Christian extremists bombed an abortion-clinic, suggested "2nd amendment remedies", or chose to pray for a sick child instead of calling a doctor?

[trotsky]

4. Islamic extremists represent a form of Islam.

Christian extremists represent a form of Christianity.

It all comes down to how one interprets the religion's holy text. And since both are revealed religions, an adherent of either one must accept the possibility that god/allah might have communicated/revealed a new message to someone. That is, in fact, how both religions allegedly started.

In any case, both the "extremists" and the "non-extremists" generally accuse each other of not being "true" followers of the religion anyway.

[rug]

7. I say you're wrong.

[Promethean]

9. I agree with you.

Extremism is a natural outcropping of any ideology that claims absolute anything. In the case of the Abrahamics they claim to have absolute truth about how the universe works. Included in that "truth" is a claim of reward/punishment after death and a demand that everybody follow a set of rules to make the living world "right." It is easy to see that there will be at least some people who will interpret such things in the most authoritarian and oppressive way possible. Those people will then work very hard to convert others and to acquire power (and don't care about the method). This is happening right now here in the US.

Those who do not buy into the extremist position but do identify with the "truth" claims tend to not realize what the extremists are doing. It is easily observable. Normal tolerant people who mostly personalize their religion see people like Huckabee and just think "aww what a nice christian preacher." These people are also easily susceptible to being convinced of the extremist position. They already have an automatic level of trust for someone who claims to share their religion. Add in some propaganda and fear mongering disguised as concern and you have another jumping on the authoritarian extremism bandwagon.

This is the constant and easily observable threat from religion on society and why I oppose religion wholesale.

[edhopper]

10. I think the cartoon makes a point

but it is just a cartoon and doesn't cover the more nuanced ides about this issue.

[trotsky]

11. It would be more accurate to have the figure at the bottom say...

"Moderate Islam" or "Tolerant Islam" but then again, "extremist" Muslims don't see themselves as extremist at all, but rather the "true" Islam which would to them be the seated figure, and the moderate/tolerant ones who are destroying the religion.

[edhopper]

12. True

but as i said, nuanced.
Too me the cartoonist was showing how extremist can make people think all Muslims are terrorists (which some in this country do).
I also don't think we should infer too much from a cartoon. They are drawn in broad strokes.