Political correctness (PC) has once again reared its ugly head. In the last week, we have learned that it was not muslims who attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, but more specifically muslim extremists (or muslim radicals) (or muslim fundamentalists). Anyway, it was certainly not muslims. In fact, I don't think we are even able to insinuate that males of middle eastern decent were in any way involved.
I have had the privilege of knowing many people of various religions and ethnic backgrounds. I agree with the PC crowd that as a religion, not all muslims should be lumped together. Yet, all Christians bear the blame of the Crusades according to these same people. Should not islam, like Christianity, be held accountable for it's more radical elements? If the tables were turned, would not the Pope be called upon to disavow a destructive sect of Christianity? My point is that we are splitting hairs when we come down on people for using the term muslim or muslim extremist.
That brings us to the current uproar created by Bill O'Reilly, the View and now Juan Williams. Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked out on O'Reilly during the View last week, because he was unwilling to qualify his remarks when referring to the attackers. The PC police now view as bigotry the classification of our attackers as muslim. The fact that they were muslim is beside the point. And now Juan Williams is being fired from NPR because he feel uncomfortable if he encounters people wearing middle eastern clothing.
I have a simple observation. If we are made uncomfortable by a person's dress or religion, should the members of said group go to greater efforts to improve their standing in the eyes of the public? If we react negatively to a specific group of people, maybe there is a reason. Maybe said group has caused fear. The term terrorist comes to mind. These groups identify themselves as muslim and as terrorists. That is why we now view them in this fashion.
Before Whoopi and Joy walk off next time, maybe they should consider that many people in the muslim world are working quite hard to create fear and intimidation among Americans. While they do not represent all muslims, they are not shouted down either. If the so-called moderates are unwilling to oppose the fundamentalists in any significant way, it signals to the world that they do not oppose them after all. If they do not oppose the radicals it tells us that they are not perceived as radicals and therefore part of mainstream islam.
