We're all stereotypes

One American, who happens to be Muslim, goes nuts and blows away a dozen innocent victims. The nation is shocked. We refer to this as a "great national tragedy". The president drops everything and flies to the memorial service. It dominates the news channels for days. Flags everywhere fly at half-staff.

Q: You know what they call it in Iraq when a dozen Muslims get blown away in a totally unnecessary war started by the crusading evangelist George W. Bush?

A: Thursday.

rdpch

You wrote, " It seems to me it's the religious zealots, not Herb, who would want to give special meaning to the word "prayer.""

There are many who are just as "zealot" in their "zealotry" against religion as some of the "religious zealots".

If one looks, reads and listens, one just might come to the conclusion that one does not have to be "religious" to have a "holier than thou" attitude, it comes thru "loud and clear" by what some people write and/or say here and elsewhere.

You also wrote, "And yes, statistics (that is, data) sometimes can be used as evidence for a point. If you are a rational person, I'm sure you rely on this process every day."

I took a statistics course once in school and at the beginning of the course one of the things the teacher said was: You can make statistics say whatever you want them to say.

How many times have you or anyone else ever seen two totally opposing points of view upholded by the same set of statistics?

Statistics can be helpful and so can advertising but both can be used to deceive.

Take care, be ready.

Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

America needs to wake up to the fact that islam is at war with the United States.

Not that every moslem is a terrorist, but I don,t want to share a fox hole with them.

When will your friendly islamic druggest decide to poison the unbelievers?

What about your islamic doctor deciding to end the life of an infidel?

I'm not willing to take the chance.

Roxn: the "atheism is a religion" argument is old and tired. And he asked only that "thoughts" be added to "prayers." I don't see how this could be construed as a sign of misrespect.

Clearthinking1: not so clear thinking. He was hardly apologiziing for Islam--to the contrary, he takes it to be a fairy tale just like the other religions that include tribalist exhortations to harm non-believers in their scripture, such as the Bible.

Thomasbaum: It seems to me it's the religious zealots, not Herb, who would want to give special meaning to the word "prayer." And yes, statistics (that is, data) sometimes can be used as evidence for a point. If you are a rational person, I'm sure you rely on this process every day.

Much of this piece reads as an ethics lesson for third graders. On the other hand, it seems to be what many adults need these days.

Herb Silverman

You wrote, "Same imaginary Satan, different stereotype."

The statements, referred to by this statement, are wrong for at least two reasons and they are:

1. satan is NOT great.

2. satan is not a country.

You also wrote, "I've already heard some say that the prayers of all Americans go out for the victims of this tragedy. But that excludes over 50 million Americans who don't pray."

1. Is your definition of "prayer" confined to what you consider "prayer" or could it be something that "all people" do in one way or another whether or not they may consider it "prayer"?

2. Do these "some" as you refer to them consider that "all of humanity" are "victims" in the "ongoing" saga of "man's inhumanity to man"?

3. Out of what "thin air" did you come up with this "over 50 million Americans" figure?

Some of us sure seem to think that "statistics", real or imagined, make a point in "our" favor, do we not?

As I have said many times, Truth is Truth and it does not matter how many or how few believe.

God cares, do we?

Take care, be ready.

Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

Perhaps we should note, just the next day, in Tampa, I believe, a man named Jason Rodriguez, went on a shooting spree at a former employer's offices. We don't know Mr. Rodriguez's religion, and we really haven't asked, but I doubt he is Muslim. (If he was, we would likely have heard about it.) I believe the largest mass killing in US history was committed by a tax-protester in the 1920s, an Andrew Kehoe. He killed his family, blew up his own farm and a school where he was on the school board, angry over property taxes. He was not Muslim. The Virginia Tech shooter was named Seung-Hui Cho, and was not Muslim. Columbine was not committed by Muslim teens. And, of course, there's Mr. McVeigh, a white separatist and anti-government protester who blew up the federal builing in Oklahoma City. I could easily go on for hours, but you get the idea.

There's a psychological phenomenon known as "counting the hits and neglecting the misses." It happens because events that fit with our preconceived notions about how the world works stick in our memories, while those that don't get discarded. For example, someone who believes George W. Bush was the worst U.S. president in history will be hard pressed to name anything good that happened during his administration. (Wait, I'll think of something. See, I've got it too!) If people are afraid of Muslims, the name Nidal Malik Hasan catches your ear, and re-affirms your views. The name Terry Nichols might not.

I bring this up to make a simple point. This forum is on faith. Most of the worlds faith advise us not to sit in judgment of each other, perhaps because we tend to do such a lousy job of it. I think that means not just not treating other individuals in a judgmental manner, but refraining from sitting in judgment of groups. That might even be more important, since it tends to cause us to lash out at anyone who reminds us of the group we fear. In other words, it makes us stupid.

It is human nature for people to stereotype others in a way that makes sense of, and helps us to understand our world better. But, we must work to balance our impressions and past experience with others, with fact and reality.

The Ford Hood incident is just one more reminder that life is precious and that even the strongest of our leaders and systems have their flaws. The strain on the U.S. military and our continued military engagement in Muslim countries make it more and more likely that our prejudices will be tested. It is up to us to be self-aware and humane in our understanding of the world around us.

My deepest sympathy goes out to all of those personally impacted by the Fort Hood tragedy.

The propensity to stereotype groups is primitive and apparently ingrained in our DNA. The late anthropologist Claude Levy-Strauss said that he observed it in the most remote and isolated human societies on earth. Such a deep-seated disposition must have a very powerful survival function. One can understand how it might help someone protect his family and tribe from invaders and interlopers from the other end of the valley. And it was fairly harmless in a world in which we lived in caves and threw rocks at each other. But in a world of nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction, it is a luxury we can no longer afford. Perhaps our foremost responsibility as human beings in the 21st century is to be aware of nature and its origins. How else will we keep it from destroying us?

Herb,

Some good points about stereotyping and Islam.

So, Let us read the Koran.
Koran chaper 9 verse 5:
"But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and kill the nonbelievers wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem."

Fight and Kill.
Allah's words.
Hmmmmmmm.
Religion o' peace?

Read and follow the Koran or stop being an apologist for Islamic violence.

I'm puzzled by the media's refusal/failure to acknowledge the national origins of a number of reporters captured by foreign countries this year. The two women who "accidentally" stepped into N Korea were KOREAN!! The Am. reporter recently released in Iran was...originally--IRANIAN! Clearly these were NOT innocent people NOR genuine "reporters." At the very least, being born nationals of the countries they "strayed into," they should damned well have KNOWN what they're up to and likely to get into if caught. Malik Nidal Hassan is a "Jordanian"; that usually means, since around 1947, a Palestinian refugee in Jordan, the country that was forced to accept a couple million of the displaced Palestinians into their already stretched social programs. These "immigrants" were never granted legal status, a policy that has the dual purpose of keeping them fired up about retaliating against Israel, and fighting to return to what was their homeland, the OT be damned! and by keeping them stateless, promulgating this seething, angry people (once the most sophisticated and educated of all Arabs) as a constant thorn under the Israeli saddle (a pretty good metaphor, if I do say so myself). Born in the US or not, this guy OF COURSE did not want to be sent to Iraq to fight against his fellow Arabs. And yeah, the historically inept and clueless CIA & FBI once again ignored reports of his erratic behavior for YEARS... Can we say "9/11"? Iran? Iraq? Afghanistan?--to cite only 21st c. problems. Oh Canada!

Our thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families. Although the worst, but this has not been the first of such incidents. Each time we cry, we talk about the reasons behind it, but soon we forget until the next time. We see the ever-increasing number of suicides, we just say we are sorry. We are a nation of immigrants, from all the nations, but we expect to have a melting pot that forms a nation insensitive to other nations. We talk about the civilized society, but we carry a big bag of coups and wars behind our shoulders. After so many wars, we have to come to the conclusion that “Human being is not created to kill.” We should find another way, a better way.

I agree with Professor Silverman that we must be very careful when wearing our majority hats and that we must not be too quick to let our stereotyping keep us from responding to individuals in an empathetic manner. However, I also agree with Sam Harris that a person's beliefs will shape the way that they act. For that reason, we must ask ourselves if the messages conveyed in many religious texts and by many religious clergy create a belief system that promotes actions that are injurious to those outside of the set of believers. Sadly, this often appears to be the case.

Stereotyping and labelling are habits of which we are all guilty. We may do this and use our awareness of its pitfalls to choose not to act on these habits. When we stereotype and label and feel no concern for the dangers, then we are likely to commit atrocities against our fellow men. Labelling allows us to demonize our opposition and thus justify whatever we think it takes to nullify them.

To ask that at such time people refrain from saying that 'all of our prayers are with you' - is almost religious.

If you cannot understand at this time that a prayer is a good thought - directed for a good outcome - perhaps your atheism [or version of] has become more of a religion than you know.

If you are asking for respect for Muslims - shouldn't you also see fit to extend that respect to Christians, Jews and others who pray.

Professor, at what point do all Muslims become worth avoiding because of the small risk times great harm that a few of them do?