Dear Brian,
Your letter indicates clearly how utterly intent you are in completely ignoring my original points on this issue. I have criticized fundamentalist Islam, but a mere criticism of religious fundamentalism is too blatant a point to have been made in the Argus amongst intelligent people. I would hope that EVERYONE denounces religious fundamentalism—we need not write Wespeaks stating the obvious. What is necessary, however, is to find the root of the problem, to question what we know to be evil, to find out what has been the corrupting force. I was calling into question the root of Islamic fundamentalism— Islam. I was criticizing the disturbing and outdated mentality that creates the subhuman evil we see coming from Muslim countries. Yes, Brian, all religious zealots are scary and dangerous, but why are so many airplane hijackers, suicide bombers, beheaders, and masked murderers Muslim? Why are some Muslim countries aiding and abetting such terrorist thugs and mass-murderers? Why are Muslim clerics condoning (or encouraging) the execution of Muslim converts, or stoning women to death for adultery? One word: Islam.
Your point about my so-called radicalism reflects your ignorance of the meaning of the word. Islamic radicals seek to murder innocent people indiscriminately, they are bloodthirsty and they live to create death and destruction to distract themselves (and anyone else who isn’t paying attention) from their own cultural inferiority. They hate for hatred’s sake; I do not hate anybody, but I have deep contempt for Islamic fundamentalism. My purpose is not to kill terrorists, or Muslims, or anyone. My purpose is to expose and discredit terrorists, by condemning their weak moral character and their distorted mentalities that create it.
On the subject of Dr. Wafa Sultan, you mentioned that the term “Clash of Civilizations” was a “pet term” of mine. I do not use this term, because it’s inaccurate. In order for there to be a clash of civilizations, the participants (the clashers) have to be civilized—that’s what it means to have a civilization. In this context, one of the participants is NOT civilized. It’s a clash of mentalities, of historical eras, of the 21st century and the Dark Ages. Let us not confuse the two. Furthermore, my calling Dr. Sultan “not an American” is not an indication of deep-seated racism on my part. She is an American citizen as of recently, but the majority of her life was spent as a Syrian native, speaking Arabic, practicing Islam. She is not coming from an American perspective, like you and I, but rather an Arab one. She does not have the advantage, as I do, of coming from such “privilege.”
A generalization made about a particular group of people should, if accurate, contain observations of trends and patterns that manifest themselves within a particular group of people. But Brian, it becomes “racist” only when applied— as a given— to any individual prior to any knowledge of that individual’s moral character. You should know this, Brian; after all, it was you who said that I (being 100 percent “white”) have not had to “work as hard” as you (being merely 50 percent “white”) to get through life, basing that solely on my skin color or ethnicity in relation to yours. I have made no such claims— indeed I’m not racist. I can criticize Islam without judging all Muslims, because I do not know all Muslims. Wesleyan students, for example, may be liberal and left-leaning in GENERAL, but it would be a form of prejudice to assume that were true about any given individual at Wesleyan. I understand that the generalization is true (unfortunately), even though it does not apply in my case. The racism featured in your example of Japanese internment camps in the 1940s, Brian, is an example of an assumption applied directly to individuals (without any conviction or trial or evidence of wrongdoing) and in so doing, taking away their rights to freedom. You do not have a right to take away someone’s freedom because they fit a particular profile. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t notice common trends among groups of people (AKA: “profiling”). It’s one thing to recognize that there is a higher trend of loyalty to Japan among Japanese Americans than in the rest of the American population, and it’s another thing entirely to imprison them all as a result. Don’t confuse the two.
Brian, I hope you don’t miss yet another opportunity to see that I am not in fact hateful or racist, but rather have pointed out a common trend amongst a particularly brutal group of people that I sought to discredit. I never mentioned race— you did. I never mentioned dark skin nor have I defended whiteness. It existed only within your head, because claiming the other guy is “racist” is easier than actually addressing the harsh and often un-PC realities that are unavoidable to those of us with eyes and a brain. Having contempt for a way of thinking embodied by people who just so happen to be of darker skin than you is not racism, and if you think it is, get yourself a much needed dictionary. I am not warning about the perils of “hordes of Muslims,” but rather the perils of people with a backward mentality that use their religion (Islam) as their prime motivator in behaving barbarically. And I’m sorry, Brian, but until you recognize that making an association between Islam and terrorism is not prejudicial hatred, that questioning and condemning the perverting factor in a murderous mentality is not racism or fanaticism, that cruel malevolent cowards do not deserve defense or sympathy, your back is not worth getting, dude.
In peace,
Evan Carp
Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply