Islam Threatens Civilization

So, being a typical pre-hipster and perpetually bored high school kid, I was cruisin’ on Facebook the other day just for kicks when I stumbled across this gem:

"Islam Threatens Civilization."

That’s right. Now, not only are there groups that exist to perpetuate blatant misogyny (I’m lookin’ at you "STFU Hillary Clinton and make me a sandwich") but good ol’ Racism as well. Lovely. But before you go a worryin’  bout how the existence of a group like this might be construed as, say, hate, listen to what they have to say:

"No doubt something you see or read here will offend you, but that’s not what this group is for. It’s about speaking out. This is not a hate group. Members and comments supporting racism, hatred or intolerance will be removed. "

Because you know, there’s nothing vaguely racist about a group of white kids from small town Ontario who live in a town where the racial diversity consists of two non-caucasian families out of 8000 people creating a group about how evil and scary Islam is.

Among other things, this group (which is like, automatically super enlightened because it was founded by a gay teenage boy) has a major failure to even define "civilization". Do they not know where we got our numeric system from? Have they never heard of the countries of Pakistan, Irak, Syria, et al? Or are they just pulling out the whole "everyone who isn’t like me and my friends is a savage" line again?

I can, in a way, understand why the creator of this group might object to some of Islam’s teachings (nevermind that it’s a pretty big fucken religion and there are lots, and lots, and lots of interpretations of the Qu’ran) because he is homosexual, and if, say, we were to find ourselves living in a religious dictatorship his sexuality would cause him a lot of grief. That, in and of itself is a legitimate fear. It’s also a fear that applies to Christianity, Judaism and about a half dozen other of the more popular religions in the world. So why Islam? Probably because no one in that group has ever met anyone who either religiously or culturally indentifies as Muslim. Probably because there has been, of late, an influx of "middle eastern" immigrants coming to Canada. Probably because they saw that girl at the Airport wearing a hijab once and never stopped to consider she might be choosing to do so. And probably because, at the end of the day, they’re terrified that their rather restricted sense of self might be challenged by some one else’s religion.

They might not think they’re a hate group, but they ain’t exactly spreadin’ love and tolerance.

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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