General Discussion

Donald Ian Rankin

(13,598 posts)

35. I think it's very easy to make valid generalisations; what's hard is absolute statements.

Tue Oct 7, 2014, 01:15 PM

Oct 2014

I can think of no statement of the form "all Muslims X" that is not false.

But

1) There are lots of statements of the form "Most Muslims X" - or, even better, "According to this soure, 81% of Muslims X" - that are true (I do not think this claim is controversial)

2) Many of those statements are fair, useful and informative (I think this claim is slightly controversial).

Bigotry begins when you interpret "most" or "81%" as "all" or, in particular "this one standing in front of me".

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

39 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Bill Maher on Islam spat with Ben Affleck: �We�re liberals! We�re not crazy tea-baggers� [View all] kpete Oct 2014 OP

Sounds reasonable to me! No idea should be immune from criticism. arcane1 Oct 2014 #1

+1 Maher catches a lot of flak here on DU as do other "liberals" SomethingFishy Oct 2014 #2

Bill is 100% correct ProudToBeBlueInRhody Oct 2014 #3

Yet you cannot say that all Muslims want to kill all non Muslims. That's not the truth. The Wielding Truth Oct 2014 #26

Bill didn't say anything like that leftynyc Oct 2014 #29

And you cannot say that all Christians want to impose Christo-fascist law on all other Americans ProudToBeBlueInRhody Oct 2014 #39

I do NOT believe being critical of oppressive belief systems is bigotry m-lekktor Oct 2014 #4

Haters gonna hate. Our job is to hate the haters and bring about love. Ampersand Unicode Oct 2014 #11

same here Duppers Oct 2014 #17

It's not leftynyc Oct 2014 #30

Thank you. There is such a double standard. Drunken Irishman Oct 2014 #38

I understand what he's saying and where he's coming from, Blue_In_AK Oct 2014 #5

He talks the same about all religion though justiceischeap Oct 2014 #6

You're right. yallerdawg Oct 2014 #10

Since those that believe in God greatly outnumber those that Joe Turner Oct 2014 #19

That isn't the point though justiceischeap Oct 2014 #21

You don't think there are extreme atheists? Joe Turner Oct 2014 #22

I always thought the same but ... sunnystarr Oct 2014 #7

I'm not so sure we're always presented with the truth about this by our media. Blue_In_AK Oct 2014 #13

I would think those on DU leftynyc Oct 2014 #31

When people make a lot of noise, they get noticed. Blue_In_AK Oct 2014 #33

But we're not talking about leftynyc Oct 2014 #34

I have a photographer friend Blue_In_AK Oct 2014 #36

I think he's - correctly in my view - making the opposite point. Donald Ian Rankin Oct 2014 #8

I admit to a bias Blue_In_AK Oct 2014 #14

Hence "the overwhelming majority" rather than "all". N.T. Donald Ian Rankin Oct 2014 #27

Yes, "all" is a dangerous term. Blue_In_AK Oct 2014 #32

I think it's very easy to make valid generalisations; what's hard is absolute statements. Donald Ian Rankin Oct 2014 #35

Good episode GummyBearz Oct 2014 #9

Hopefully he doesn't end up another Gibson. Ampersand Unicode Oct 2014 #12

They weren't differentiating between Muslim theocracies and Muslims in secular countries. Manifestor_of_Light Oct 2014 #15

The US has a terrible history of supporting aggressive wars against Muslim countries. cpwm17 Oct 2014 #16

Watched it live condoleeza Oct 2014 #18

Maher is a bully. He exhorts his audience to join him in figuratively closeupready Oct 2014 #20

yes, in the same way that Clinton's a peacemonger ... MisterP Oct 2014 #23

I guess I need to add Mayer to my auto trash list. You can fight for justice without being an a** liberal_at_heart Oct 2014 #24

Bill is "criticizes" some religions more than others. U4ikLefty Oct 2014 #25

Religious intolerance and bigotry are NOT liberal values, 6000eliot Oct 2014 #28

Plus a million. Blue_In_AK Oct 2014 #37