General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How the liberal left loses the argument. Ceding criticism of Islam to the Right. [View all]DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)Last edited Wed Jan 14, 2015, 12:55 AM - Edit history (1)
There is an idea that some who fear religion use here called "No true Scotsman." Simply stated, it harkens backs to when some Scots did something, others would say "no true Scotsman would do that" implying that these criminals were not Scottish. It was justified in that religious and ethnic types tend to disown their criminals, indeed, just many Muslims are trying to imply that the ideas in Islam had nothing to do with the killing, the same way that adherents of any idea(from Zionism to Marxism) insist the those who abused their ideas should not ruin the whole. In short, No true Scotsman is the abuse of a truth, that you cannot attach a part to a whole, because the whole will supposedly reject the part. The logician points to the fact that this part, this "eye that offendeth thee" IS a part of the whole, even if it is an undesirable part.
The problem is that the "No true Scotsman" argument has a twin brother, one I will call "there are NO true Scots!" It says that there is so such thing as a whole for anything to be attached to. This has been used to demonize other cultures for years, including the Scots themselves, because whatever culture had the power to define what something was would simply define their enemies out of existence. It is why Scots were forced to learn English, because Scotch Gaelic was not considered a true language. Indeed, one of the reasons English itself spread as a language is because the Empire would say "There are no true Scots! or Hindus!, or Arabs! Just what Kipling calls "lesser breeds without the law!" While there are indeed nasty sides to all religions, we do have to admit part of the reason the climate as is nasty as it is because we in power have said "There are no true Arabs, just people we need to exploit, ignore or assimilate!"
So while No True Scotsman indeed needs to be applied to those of any religion that try to deny that Religions do have a side they are responsible for containing, we also need to realize that there are many who, despite being religious, do manage to be good people, and that we cannot attack their rights as citizens without undermining ours. Yes, the gunmen were Muslim, so was the clerk in the Kosher Grocery that hid people in the Meat locker, risking her life to save others, and so was the cop that got killed trying to stop the gunmen. We want to hold people accountable despite their religion, not BECAUSE of it.