No, the shootings are in no way excusable

[mariuma]

57. Respectfully disagree

There has been, for many years now, a movement within Islam that threatens everyone (Muslim and not, western and not) with punishment for disobeying the various rules that they derive from their holy book and hadiths.

"Draw a cartoon we dislike, and we'll kill you! Dare to burn our book, dare to write a provocative novel, dare to call for peaceful reform, challenge us in any way - that makes you a blasphemer and worthy of death!"

Who suffers most? Naturally, it's the locals in Muslim-majority lands who live under this mafia code. For them, it means restrictions on their lives and constant danger - danger which falls disproportionally on those people that DUers usually care most about - namely women, gays, free thinkers, poor people, and religious minorities.

Yet even in these dangerous countries, a few brave souls stand up. They risk their lives. Just this year we've seen two liberal activists in Bangladesh get beaten to death. A Saudi who announced that he no longer believed in Islam was sentenced to beheading for apostasy. A Pakistani activist named Sabeen was shot a week ago. An Afghani Muslim scholar named Farkhunda was murdered on a public street after criticizing an imam. (All he had to do was yell, "Kill that woman; I saw her burn the Quran!", and forty random men leaped up to beat her and then set her body on fire.)

Thousands of others die silently every year because of how this violent strain of Islam percolates into the home, and onto the street, and into the hands of common people: women beaten for "disobedience" (domestic violence in Pakistan is 90-plus percent); gays chased and stoned by teens on the street, minorities lynched for Allah.

Millions more do not die, but live circumscribed, frightened lives tiptoeing around and trying to wear the black-enough niqab or the long-enough beard to please whatever authority figure is watching them - neighbor, haia, father, imam, republican guard. It's a coercive, authoritarian system. It has its own benefits, as all authoritarian systems do. They just aren't typically the ones that liberals like us would want to trade our freedom for.

Do all people in Muslim-majority lands live like this? Certainly not. But plenty do, and can we NOT fatuously insist that "that's their culture and they all, every one of them, LOVE it that way"? Some do love it - especially those (males, heteros, self-styled imams, militants, one-percenters) who reap the perks. Some don't. Respecting the thugs on the top, means selling out the victims on the bottom.

When the OP says we should not project our Americo-centric values onto others (it's American obnoxiousness to value equality of women and men, and freedom to be gay, and freedom to criticize religious leaders? what foreigner could possibly want such things imposed on them?? hmm let's think...) - I think he/she makes the mistake of assuming that the most coercive and violent Muslims are spokespeople for all Muslims and deserve to rule in perpetuity. Who does that help?

Here in the US - unlike in most Muslim-majority lands - we are actually incredibly safe to speak up for what we believe in. So I ask the question: should liberals speak up for core beliefs like equality, religious freedom and social justice? Or should we take pains (as OP seems to want) to respect every single religious and cultural belief that exists everywhere in the world - including the huge and powerful and violent ones that are working overtime to stomp down lots of people that fall under their power?

Because it's either A or B; it can't be both.

Unless - last thought! - we combine the two by being really respectful toward the murderous religious people, and continue being openly DISrespectful toward the peaceful ones. Because, umm, that's noble

ps. Hope I made sense... sometimes I have so many thoughts, I have a hard time organizing them into a coherent point. Will be happy to clarify if I didn't.