Warning: Rant.
As part of their 9/11 remembrance NPR did a series on Muslim Americans. It gave us a chance to hear about life from normal Americans who are Muslim. Today is Thursday, the day they read to us from our letters. Several listeners wrote in with scathing comments about how horrible NPR was to do this series around the anniversary of the attacks, complaining that the attacks were carried out by Muslims and it was just in poor taste to give those people air time when the rest of us (the real Americans, I guess) are still grieving.
It's not just that those listeners missed the point of the series -that the attacks were carried out by terrorists who claimed to be Muslim, not all Muslims, just like abortion clinic bombings are perpetrated by terrorists who claim to be Christian. What really bugs me is that those listeners missed the point because they are either incapable of or too lazy for critical thought. They're intolerant because they haven't bothered to do a couple simple syllogisms.
I am of the opinion that a major part of my job as a mom is to teach my daughters how to think (not what to think, which will be tricky because I'm awfully opinionated). If either of my kids ever pens such an ignorant, hateful letter I will consider myself a failure as a parent.
2 comments:
But, Lisa, dear, there are plenty of NPR listeners who claim to be "enlightened" simply because they listen to NPR. Most of those people can neither define nor correctly spell "syllogism" - much less apply their brain cells to perform one. I love your idealism...it really resonates with MY idealism!
You gotta love the human race, it never fails to disappoint.
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