the road to hell

[popecrunch]

A few days ago, the construction site of a Muslim community center in a suburb of Nashville, TN was attacked by arsonists. Construction equipment was damaged and destroyed. Although no person or group has come forward to claim credit for the attack, the message is clear and echoed by members of the local community: No Muslims Allowed

Comments

[chipuni]

I'm going to say something that hurts me to say:

You're talking to a non-existent audience.

People who hate X -- no matter whether that X is Muslims, Christians, or Scientologists -- do not want to change their hatred of X.

Extremely few people are ever willing to consider the idea that they're wrong. Very few people change their ideas. People rapidly grab whatever data that fits their prejudices, and ignore (or apply different rules) data that contradicts their opinions.

This happens with extremely intelligent people, as well as dumb people. It's easiest to see this problem with people that disagree with you, but it happens with everyone. Even me.

[popecrunch]

I tried to keep that in mind as I wrote the second part of the article, but I thought it was still worth writing. If nothing else, maybe someone who knows an Islamophobe - everyone has a racist uncle or a reactionary friend - will take the idea of countering the hatred with knowledge, and maybe they'll have a new angle to discuss the issue. Maybe. I hope.

I really, really hope that I'm over-reacting to this. I really, really hope this isn't turning into the sort of sweeping hatred we can't get past.

[kibbles]

Yes. Everyone is the same. Thinks the same, believes the same, does the same. No one ever changes, grows, thinks, develops.

Glad you sorted that out for us.

Glad I believe you are full of it, or I'd be a shell of a human for not only seeing others grow and change, but for the change I've made in my lifetime. Thank EVERYTHING that you are wrong.

[chipuni]

I've never said that people think the same, believe the same, and act the same through their lives. People do change; people can grow; people can develop. I've developed, I've changed. And you have.

What I'm saying is that people rarely change from their internal hatred. I want to give three examples from my own life

[sydb42]

Your analogy to the Nazis is a bit closer to what's going on than I'm comfortable admitting. You didn't mention book-burning, but there is a church planning a "burn the Quran" event on 9/11:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/24/florida.burn.quran.day/

[popecrunch]

Yyyyeah I actually struggled with the comparison at all - you don't bring up Hitler lightly. But the more I read about pre-Nazi Germany, the more apt the comparisons become. And yes, I heard about that. I shall have to dig up our copy so on 9/11 I can *read* mine.