One
of the things anyone with a reasonably logical mind may find darkly
amusing is the way that Muslims these days (I’m guessing in earlier ages
they were less transparently silly) make statements that directly
contradict each other without seeming to be aware of what they’re up to.
Take,
for example, the following: 1) Israelis are like Nazis, and 2) The
Holocaust didn’t happen. So the Nazis aren’t bad, but the Israelis are
like them.
The resolution to the logical contradiction has to do with the emotional pleasure making the statements provides:
- Saying the Israelis are like Nazis is a form of moral sadism that not only attacks Jews, but demeans them in the eyes of anyone who believes the Nazis did commit genocide.
- Saying the Holocaust didn’t happen is another form of sadism which any Palestinian who wanted to extend the most elementary empathy to Jews might appreciate since they are immensely indignant at any effort to question just how bad they have suffered, or the role of Israel in that suffering.
There was a similar moment, oft repeated, when the Pope quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor (who
had good experiential evidence for the remark) saying that Islam was
inherently violent. The Muslim response? Riot, kill, maim: “How dare you
call me violent!”
Now,
in Israel, where Member of Knesset Taleb a-Sanaa (United Arab List-
Ta’al) and others have petitioned the court for a temporary injunction
blocking an anti-Islam video ridiculing the prophet Muhammad on Google
and YouTube, we have the following from a supporter (H/T: DC):
Again, content doesn’t matter. It’s all about what feels good: to praise Islam and to assail anyone who contradicts that praise.
Don’t you dare diss me. I’ll diss you right back.
No
wonder that, although they are in principle dedicated to brotherly love
(at least among Muslims) and good livelihood, in practice Muslims are so often at each other’s throats, and by a vast majority, are poor and wretched in their livelihood.
Some
readers may feel that I’m being hostile to Muslims, even Islamophobic.
But I challenge you to come up with a non-Muslim example of this kind of
emotional “logic.” And while you can probably find some (especially in
psychotherapeutic discussions), I’ll bet that the other people(s) who
express this kind of utterly self-indulgent thinking don’t think that
it’s a good idea to say such things too loudly.
For
an honor-shame culture, Muslims these days sure are shameless. Maybe it
has to do with the success of the intimidation of the rest of us. After
all, instead of Muslims being the laughing stock of the global
community, the Pope was assailed by good people for provoking the Muslim reaction.
Who would have thought that for lack of a sense of humor, the Western world might commit suicide?
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