I don't like agreeing with Koolay, but in this case I have personal experience. When I was in grade one, I got into a fight with a kid because my friends made a circle around us, and kept shouting he was a "fucking Pakky." I didn't have any personal animosity toward the kid (I thought he smelled a little funny, but so do most kids in grade one), and I didn't know what a "Pakky" was, but I really felt that if that many people hated him that much, there must be something seriously wrong with him.
I also agree that when social climes change, most people will be right on board, and may not even know it. How many people in America completely hate Muslims? Maybe 90% I'm guessing. How many people know that it is thanks to Muslim scholars that we use the decimal system, or that much of the Greek culture lost in the Dark Ages was preserved? How many people know that going back as far as the Crusades, when Saladin defeated Richard III, he gave Christians free access to Jerusalem anyway? How many people know that the establishment of Israel in the 20th century was basically a rape of the Muslim population already living there? Maybe 10%.
And yet despite Muslims having killed thousands of people in recent history, and Christians many many millions, we feel perfectly comfortable both in fearing Muslims and condemning them for fearing us.
I also agree that when social climes change, most people will be right on board, and may not even know it. How many people in America completely hate Muslims? Maybe 90% I'm guessing. How many people know that it is thanks to Muslim scholars that we use the decimal system, or that much of the Greek culture lost in the Dark Ages was preserved? How many people know that going back as far as the Crusades, when Saladin defeated Richard III, he gave Christians free access to Jerusalem anyway? How many people know that the establishment of Israel in the 20th century was basically a rape of the Muslim population already living there? Maybe 10%.
And yet despite Muslims having killed thousands of people in recent history, and Christians many many millions, we feel perfectly comfortable both in fearing Muslims and condemning them for fearing us.
