*sighs*
My only intention was to point out that people were taking the words of others too seriously and too literally. In a thread that is sarcastically entitled "Islam is a peaceful religion", people are going to say bad things about Islam and Muslims in very general terms. It's called casual conversation.
If the news on TV says "23 people were killed today when a car bomb exploded in downtown Bagdad"... I might say, "Gah. I hate Muslims!" That does not make me a bigot, because I do not mean it that way. And I certainly do not mean it literally. If someone heard me say that and got all self-righteous about how wrong it is to make generalizations and comments that express a stereotype, I would accuse them of taking things too seriously. Seriously.
Sweeping generalizations, stereotyping, bigotry, hatred... etc... are wrong. I agree. My original point was that no one was necessarily guilty of those things in this thread and that people should stop taking things so literally. It's not a formal debate.
Consider this: Snap judgments are rarely correct. And, it can be argued, as wrong as generalizing.
I had hoped to encourage you guys to stop arguing about it, but I neglected to realize that arguing is exactly what you want to do. I really have nothing else to say on the topic.
My only intention was to point out that people were taking the words of others too seriously and too literally. In a thread that is sarcastically entitled "Islam is a peaceful religion", people are going to say bad things about Islam and Muslims in very general terms. It's called casual conversation.
If the news on TV says "23 people were killed today when a car bomb exploded in downtown Bagdad"... I might say, "Gah. I hate Muslims!" That does not make me a bigot, because I do not mean it that way. And I certainly do not mean it literally. If someone heard me say that and got all self-righteous about how wrong it is to make generalizations and comments that express a stereotype, I would accuse them of taking things too seriously. Seriously.
Sweeping generalizations, stereotyping, bigotry, hatred... etc... are wrong. I agree. My original point was that no one was necessarily guilty of those things in this thread and that people should stop taking things so literally. It's not a formal debate.
Consider this: Snap judgments are rarely correct. And, it can be argued, as wrong as generalizing.
I had hoped to encourage you guys to stop arguing about it, but I neglected to realize that arguing is exactly what you want to do. I really have nothing else to say on the topic.
