Merle Kessler makes you laugh at Unitarianism's blandness; at the same time he gently treads on the toes of extremists, in this case, Muslim extremists.
His zingers hit the mark, he's consistently inoffensive, but in the boiling-point climate of world-views at war, both internationally and domestically, he manages to tell the truth without wounding.
In the tradition of Mark Twain, Will Rogers, H.L. Mencken.
I had quite a few problems with this piece.
First of all, it seems that the producer chose to give it a triple speed delivery rather than edit down his script which I personally think was the wrong thing to do. He barely pauses for breath as he dusts off the usual cliches - because of course its about Islam - so phrases such as fasting, jihads, muslim extremists are de rigeur.
I'm not a Muslim, or in fact allied with any particular relgion, but I found this little essay as offensive as most people would if one substituted the words Muslim for, say, Jew.
If the writer's point was to say that religion should be replaced by a secular New Left vision because then the world would be a better place, he needs to let us know that he really doesn't believe that its only Muslims who blow up things and that although fundamentalists of ALL religions are dangerous, they really only consitute a small percentage of believers.
By the way its not Islam that believes in an "angry God" - that would be the Old Testament. Islam believes in an all forgiving God who wants all people to be treated the same (fundamentalist interpretations aside.
Haven't we had enough cliches and jokes about Islam? This is a frightening time for us all - and we as broadcasters need to promote understanding between different groups, not re hash old misperceptions in the pursuit of filling in a slot. I'm not saying there's no place for humour, or even that humour always has to be PC. But surely humour lies in the unexpected insight rather than the same old sludge.
unitarian church - whaat?
- usual cliche.
do you know any muslims
"unitarians don't blow anybody up" meaning that only Muslims do?
Comments for Towards a bland Islam
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2 comments
Rev. Heng Sure
Posted on December 02, 2004 at 09:56 AM | Permalink
Review of Towards a Bland Islam
Merle Kessler makes you laugh at Unitarianism's blandness; at the same time he gently treads on the toes of extremists, in this case, Muslim extremists.
His zingers hit the mark, he's consistently inoffensive, but in the boiling-point climate of world-views at war, both internationally and domestically, he manages to tell the truth without wounding.
In the tradition of Mark Twain, Will Rogers, H.L. Mencken.
Dheera Sujan
Posted on November 30, 2004 at 12:24 AM | Permalink
Review of Towards a bland Islam
I had quite a few problems with this piece.
First of all, it seems that the producer chose to give it a triple speed delivery rather than edit down his script which I personally think was the wrong thing to do. He barely pauses for breath as he dusts off the usual cliches - because of course its about Islam - so phrases such as fasting, jihads, muslim extremists are de rigeur.
I'm not a Muslim, or in fact allied with any particular relgion, but I found this little essay as offensive as most people would if one substituted the words Muslim for, say, Jew.
If the writer's point was to say that religion should be replaced by a secular New Left vision because then the world would be a better place, he needs to let us know that he really doesn't believe that its only Muslims who blow up things and that although fundamentalists of ALL religions are dangerous, they really only consitute a small percentage of believers.
By the way its not Islam that believes in an "angry God" - that would be the Old Testament. Islam believes in an all forgiving God who wants all people to be treated the same (fundamentalist interpretations aside.
Haven't we had enough cliches and jokes about Islam? This is a frightening time for us all - and we as broadcasters need to promote understanding between different groups, not re hash old misperceptions in the pursuit of filling in a slot. I'm not saying there's no place for humour, or even that humour always has to be PC. But surely humour lies in the unexpected insight rather than the same old sludge.
unitarian church - whaat?
- usual cliche.
do you know any muslims
"unitarians don't blow anybody up" meaning that only Muslims do?