But as Peter Parker's Uncle Ben once said (not to be confused with the rice guy) "With great power comes great responsibility". So if one is blessed with a mind like mine one feels a responsibility to use it to solve all of the world's great problems. You're welcome.
And so to the point. There has been a great deal of talk of late, in the UK in particular, about Islam. It has come on the back of the horrific killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich on May 22 and while healthy discussion and debate is a good thing, the rhetoric that has been banded about has been far from good. If you are a reader of the Daily Mail you will know what I mean but unfortunately if you are a reader of the Daily Mail it may already be too late for you!
I haven't been completely silent however, I posted the following on my Facebook at the time:
"It never ceases to amaze me how hatred and violence just leads to further hatred and violence. The race that has been responsible for the most terrorism, aggression and evil on this planet is mankind and if you're looking for someone to blame, blame them.
Religion is a convenient mask that is used to somehow justify some of the terrible, horrible acts that mankind is guilty of but it's not the only one. In the last few days I've seen the events in Woolwich used to justify some pretty dark and hateful views by otherwise sane and rational friends. I've seen "send them home", "bring back the death penalty" "ban Islam and convert them to Christianity" and various other extremist views disguised as patriotism and debate.
The EDL, whos slogan is "an inclusive movement dedicated to peacefully protesting against Islamic extremism" used Woolwich as an excuse to throw rocks at Mosques and policemen, the KKK use Jesus as an excuse to tie black people to the back of trucks and who the hell knows why a white man stabbed a 75 year old Muslim in the back 2 weeks ago in Birmingham!?
It's OK to be scared and its OK to be angry but if we give up our morality and our values in the face of terrorism then we've already lost.
One of the men who claimed to have murdered Lee Rigby in the name of Islam quoted the bible as he did so, this was not the actions of a Muslim, it was the actions of a mad man. Don't let his madness spread to the rest of us.
We are better than them because we accept more than one idea, more than one way of life, more than one point of view. We respect other cultures even if we don't understand them and we welcome them to join ours and as long as we keep doing that the terrorists will NEVER win."
Of course the advantage of posting this on Facebook is that I know that people will see it and indeed there were many comments, likes and a few shares at the time. Some of the comments were supportive and helpful, others were not. The problem though is that I have absolutely no idea who, if anyone, ever reads this blog. It doesn't really matter as it's just a place for me to get things off my chest but in the case of the above I wanted to say something and wanted it to be heard.
Since writing this things haven't really moved on. We are still seeing mosques and innocent Muslims being attacked and although the family of Drummer Lee Rigby have publicly called for calmer heads to prevail and asked that no retaliatory attacks are carried out in his name, they continue nonetheless. To be honest the point I made above is that the people carrying out the retaliatory attacks in his name are really only using it as an excuse for starting a fight. If it wasn't religion it would be football. If it wasn't football it would be whether you shop in Homebase or B&Q. The neanderthals with big foreheads and half a brain cell each will always find something to fight about.
But as the trial of the 2 accused loonies continues it is increasingly apparent from their erratic behavior in court that they are indeed insane and did not carry out this horrible murder in the name of Islam but simply because they are mad.
So if calmer heads are available please let them prevail and let us try and put the horror behind us and work towards a peaceful future. I don't believe in God but I have no quarrel with those who do, be it Jehovah, Allah, Lakshmi or Zeus. If religion is used as a set of values that help you to lead a moral life them by all means fill your boots. It should not be used to excuse violence or intolerance ever and to use it in this way is to completely misinterpret it.
But there is hope. Just take a look at this amazing story.
I'm sure the debate will rage on and hopefully in time the current bout of Islamaphobia will die down (for those of us who do not take our moral guidance from the Daily Mail) but in the meantime let's all agree on one thing. B&Q is better than Homebase (in my humble opinion).
