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today: IDEAS ON WESTERN TOLERANCE Elsa's Creativity Space - Update Something has been brewing in me over the past couple of years: my ideas on Western tolerance and the intolerant sides of Islam. In writing to you about this, I'm going out on a limb more than in anything else I've done. When it comes to writing, or even saying, anything not 100% positive about the Muslim religion, I've felt a sense of threat. Anger. Rage. And even the threat of violence. If you don't like my poetry or music, or my ideas about dogs, there's no threat. I'm a college prof, teaching subjects such as valuing diversity - which also means exploring which diversities one might legitimately not value. Both Muslim and non-Muslim students have their antennae out for anything that could be seen as remotely critical of the Muslim religion. Almost unanimously they hold: One must never offend a religion. One must be tolerant of everything. One must not judge. That's not my position. My position: it's vital to get all the information possible, and to think as clearly and as well as possible. Not thinking clearly and well - for me, that's a major weakness. If you're Muslim, I'd especially like you to listen, really listen. Maybe you already agree with much of what I'll be saying; maybe not. I'd like you to think it over. That goes for everyone else as well, whatever your religion or non-religion. I'll say a bit more. But in case you're impatient to have a look at my ideas, here's the link to Islam and Western tolerance, seen through my curious eyes. Over the past few years, I've found myself repeatedly paying attention to Islam. The huge fuss about the Danish cartoon triggered me to start writing. It didn't make sense to me that Muslims were protesting en masse against this small cartoon instead of, say, the genital mutilation of 75,000,000 Muslim women, the thousands of Muslims murdered by other Muslims, etc. The exploration of Islam tied in with another ongoing exploration: of something about the West that I see as a major weakness - the widespread negativity about critical thinking. I've seen this over and over in students - for example, in a rigid refusal to explore. All opinions are equal, most hold, despite huge evidence to the contrary. My two interests came together, as I found I was not supposed to be thinking about Islam. Once again, here's my exploration of the tolerant West and the intolerant sides of Islam. I'd love to have you come along on my journey, and also to comment. As always, all the best, Elsa P.S. Now that this project has been completed, I'm back to music. Much more on that, in the not-too-distant future. ____________ _________________
_________________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch. MORE RECENT March 29, 2010 March 22, 2010 March 20, 2010 August 20, 2009 August 12, 2009 June 23, 2009 June 4, 2009 April 27, 2009 March 30, 2009 December 6, 2008 July 6,
2008 May 26, 2008 April 20, 2008 December 28, 2007 October 20, 2007 September 30, 2007 September 23, 2007 September 16, 2007 August 7, 2007 July 8, 2007 May 20, 2007 Apr 9, 07 _________________________________________________________________________ Welcome to Elsa's Creativity Space "New! Elsas Creativity Space Update explores:
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