Vicious Generalisations

Just have a browse through these few photographs. What is it that comes to mind?

Yes, indeed. These are all oppressed Muslim ladies who live in constant fear of being dragged off to a crowded football stadium where they will be executed by a single rifle shot...

Nonsense, isn’t it? These women are scholars, Aircraft Engineers, Senior Managers, Teachers, Maintenance people, Police Officers, Journalists.

Every one of them plays an active role in society; they all contribute to the economy through their skills and dedication to their task. They are, as one, independent, strong willed, competent, intelligent and often highly qualified.

They also have family to whom they are equally, if not more, dedicated.

What about these photographs, then?

Are they terrorists? Eager to do the ‘right thing’? They are all Muslims even if they are not quite as hairy as the ‘Duck Dynasty’ people!

No, they are Shopkeepers, Policemen, Aircraft Engineers, IT Specialists, Managers, Ground Equipment Engineers, Photographers.

Just like Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, et al, they are interested in earning a living, supporting their families and having a good life.

Just like Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, et al, they go to their Mosques, Temples, Synagogues, Churches and pray, quietly, to their God(s).

They do not assemble to concoct plans to overthrow anybody and turn the World into a death trap for others.

Apart from the Police Officers I know of nobody that possesses a gun and only one person who knows how to use one should they be given one. Indeed, given a matchbox-sized piece of plastique it is I who could do the most damage!

So what is it that they all have in common apart from being Muslims? They are all peaceful, law abiding people who get on well with their neighbours irrespective of the neighbours’ religion.

There are no arguments on the street or across boundary fences.

There are rarely arguments about anything anywhere.

There have been, recently, virulent statements made about sundry people.

Most of these comments are ill informed vituperations formed, one imagines, in the gut out of a sense of hatred. They do not, for certain, arise from a considered, researched basis of truth.

Quote: “All Muslims should eat sh*t and die.”

Note: ‘All’.

Please refer to the photographs above and see, again, the people that you wish to consign to an early grave.

Do you really imagine that these innocent people deserve to die at all—let alone some horrible, slow, painful death?

I have said before that if you are a writer or an author, you need to get your facts and ensure that they are correct.

Believing everything that you see on the Internet is not a sure way of obtaining facts any more than reading newspapers.

Journalists have a duty of care to tell the truth—whether they like it or not. Often they do not.

You have a duty of care to ensure that what you write is truth—whether you like it or not.

Writing does not apply only to fiction or learned tracts; it applies to you who write on ‘Facebook’ or ‘Twitter’. If you write, anywhere, you have a responsibility to everyone else.

If you are stating an opinion it is a good idea to justify that opinion and not just say, “Tomatoes are hazardous to health and should not be eaten off pewter plates*,” without a justification.

We are, as one, very quick to generalise and point fingers. It is a way of bolstering our own inadequacies. Surely, showing someone else up in a bad light is the most effective way of demonstrating our own higher qualities. Sadly, extinguishing another person’s light does not make our light burn any brighter.

Kind words are more effective.

Stay positive: I will not attend an ‘Anti-War Rally’ but I will go to a ‘Peace Rally’.

*In the Middle Ages those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.