Tom Friedman published a column in the New York Times on
September 19, 2012 under the title: “Look In Your Mirror.” This is a puzzling
piece of writing because the author advances two seemingly contradictory ideas
at the same time.
Discussing the protest that erupted in Egypt regarding the trailer of a film made in America for the
apparent purpose of insulting the Muslim Prophet, Tom Friedman says that he
lived and worked in the Muslim world which means he understands it. He then
says he has a problem with a sign that was held by a demonstrator which read:
“We never insult any prophet – not Moses, not Jesus.”
He goes on to explain the nature of his problem by giving
examples in the form of links to several video clips. When you view these clips
you realize that the real problem is not the sign that Friedman saw; it was
Friedman himself. It is that not one of these examples shows any Muslim,
anywhere in the world insulting the Prophet of Judaism or that of Christianity;
the two religions besides Islam recognized by them as being divine religions.
For him to say he understands the Muslim world then say he
has a problem with a sign held by a demonstrator, the message of which proves
to be corroborated by the links he provides, says there is something wrong with
his understanding of reality. Not only that but if he – who is supposedly one
of the most knowledgeable American journalist on Arab and Muslim matters – can
be confused to this extent, it means that the entire Middle Eastern frame of
reference inside of which the American media and political setup operate, is
hopelessly out of whack and seriously dysfunctional.
In fact, there were other signs held by the demonstrators
that explained the anger of these people. The formulation of these signs, such
as “Anything but the Prophet” made it clear that the Arabs, if not all Muslims,
would tolerate a great deal of attacks against them but that the limit of their
tolerance did not extend to insults hurled at their Prophet. This was their red
line; one that was deliberately crossed, in their judgment, as a way to signal
to them that something more ominous was in the offing.
It is that history has taught these people when this red
line is crossed, it means that America
is communicating to them it is still at war against Islam. Furthermore,
experience tells them that the next move will be for America 's leaders to look for and
find a flimsy pretext based on which they will rain bombs on yet another Muslim
country. And so, the demonstrators took it upon themselves to defy America , and
send a message of their own to its leaders to the effect that they are ready
and eager to have that fight.
If not insulting Moses or Jesus, what then is in the video
clips to which Tom Friedman is referring? Well, they are the kind of insults we
here tolerate when hurled against any religion or any ethnic group. In fact,
most of the insults in those clips were Muslim on Muslim attacks more than
anything else. There might have been one reference to Jews as being an ethnic
group, not even as being a religious group.
And there was one reference to Iraqi Christians uttered by
an angry someone in the middle of a savage war of Abu Ghraib proportions, a war
he views as being heaped on him and his family by Christian America. Is Tom
Friedman moaning about this? Could he not put himself in the shoes of this poor
bugger, and understand what he was going through?
Friedman ends his column by talking about hate speech, and I
have a message for him: Hear me well, Tom, the hate I sometimes see expressed
by a single Jew can be a million times more virulent than a million Muslims
spending a lifetime insulting someone. You know why? Because the Muslim will
want to get a temporary anger off his chest whereas the Jew will express the
wish that the whole world would burn so that he may become king. And this is
why the Jews often end up in the oven, not the Christians or the Muslims.
Look in your own mirror, mister, and leave the Muslims alone. They know
how to conduct themselves when those around them conduct themselves in a
civilized manner.
They have many friends in this world; you have none.