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Originally Posted by Thor
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I'm curious, besides the issue of race here which you imply is my problem, do you think the beliefs of Islam work well in a democratic society if followed devotionally as a devout Muslim would.
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First of all, racism isn't simply a personal problem but also a structural issue of concrete and discursive practices. I don't have any reason to doubt that you have no deep emotional animosity towards any particular group of people, but that does not mean you're not engaged in a racist practice when you do your best to sustain and disseminate racist generalizations.
I know from studying Islam and from personal experience that there is no reason why a devout muslim can't live in a democratic society just as well as a devout christian or jew can. And I have to say that it's pretty sad that things like that even need to be said. Don't allow extremist views from either side to set the parameters of the discussion. You can find out for yourself by talking to people.
The real problem is that a lot of people work very vigorously to make it so that the west equates Islam with barbarism and muslims associate western democracies with war and racist intolerance. That's the plan and it's depressing how many are willing to play along.
Our wonderful tolerant democracies don't necessarily look so great from the point of view of an immigrant who has to deal with daily racism and relentless demonization in the media or from the point of view of someone in the Middle East living under a constant threat of our wonderful tolerant democratic wars. Make no mistake about it, we do look like total hypocrites.