I laughed out loud when I read this

and it captures the ignorance bred by hatred so well. While the current anti-Islamic/anti-Muslim climate is alarming, people need to reminded of the good aspects of Islam and Middle Eastern culture. For example, a good deal of the ancient Greek classics, including much of Aristotle, were preserved in the East and translated into Arabic, before finding their way to Europe through Spain and other channels during the 12th-century Renaissance, and we still study such philosophers as Avicenna and Averroes in philosophy classes today. Christianity has a troubled history of intolerance of its own; I don't judge all Christians by that. There should be no throwing of stones in the name of religion regardless of the parties targeted or doing the destruction. We need to learn to work and live together despite our differences, as we are all human, and all share a home on Mother Earth.



You can follow this link to see various replies back and forth.

If you're not aware of what this was in response to, read: Schoolwork about Islam triggers backlash in Virginia county

A Virginia county closed all of its schools Friday because of intense backlash over a class assignment about Islam, with some parents alleging that their children were being subjected to Muslim indoctrination and educators emphasizing the importance of exposing U.S. students to the world’s fastest-growing religion.

A high school geography teacher in rural Augusta County asked students to try their hand at writing the shahada, an Islamic declaration of faith, in Arabic calligraphy. The task, community reaction to it, and a sudden influx of outrage from around the country — including angry emails, phone calls and threats to put the teacher’s head on a stake — led the school district to close rather than risk disruption or violence.

The county, in the Shenandoah valley west of Charlottesville, is the latest to wrestle with how Islam should be portrayed in the classroom and how students should learn about it. It’s a subject that has become increasingly fraught as concerns about Islamophobia have grown alongside fears of extremist violence and terrorism.

I would so have thrown this person out of our store, regardless of the consequences

[begin righteous indignation rant]
I was working with putting up cigarettes in the back room when my co-worker waited on an Hispanic man buying beer. He didn't hand her the money but rather put the it down on the counter and told her to get it. She put his change on the counter. He then told her he didn't like touching black people. He left before she could say anything, she was so shocked.

I was angry on her behalf. Nevermind the fact that my co-worker's mom is white, dad is black, with a Puerto Rican grandfather thrown in, too. All people of black African descent are black, even if it's a bit, right? No one had ever told her such a thing before. Also, as one of our other customers put it, even if you thought it, why say such a thing? I think it's wrong either way. What surprised my co-worker the most about it was that the man was Hispanic, another minority, but that didn't surprise me so much. Prejudice isn't something confined to WASPs, that's for sure.

I'd like to see what would have happened if he pulled that on our manager, who is biracial. My co-worker said that one of these days he's going to say something like that to the wrong black person. And whilst I do not condone racial violence, I think every racist deserves their comeuppance. Hmpf.
[end rant]

Apparently it wasn't just an isolated idea

Time magazine's Laura Blue offers a look into past remarks by James Watson, the Nobel Laureate and geneticist. Apparently he's made some remarks that were pretty out there throughout his life. The racist remarks for which he is currently being grilled over the coals for were made to a British newspaper; they caused such a furor that after several of his engagements were cancelled by those who had invited him to speak in promotion of his book Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science he cancelled the rest and returned home, where he's been suspended from administrative duties at his lab.

The Mortification of James Watson