We’re all prone to the use of sweeping generalisations. They come in very handy when cutting down an essay after the word limit has loomed up and then flashed by. But it’s during debate that the sweeping generalisation really gets to stretch its legs. And, in particular, in internet debates.
Since the gair rhydd allowed comments to be made on all of its articles a few weeks ago, the debate online has been varied, vociferous and – if nothing else – entertaining. The anonymity of the internet frees people up to say what they really think – something that all too rarely happens nowadays – and, as such, the comments on our website run the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous – sometimes encompassing both.
Unsurprisingly, it has been the stories on the subject of Islam – the desire for a prayer room and the promotion of Islamic Awareness Week – that have spawned the most comments. There’s a lot of rage in cyberspace.
However, it was all very different at the Q & A session, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Islam But Were Afraid To Ask, at the Wallace Lecture Theatre last Wednesday. After a brief presentation on the basics of Islam, emphasising its peaceful attributes, questions were taken from the floor. The silence from dissenters was deafening – the closest that any rhetoric came to criticism was the mild suggestion that the fact that Islamic women wear loose fitting clothing was down to societal flaws.
The reason for the lack of ire on display can, perhaps, be garnered from the reaction of a friend of mine when I mentioned that I was going to the event. “Don’t say anything,” she said, knowing of my antitheistic ways. “You’ll make some comment and get into loads of trouble.”
There is a real climate of fear regarding speaking out against religion and, particularly, Islam. The cartoons debacle of last year – particularly up here in gair rhydd towers – has coerced critics of religion into a sulky silence. But it is imperative that we do not allow fear – and an unreasonable fear at that – to smother our right to free speech.
I am an atheist. I find the belief in a deity of any kind – be it God, Allah, Yahweh or Zeus – utterly irrational and groundless. I do not believe that Muslims or religious people of any faith would wish to do me harm if I voiced all of the (many) disagreements I might have with their beliefs. But a tiny, tiny minority of Muslims might – just might – and it is this extreme minority that many people are ignorantly using to extrapolate their perception of the Muslim community as a whole. It’s not Islamophobia; it’s just stupidity, and it needs to be stopped. It should go without saying that the vast majority of Muslims, like the vast majority of the global population, are peaceful, friendly people who find violence repellent.
However, multiculturalism is never going to work if those of every religious and political belief do not feel able to engage in an open, honest and frank discussion. There are issues that desperately need addressing.
Personally, I’d like to discuss such topics as the dangerous subjectivity of the concept of Jihad and what can be done to ensure extremist readings of it are not allowed to flourish; the media’s propagation of only the negative aspects of Islam; and the best ways to reconcile our different beliefs in order to promote a tolerant and integrated society. Other individuals will have different, perhaps more invidious concerns; all should be viable for debate.
It might not be pretty, and it will be difficult. But a real debate is greatly preferable to segregated communities mumbling away their indignation and allowing prejudices and ignorance to fester. Nobody should be too frightened to voice their concerns. Free speech is freedom to offend, and everyone must be prepared to be offended if we are ever to make any progress in ending the divisions between our different communities. Effort and concessions are required from all.
Until this happens, you could do a lot worse than logging on to www.gairrhydd.com and joining the fray. It’s badly punctuated, badly spelt, and often badly argued, but amid the WHOLLY UNNECESSARY capital letters and bizarre tangential rants there are some excellent points, and at the moment it’s the closest we’ve got to a proper debate.
