deergirl, come back home

The other day I came to compare Indonesia's youth to America's youth. Today I'm here to defend the religion of Islam.

As most of us know by now, there were terrorist attacks on Paris several hours ago that left over 100 people dead. I've purposely stayed away from Twitter today because I don't want to see any tweets bashing Islam or Muslims--I know if I do I'll get super duper angry. I am not Muslim--I'm a nondenominational Christian (which is just a big word to say, I don't follow a specific sect of Christianity). But seeing a beautiful and rich religion being used as justification for hate and hate and more hate makes me upset. And seeing the evil atrocities of IS used as justification for even more hate than I thought possible breaks my damn heart.

Earlier today I made a LINE post exhorting people to stop using the attacks as justification to hate or look down upon other religions. (In essence, don't be a self-confirming idiot). Someone responded to my LINE post. I'm going to take this time to respond to that person and add some more points. So, let's delve into this post and add some more commentary for you sweet readers to enjoy on a Saturday night!

[[Di beberapa poin gue setuju dan di beberapa poin juga gue ga setuju.

- "Terrorism is the product of hate-filled people, not of a religion or an ethnic group."

Terorisme eksis dikarenakan adanya ideologi dan kepentingan politik suatu kelompok. Ideologi itu sumber dari gerakan-gerakan terorisme, apalagi kalo ideologi tersebut mengharuskan para penganutnya untuk melakukan itu. Analoginya sama kaya gue beli action figure yang ngerakit sendiri, terus gue ngikutin cara ngerakit dari guidebook yang banyak errornya. Menurut lo, yang lebih salah si guidebook atau gue?]]

FIRST, [the popularity of terrorism] and [the existence of ideology] are in no way related. People don't read a Koran and think, "wow, now I'm going to be a terrorist." Just as people use the Bible to fuel their own selfish hate, some people may read the Koran to fuel their hate.

SECOND. There has never been a moment when terrorism was "popular" on this planet. Terrorism is committed by a very vocal minority who are grabbing all the airspace.

THIRD: do not trust the media. I mean, just take a look at American media. Six major companies own 90% of the information that is reaching your eyes and your head. This is why critical analysis is a very, very important skill to have.

FOUR: this segment equates the "ideology of Islam" to a faulty guidebook that has many errors. I think you're implying that the Koran's faults are in its supposed violence. So. Have you read the Koran? Or are you simply reading Internet articles that say "ISLAM IS SO VIOLENT AND PROMOTES HOLY WARS"? Picking and choosing 2 sentences out of the Koran and judging the entire religion based on those 2 sentences would be like trying to understand one Harry Potter book with 2 sentences out of the whole book. The religion of Islam has never required its adherents to become terrorists or forcefully convert others. Read some articles by Islam professors and take a moment to read the Koran before jumping to the worst conclusion. What happened to giving people the benefit of the doubt? Give Islam and the Koran and your fellow people a chance.

FIVE: are you forgetting the atrocities committed by Christian and Catholic extremists? Think about American slavery, the Inquisition, and the 200-year-long Crusades. I stand by my original statement: terrorism is a product of hate-filled people, not hate-filled religions. Humans are very good at self-justification, and it's despicable that IS is twisting the Islamic religion into justification for their crimes against humanity.

SIX: if you as a person with access to the Internet and education in the 21st century are still using the excuse, "they made me do it," or "I was just following the leader", then you might need to sit down for a while. Allah and Islam do not force others to kill. PEOPLE force others to kill. PEOPLE feed mothers their cut-up sons. PEOPLE hold guns to prisoners' heads and make those prisoners kill others. We as humans are born with the power to make decisions. PEOPLE take away that power, not Allah.

Seventh: there is a huge difference between the religion of Islam and the ideology of Islam, just as there is a difference between the religion of Christianity and the ideology of Christianity. Ideology in any form, extremism in any form: they are sinister because they do not allow for opposing viewpoints.

[["Don't turn a tragedy into a tool to further your hatred of other people"

Yep, gue sangat setuju sama ini. Tapi kita ga bisa salahin orang-orang yang kesal sama si pelaku juga, orang kesal itu wajar kok. Gak semua orang bisa menyikapi semua hal dengan bijak dan kita harus mengerti akan hal itu. Apalagi kalo tragedinya sebesar ini. Selama semua itu hanya sebatas ide, ga ada masalah. "A half-baked idea is okay as long as it's in the oven."]]

I won't add much to this because for the most point it is a reasonable statement. People can be angry at terrorists. People can be angry at the atrocities committed today and every single day by hate-filled people. Note how I am saying people can be angry at TERRORISTS and at ATROCITIES. But even though a fear/anger of Muslims is understandable, does that make the fear/anger acceptable or tolerable?

- "I'm sick of hearing bigoted, close-minded Americans (and other whites) saying that this is all Muslims' fault."

Kita juga gak bisa nyalahin orang-orang yang langsung bilang "Ah palingan juga ini kelakuan Muslim lagi" karena opini mereka juga disebabkan oleh beberapa hal yang masuk akal. Kenapa masuk akal? Karena menurut data pun mayoritas aksi terorisme itu sebagian besar dilakukan oleh Muslim. Misal menurut data dari National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) tahun 2011; "The report says that in 2011, a total of 10,283 terrorism attacks across the world killed 12,533 people. Sunni Muslim terrorists committed “about 70 percent” of the 12,533 terrorist murders. Terrorism also is blamed for 25,903 injuries and 5,554 kidnappings."

This is where I start to have an issue again. No, I don't blame people for their ignorance. I don't blame people who have been taught all their lives to fear Islam and fear Muslims. It's natural that they're conditioned to hate Muslims or blame them for every act of terrorism. Thanks, Bush-era propaganda. Swell job you did polarizing the world.

Hmm. I won't argue with the data because it's from the NCTC and that's a reliable national organization (although the  US government is minimally reliable). But even then: have you considered that the most victims of terrorism are also Muslims? So then what's your point? Have you considered the fact that there are wars going on in regions you don't think about? According to this same organization, the countries being hit the hardest by terrorists are Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Somalia. Four of these countries are predominantly Muslim.

When Americans and other whites jump to blame "Muslims", they refer to the entire Muslim religion and condemn every Muslim person in the world. I know, because I've been in a heavily anti-Muslim community. It runs deep. But these atrocities are committed by extremists who are Muslim, NOT by the Muslim world or the religion of Islam. Again: these acts of terror are produced by hate-filled people who conveniently use their "religion" as a reason to destroy. These acts of terror are NOT produced by a people or a religion. Muslim people do not somehow manufacture terrorism.

[["To everyone saying that the Paris attacks are proof that Muslims are "evil": people are dying and all you can do is spread more hate and suffering? You know nothing about their religion."

Gue setuju, jangan langsung loncat ke konklusi dengan premis yang lemah, nanti jatuhnya malah ke generalisasi tidak sempurna.
Dan 1 hal lagi, penganut agama Islam tentunya ga semua jahat, gue punya banyak temen Muslim dan mereka semua baik.
Tapi mereka (penganut agama Islam) punya potensi untuk melakukan hal-hal yang jahat. Bukan karena mereka ingin melakukan hal jahat, tetapi mereka diwajibkan untuk melakukan hal-hal yang jahat.
Kita harus mengenal perintah-perintah Islam lebih jauh dan mahzab-mahzab yang ada di dalamnya.]]

What even is this argument? The Muslims have potential to do evil things? So do I? On the outside I am a good little Christian girl. But I have the potential to do something evil too! Hello? I could, say, take a knife and start stabbing people in the name of Jesus! That means I'm crazy, not that Jesus is crazy! Every single f*cking human on the planet has the potential to do evil things, so STOP before you go any further and STOP singling out a single group of people! Thank you! And "because they are required to do so"? I'm bug-eyed in disbelief. Refer back to point 4 above.

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My commentary: man, I stayed away from Twitter to stay away from this casual justification of Islam-focused anger. There is a difference between [extremists who abuse the name of Allah] and [people who believe in Islam]. It makes me so sick and so sad. There's no point in figuring out who's to blame. It's more time-efficient to ask the French what we can do to help and to raise the voices of the huge majority of Muslims who would never in their lives dream of hurting anyone or forcing Islam onto a non-Muslim. Don't make hasty generalizations and don't stereotype. Don't give people a reason to stereotype by saying, "well, it's understandable that they'd be angry at Muslims." All bigots will hear when you say that is "it's okay to be angry" and stop there. Think about the Parisians. Think about the Muslim world, who is hurting every day because of terrorists who use the name of Islam/Allah to kill. Think about the Palestinians, and the Rohingya, and the Iraqi, and the Afghans and the Syrians. Think about the pain they have endured. They, too, are aware of the caustic, heartbreaking pain of mindless violence. We as citizens of the world need to unite not only for Paris but for each other, in America, in Beirut, Yemen, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, etc. Muslims are humans too. We are all human, and we need to stop defending hate and anger and instead spread love, acceptance, and forgiveness.

Have a blessed night and stay safe.