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Moroccans Speak Out Against Extremists [Your Middle East]
Moroccans speaking out against extremism:
It is not uncommon to hear pundits complain that the Muslim-in-the-souk is not sufficiently concerned with what is being done by extremists in the name of Islam, their religion. While President Obama and other leaders in the US and abroad make efforts to distinguish between Islam the religion and those who distort Islamic principles to justify their heinous acts, most Americans remain woefully uninformed and misinformed about how Muslims feel about those who claim that their political agenda represents Islam.
THERE ARE THREE great offenders distorting Islam – media, politicians, and extremists. In the media and for a number of political voices, there are those who distort Islam for political point-making, to reinforce longstanding negative stereotypes and judgments that ignore the diversity and intelligence of the global Muslim community. In the US, Bill Maher’s tirade against Islam is the most obvious recent example on the left, along with Pamela Geller’s long-standing diatribes from the right.
While it is not necessary to enumerate elected representatives on the local, state, and national level who seem to be preoccupied with linking Islam to most of the world’s ills, including the Ebola virus, the challenge is that their negative perceptions are deep-rooted and visceral, and they seem to have little interest in dialogue. It is this lack of public interest in greater understanding and awareness that feeds into the game of the extremists and radicals who want nothing less than separation between their distorted version of Islam and the rest of the civilized world. Their choice of dramatic and hateful crimes against innocent civilians is clearly meant to demonstrate that their fanaticism has no limits and is immune to humanitarian appeals…[Your Middle East]
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