Vast majority of Muslims good, decent...

Letter to Gazette Editor:

Editor:

Your editorial of Jan. 28 titled "Disgusting Holocaust denial" cites the erroneous example of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "Muslim Arab" leader. He is in fact not an Arab. The Persian people are distinct from their Arab neighbors and do not self-identify as Arabs. The Persian heritage is one of a rich and progressive civilization.

Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are abhorrent concepts that no sane individual should subscribe to. The Holocaust remains an immortal teardrop on the face of humanity. Dishonest politicians and fanatical theologians who deny the Holocaust and spout hatred are not in sync with the vast majority of the Muslim world and are not representatives of Islam.

Muslims are required to believe in the word of God as revealed unto Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad (peace be upon them). I urge you to exercise greater editorial discretion so as not to treat the Muslim world as a monolith. The vast majority of the Muslim world lives in non-Arab countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. I further implore you to not ascribe the virulent anti-Semitism of a few politicians or clerics to the beliefs of hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide.

Faisal Khan, MD, MPH

Charleston

There is an extremist fringe in the Muslim religion, just as there are extremist wackos in the Christian religion.

Or any other religion.

Muslims, Christians, and Jews are all the seed of Abraham.

They may be good and decent but they aren't much for speaking out about it...

Well the writer of that was speaking out and he is well respected.

Wouldn't that meet, head-on as it were, your definition of "anecdotal"?

Maybe. Although it is "documented".

I see but why are we speaking with the "quotation marks"?

Well it is sort of documented in that it has a name to attribute it to.

However I am only assuming that he is actually the writer.

I think it is a pretty safe assumption, but an assumption nevertheless.

What do you mean by "assumption"?

It means I think he wrote it.

I am pretty sure he wrote it.

I am confident he wrote it.

But I have no first hand verification.

I am mostly "goofing" on you. Why? Because I can.

I am too easy sometimes...

Sometimes I find you peculiarly hard-headed.

That's funny.

My counselor says I should stick up for myself more and quit letting people take advantage of me...

You mean he wants you to be more like me???

Maybe you come here for therapeutic reasons - you have the anonymity thing going on and can't read the body language to modify your own reactions.

I can't see where you fail to stick up for yourself. In fact, I think you stick up for yourself when you'd be better off letting it slide...

Hmm, he's right: if you followed what your counsellor said you'd be Aaron!