Apples And Rotten Oranges

I was a bit dismayed today (although not surprised) when I read a Facebook post suggesting the U.S. not consider accepting any Muslim refugees. It did bring a wry smile to my face for many reasons, including but not limited to:

1. What would Jesus (pbuh) do? What would Thomas Jefferson do? Did they miss the whole religious freedom thing?
2. Do the posters of these things ever think they will be hosting or put out by a refugee?
3. Does trick or treating for UNICEF once upon a time satisfy their global philanthropic responsibilities?
4. Do they think that Muslims discriminate in the same way they wish to?
5. Are these people who post this stuff about the greatness of America really think they have contributed to this perceived greatness? For example, most people I know who have seen real military action, or who have been in war zones, realize just how many innocent people are carried away by political issues, and would not callously toss away their welfare. 

For the sake of brevity, my blood pressure, and somehow connecting the title of this blog to its content, I will address the fourth question listed above. My supposition here is that these people have perceptions of Muslims that are negative and wish to reciprocate in kind. No thought then of the fourth grade when they were to have learned that actions were right or wrong regardless of who displayed them or who got away with them. In other words, a Christian reciprocates a Muslim's behavior, regardless of the virtue of the act or the rarity thereof. If they believe Muslims don't offer charity to non-Muslims, then they as Christians do not offer charity to Muslims. The critical question becomes "who is defining their Christian faith?" These folks are taking a wretched minority of Muslims and justifying their actions in reciprocation. Rotten oranges to rotten oranges.

I lived and worked in a Muslim refugee camp for two years. I have worked for five more years in refugee camps in the Middle East and Africa. In all cases, there were no prohibitions on who was granted sanctuary other than genuine need and desperation. It is hard to know how to penetrate such ignorance, especially when they get messages in their own redneck genres - I am referring to the movie Lone Survivor, where the American protagonist is saved by a Muslim community that is honor bound to protect strangers, no matter what faith or creed. None of these people who post these abhorrent ideas have spent much time with Muslims (I suspect strongly), for the thousands of Muslim folks I have interacted with all over the world aren't as intolerant as these Facebook fascists.

Finally, it is interesting that the internet hasn't broadened our knowledge or opened our horizons - it has instead shrunk the world, uniting various knuckleheads giving them an artificially inflated sense of community. Maybe it is time to get our of our garages, basements, and parent's houses and see how the world actually works.