Thinking Critically

Hey all,

So I finally decided to put my profile picture up again. I don't think I am writing anything here that would provoke people into getting up, creating huge banners and marching down in protest about anything! I know I am in a sensitive area where certain topics can inflame anyone. Sure, if I go to a public place, like a mall or a msoque, and raise my concerns, I could get into trouble for being so vocal about my ideas. But, I am not doing that, and whatever it is that goes on here in Life of Mansur is personal to me.

Abeer Mishkhas of Arab News, writes about how intolerant some people can be when confronted with something they have not been used to listening to. A certain preacher in a mosque was talking about how drums are not forbidden. One intolerant person took out his knife and threatened the preacher. People like the guy who took out the knife get upset when his idea, which had been fed into his mind since he was kid, is challenged. Whatever happened to dialogue and debate? Whatever happened to tolerance? Whatever happened to respect to other people's opinions and ideas? If you want to be taken seriously, then you have to take other people seriously too!

The key idea that Ms. Mishkhas points out the following things:

"First, there is only one opinion in Saudi Arabia and no such thing as a difference of opinion can exist. Second, to reject an opposing opinion in a violent way is becoming a trend. Third and last: the intolerance we have taught and propagated has now developed and seeks to dominate."

"The fault is at least partly — even perhaps totally — with society. We live now in a society that does not accept “the other.” We live in a society that, for the most part, believes uncritically that there is only one possible opinion and that to say or think or write something different is wrong and even worse, should not be tolerated but should be punished. Those young men were the products of this teaching; they have been taught that there is only one opinion and no other is possible. Thus, to reject a different opinion becomes, in their minds, the right, the only thing to do."

"We must look back at Islamic history and see how it was full of different groups and sects and how in religion, there are different mazahib — schools of thought. That is sadly only in our history; when it comes to our modern reality, people are too lazy or too ignorant or too stubborn to entertain more than one opinion. What this will inevitably produce is plain to see. What this will inevitably produce is not an open and tolerant society."

I, for one, am thankful for the freedom of press here, as well as for the freedom to blog.

Mansur