LETTER TO SCMP
I was about to put metaphorical pen to paper, predicting that in the wake of the latest terrorist killings in Sweden we would soon have the usual gurus assuring us that jihadis have "nothing to do with Islam", that they have hijacked the "religion of peace" and so on.
I didn't have to wait long: you printed one such today. ("Jihadists doing true Muslims no favours", April 8). *
Shuntaro's effort is a classic "no true Scotsman fallacy". (Example: "Scotsmen don't eat cold porridge". "But Hamish eats cold porridge". "Well, Hamish is not a true Scotsman".)
By analogy: Muslims don't commit terror acts. But these Muslims carried out a terror act. Well, they aren't true Muslims. By definition.
It ought to be obvious that this is nonsense. But not to the likes of Shuntaro and his ilk. As a result they never have to explain explain how "such people [jihadis] are not real followers of Islam". They are simply not, by definition.
Another tactic in exonerating Islam is moral equivalence. Thus correspondent Bazarwala will say that non-Muslims are equally culpable.
("Christians and atheists can be misguided, too". March 4).
But Bazarwala should be careful about his sources. In support the "nearly four million citizens" allegedly killed by the US and its allies in the Middle East, he quotes the Centre for Research on Globalisation. This is an infamous "false facts" site that promotes conspiracy theories about 9-11, about vaccines and most recently about Syria's chemical attacks (they were false flag operations by the US and Jews -- didn't you know?). This outlet lacks all authority; a fascist/Kremlin funded propaganda site that should not be quoted. **
It would be wonderful to see Muslims and non-Muslims face up to the doctrinal aspects of Islam that motivate so many attacks of jihadi violence. If jihadis are misunderstanders of "true Islam", there are an awful lot of misunderstanders in the world!
Per contra Shuntaro bemoans Muslims who were inconvenienced (briefly) as a result of Trump's travel bans. Surely the sympathy would more properlybe directed to the victims of jihadi terror attacks.
Peter Forsythe
9 Siena One
Discovery Bay
Hong Kong
9308 0799
Sent from my iPhone
* https://www.google.com.hk/amp/m.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2085777/letters-editor-april-7-2017%3Famp%3D1
** https://www.quora.com/Journalistic-Ethics-and-Norms-How-legitimate-is-The-Centre-for-Global-Research
* https://www.google.com.hk/amp/m.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2085777/letters-editor-april-7-2017%3Famp%3D1
** https://www.quora.com/Journalistic-Ethics-and-Norms-How-legitimate-is-The-Centre-for-Global-Research
