[thechat] Why?

[Erika Meyer]

Tony C  wrote (in response to Syed):

>Seems to me, your point is this:
>
>USA is Evil, Islam is Good.

I admit I was skimming most of this but my impression is that Syed is 
simply terribly bothered by hypocrisy, which IMHO is not such a 
terrible thing.

I've never been a big fan of St. Paul, but he had a few gems.
"You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? -Romans 2:21 "

I'm not sure why Islam got dragged into the discussion.  Almost seems 
like since Syed holds it up so visually as his religion, someone 
chose to grab it and beat him with it, as if it were a bludgeon.

>If you're going to continue with such black and white thinking, you will
>find yourself ignored by everyone on this list.

except me.

I think there were some accusations of "immature" flying about.  Hey, 
since we've brought religion in, remember how Jesus said "let the 
children come to me"?

Children (who are by nature immature) often have a purer view on 
things than adults jaded by rationalizations and other complexities. 
Children often recognize and question hypocrisy while adults grow so 
accustomed to it, they forget how offensive it can be.

>Can you see that some followers of Islam can be evil and some Americans
>can be good?

Syed has said many nice things about me, and I think he's well aware 
I'm an American with a lot of views that differ from his.

Hypocrisy offends me too.  Calling attention to hypocrisy... not so 
much.  And sometimes some of us just need to vent... personally I 
think the question asked (why don't the USA practice what it 
preaches) is completely valid, and should be asked, and asked, and 
asked again.

Erika

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