Double standards
Re: "Islamophobia: SE Asians must declare war on ignorance", Letters, September 4
It is odd that you are appealing for a world without prejudice toward Islam, while also spreading a message of hatred. This is hypocritical and smacks of double standards. In the letter, you basically infer that all of the United States is under the influence of far-right media and hence Islamophobic. By doing this, you end up using those scare tactics that have so often been used by ideologists to manipulate “the gullible masses”.
Generalisations based on extreme examples of subjective/manipulative media, which exist all over the world, cannot be correct. Following your example, the entire non-Muslim world could now deduce that every Muslim in the world welcomed the killing of two journalists recently at the hand of Islamists.
However, most people understand that these atrocities were committed by fanatics, who do not represent an entire nation or religion.
If you really believe that human beings should grow up without any hate or prejudice, then maybe you should set an example yourself. Or maybe I didn’t read your letter closely enough: you wish for the Asean region to be prejudice free when it comes to Islam, but is it okay to harbour hate against other religions or nations?
NationReader
