Many of the West think that Muslims are over-reacting to Pope Benedict's speech in which he quotes a 14th Century Byzantine Emperor as saying that Mohammed brought "things only evil and inhuman". After all, many in the West are accustomed to a broad diversity of opinions, often with sweeping and demeaning generalizations. We often shrug these off as more reflective of the speaker than of the target of the speaker.
Do we really? If groups feel disenfranchised or in a minority, they take great offense at criticism. There are even groups that seek verbal redress if they feel the larger group they portend to represent is maligned in the media. There are also people who take remarks out of context and ignore any qualifying statements that may have been made; taking umbrage where none was even meant.
I have met people who claim that they can take insults but are ready to physically fight anyone who insults their wife or mother.
Is it so surprising that some Muslims, who feel that their societies and view of the world is being steamrollered by the West, who live in a society where honor is an important aspect of their lives, would feel threatened by remarks critical or perceived as critical of Islam? Further, is it surprising if they are in cultures which condone violence to regain honor that they resort to violence to redress the injury of critical remarks?
As I alluded earlier, these attitudes are not limited to some Muslims, but are found in many societies around the globe. It is part of a deep-seated human belief that names have power. One illustrative belief is not uttering the name of God, because if one names God, then one has power over God.
We use names for power. Once in office, a U.S. President is no longer called Bill or George or Jimmy or Ron of the campaign but "Mr. President". Many judges will not tolerate being called "Sir" or "Madam" in their courtrooms; they insist on being called "Your Honor". How many of us dare call our doctor anything but "Doctor"? Even though all the staff refers to us by our first names, which in itself denotes power over us the patients.
If you take the long view, which many Muslims do, often long in the past, then the negative reaction of some is reacting normally. It is sad that we are getting caught in a deeper spiral of reaction and counter-reaction.
For another view of this turmoil, see "The Jagged World" by David Brooks, New York Times, September 3, 2006
