majorspark;1858155 wrote:I was going to bow out of this with Hits but my gosh. This is what political correctness brings us. The meme sucked ass. Its purpose was to imply religious bigotry. Specifically Islamophobia. Calling it out for what it is does not in any way shape or form defend the terrorist acts of the IRA. Targeting civilians to achieve an objective is where the similarities end. If a small fraction of radical catholics were employing the same tactics from the same breeding grounds in nation states predominantly catholic as well as within immigrant communities in nations throughout the world they would be held in the same light as the Islamic radicals conducting such actions today.
Political correctness demands... but... but.. "Christians" do this stuff to. Yes they have and their acts have been equally heinous. History is rife with examples of so called "Christian" radicals engaging in such acts. At points not condemned or even sanctioned by the leadership specifically the Catholics. The only time I have set foot in a Catholic church is for the funeral of one of my wife's relatives. But I know their history.
That said today there are a small fraction of militant radicals of a particular religion holding a geographical area in the Middle East that boasts every time a radical nutjob ends human life in the west. Whether a foreign implant or homegrown it is becoming the norm in the EU. Time to light more candles I guess. Be understanding, make mathematical comparisons, feel the need to point out the obvious that only a small fraction of this particular religion are nutjobs.
You're grasping here. This has nothing to do with political correctness. It has to do with ideological consistency.
I'm not even saying that anyone is defending the IRA's actions. That's the point. Nobody defends those actions. Nobody defends ISIS's actions, either.
What the meme does (which is not just pointing out bigotry of any kind) is draw the parallel between the relationship of the IRA to Irish Catholics and the relationship of ISIS to Muslims.
It's essentially saying this:
IRA:Irish Catholics::ISIS:Muslims
That's it, ultimately.
The meme wasn't to point out that "'Christians' do this too." This meme was to point out that the terrorist behavior isn't an indictment on religions at all. It was to suggest that we got it RIGHT by not reacting to IRA terrorism with paranoid prejudice. Not that we got it wrong, because "Christians do it too."
If it's obvious that only a small fraction of any religion is extremist to this degree, perhaps we ought to behave like it. If that's your take ... that it's obvious only a small group is doing this ... then I agree with you, and perhaps this wasn't even aimed at you.
It was aimed specifically toward people who have expressed a desire for religious or ethnic targeting in response to this small group, pointing out that ethnically and religiously homogeneous terrorist groups in the past were not met with this brand of targeting, and nobody was upset about that fact.
That's all this implies.
If it were about "political correctness," the definition of which seems to be pretty broad these days, depending on who's using it, I would probably agree with you. I don't particularly care for "political correctness" if it's used to mean that we cannot discuss political topics that cover race, gender, sex, orientation, age, etc. I don't even care for the variety that says you're "not allowed" to vocally express your views if they are deemed racist/sexist/ageist/etc. Freedom of speech involves the right to say things that others find offensive.
However, there are also those who will verbalize an opposition to "political correctness" as a means to justify that racism/sexism/etc., arguing that the only reason people disagree with it is because of said "political correctness." While I will always advocate the freedom to express conviction, I'm never going to say that those convictions shouldn't be met with scrutiny or opposition.
The parallel outlined in this meme points out an inconsistency among a group of people who share one position within their overall worldview. It's a response to that body, which has already expressed its position. It's free to respond, as well.
The meme does one thing: It points out that a prior attack, which was committed by an ethnically and religiously homogeneous terrorist organization on foreign soil, was not met with a desire for ethnic or religious profiling as a means of weeding out said terrorists, and that nobody was outraged by that. It implies that the same sense of reason should apply here. That's all.