Dear Margaret WenteI am not a huge fan of yours on a good day. I find you oppressively right-wing, with no empathy for anyone other than white, middle class newspaper columnists.
Your column this Saturday (which, to be honest, I rarely read because of the reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph) was a loosely veiled attack on Islam, the veil being the completely inappropriate one of the killings at Virginia Tech.
Yes, I know you mentioned nothing of Islam, just jihadists. I’m sure you meant the fundamental jihadists, not the everyday Muslims who follow this pillar of Islam through non-violent interpretations. And I’m sure those Muslims would be horrified at the comparison of Cho Seung-Hui, a young man with serious mental illness, to fundamental jihadists. As am I.
How can you possibly use the commonalities of a “martyr video” and “military garb and guns” to compare the two? What you see in Cho Seung-Hui’s video is his pent up anger at a society in which he felt powerless and invisible. His “manifesto” and posturing finally gave him the power he must have felt he lacked much of his life.
The “insane regime with an army of young men to do its bidding” is about poverty and lack of education. Cho Seung-Hui’s cold-blooded killing was about depression and a sense of alienation. Young, fundamental jihadists kill because they feel part of a larger group; Cho Seung-Hui killed because he felt a complete disconnection with any kind of group.
The killings at Virginia Tech were a horrifying and upsetting event. Do not use the tragedy as a platform for criticism of a religion that you (and I) know very little about.
Sincerely,
Steph
2 comments:
I sent a letter to the editor in chief of the Globe and Mail complaining about the decision to publish this article, for exactly the reasons you cite.
Margaret Wente regularly irritates or infuriates me but this article crossed a line, being inflammatory and offensive on the basis of no evidence or argument.
dude...you have anonymous readers.
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