Re: Rampant Ignorance

From the original post:
"Young girls are married to old men."

Oh yes, terrible.

Agreed. Rampant ignorance, though with a kernel of truth. I once met a Muslim from Morocco who was disgusted with the Turks because they are not "Muslim enough". Such assholes do exist, and are plentiful in some places. [Personally, I found the Turkish people to be some of the nicest I have met anywhere, especially in conservative Anatolia. It's not uniform: some of the best countries I've been to and some of the worst (in terms of the people) have been majority Muslim, and the worst have included worldly and devout types - and the best also.]

The long and short of it is that every religion and ideology large enough to note has some adherents who are wonderful people and some who are - for lack of a better word - evil. What is more, people the world over are subject to the same faults and deficiencies - generally including selfishness and blindness to the perspectives of others. Whatever ideology a person believes, you can be pretty sure that it benefits them somehow.

The Islamic world still lags socially, but the accusation of lack of scientific inquiry is especially humorous, considering that the Islamic world kept scientific inquiry alive for centuries when it had been forgotten in the West, and preserved it until its reintroduction to Europe in the Renaissance.

All in all, just stupid. The same things have been said about every group when they first encounter each other in a big way.