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"Going Muslim"
Seems an NYU professor, Tunku Varadarajan, has written a column where he refers to "Going Muslim," meaning:
“This phrase would describe the turn of events where a seemingly integrated Muslim-American–a friendly donut vendor in New York, say, or an officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood–discards his apparent integration into American society and elects to vindicate his religion in an act of messianic violence against his fellow Americans.”
This implies that some how being Muslim is inherently violent and anti-American. Daily Kos has an article discussing this bigoted article and recommending writing NYU President John Sexton to express disgust at the bigotry of this NYU professor.
Since I work for the NYU medical center, and since I have published with a wonderful, brilliant and caring Muslim colleague, I feel honor bound to write a personal rejection of Tunku Varadarajan's bigotry. Here is my letter to John Sexton:
As an Associate Research Scientist at the NYU School of Medicine who has worked closely with Muslim scientists, I am disgusted by the statements made on Forbes.com by NYU Stern professor Tunku Varadarajan suggesting that all Muslims are inherently violent and dangerous. I am Jewish, but among the people I most respect and trust is a Muslim colleague who, on 9/11, immediately rushed to Ground Zero, despite all danger, to render assistance. I would trust this Muslim colleague far more than I would trust a bigot like Tunku Varadaraja. Varadaraja has a Constitutional right to say what he said, but there is no question that his views reflect poorly on NYU as a whole and makes our Muslim colleagues feel unwelcome and unappreciated. Had he referred to all Jews as greedy or all blacks as lazy I am sure the outcry would be far greater. Yet because his attack was on Muslims the outcry is muted. That doesn't make his bigotry any less disgusting or damaging than bigotry against blacks or Jews.
I hope that the NYU administration reject the bigotry of Tunku Varadarajan in very clear and obvious ways. How else can we look our Muslim colleagues in the eye?
Sincerely,
Dr. David Michaelson
NYU School of Medicine
Re: "Going Muslim"
In that vein, since he starts by repeatedly using the phrase "going postal," if I were a postal carrier I might think twice before delivering any copy of Forbes magazine.
I choose to focus on Prof. Varadarajan's claim that, "Muslims may be more extreme because their religion is founded on bellicose conquest, a contempt for infidels and an obligation for piety that is more extensive than in other schemes." Has he forgotten the actions of the Catholic Spanish conquistadors, or the conquests of the "Holy" Roman Empire, or the "Crusades," or the wars of conquest fought by Protestant armies -- including our own conquest of what is now the western United States, or the wars depicted in the Old Testament in which G-d always seemed to be on the side of the Jews? In every case, a non-Muslim army committed "bellicose conquest, a contempt for infidels and an obligation for piety," yet Prof. Varadarajan ignores that.
Okay, I've probably pissed off every religious reader of this blog. My point is that, while there are plenty of fanatical, violent Muslims, there are also plenty of fanatical, violent members of every religious group, and we should not judge a group as a whole by the actions of some of its more extreme followers.
Re: "Going Muslim"
Dan, you are absolutely right. It is amazing how ignorant we are of history. As a person who subscribes to one of the religions who have had violence in their pasts, I think it is important to be honest and forthright about times when individuals were not at their best. It keeps you humble and honest, in my view.
I just think that when people say things like what Prof. Varadarajan wrote, it is just to deal with their own insecurity and fear. It gives them a sense of ease to blame it on the "other". But it is so much harder to bear and sustain compassion. In the last 5 years, I have rarely seen this debate over Islamic Extremism, politics and violence reach an intelligent level. We desperately need to elevate the dialogue in this country.
Re: "Going Muslim"
I choose to focus on the fact that Prof. Varadarajan's own faith, Hinduism, doesn't exactly have a spotless record, either.
And I am very relieved that none of my Muslim co-workers are likely to read Forbes, or ever have heard of him and his bigotry.
Re: "Going Muslim"
Well said Dr. Michaelson!
It is refreshing to see that faculty members and many students at NYU have expressed thier disgust with this imbecile who is craving to fit with the mainstream bigotry. as such, a new term has been coined "Going Tunku" to indicate the highest form of bigotry.
I clearly find it an insult to intelectuals at NYU to have amongst them such a moron who craves for recognition.
Re: "Going Muslim"
tunku’s main objective is to vilify Muslims by smearing their belief system to prove his point. Nevertheless, to give this fawning sycophant a taste of his own venom, then we can reference Kedar Joshi’ (ex-Hindu) argument in the “The Satanic Verses of Bhagavad-gita” as bases for establishing that Hinduism is terrorism and concludes that: “the message of Bhagavad-gita is to fight, if necessary with violent means, for the protection of the religion, say Hinduism; to annihilate those whose beliefs and practices are other than Hinduism, which would include atheists, free thinkers, other religious people like Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc. That is why Hinduism is terrorism. (For more info please consult my article 'The Satanic Verses of Bhagavad-gita'.)”.
Can we use this argument and the atrocities/massacres Hindu terrorist have committed against Christians and Muslims, to conclude the same about Hinduism? If we do, then we have “gone tunku” too!
Equally perplexing and disgusting that this moron (Vardarajan) used to write for the Wall Street Journal. In 2005, its editorial page described American Muslims as “role models both as Americans and as Muslims” (”Stars, Stripes, Crescent,” August 24, 2005).
Tunku failed to mention this.
This bigot thinks we are a bunch of idiots easily programmed to hate and engage in wars with Muslims. Then he’ll find us another villain to hate.
Equally shameful is the response from NYU president. I am really wondering if Mr. Sexton were a Muslim and a member of his family was harmed as a result, will he then keep his stance? Perhaps today we can understand that Hitler could not have committed his heinous crimes without the support of "tunku" like bigots and academia that fails to distinguish between cause and effect.
Shame on NYU.
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