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From: gwydion@tavi.rice.edu (Basalat Ali Raja)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: "Not Without My Daughter"
Message-ID: <1991Feb11.200115.8706@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Date: 11 Feb 91 20:01:15 GMT
References: <1991Feb7.042502.10442@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
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In article <1991Feb7.042502.10442@nntp-server.caltech.edu> jlodman@cs.ucsd.edu (Michael Lodman) writes:

>If this is the case, the negative feelings of people such as Mr. Looi are
>understandable. If not, you all have a lot of work to do.....

When someone approaches me, and engages in a dialogue, or I do
the reverse, there are certain assumptions that I make about
that person - that he/she is a rational civilized human being.
And I demand that he/she make the same assumptions about me.

Now, if you, or someone else, chooses to believe that Muslims
or not rational, or not civilized, then I really do not see
why this means that it is *I* that has to do any work.  The
definition of a bigot is that he/she feels that certain human
beings are inferior to him/her.  This includes incorrect 
estimates about the degree of civilization and/or rationality
of a class of people.  Frankly, I do not understand why it is
*I* who has to carry the burden of correcting the misimpressions
of a bigot.