# I just don't understand the double standard Muslims put on the West. Any theories or explanations? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555 "2014-07-07T17:53:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/41 "2014-07-08T05:31:43Z")
I find it amusing that all the mobs of thousands & thousands of people who were from the mid East, were the ones doing the cheering of the destruction of the Twin Towers & Pentagon. I am sure they were all radicals that the moderates of those countries denounced and refused to deal with any more. It was not just Muslims, but Christians, Hindu’s, Atheist, Government workers, laborer, teacher & students. Men, women & children. They had one thing in common, they were Mid Easterners. I did not see one demonstration in support of the US or denouncing those who were cheering. I don’t know a billion Mid Easterners but the ones I do never never say or sound in person as the ones on this anonymous message board. I don’t believe much of anything in the media, heck, I can’t even believe the videos or pictures. But if I see it right in front of me in real life, hear the words spoken, felt the force of their blows & wiped their spittle from my body, well, yeah, that is where I get a lot of my opinions of people from other cultures. ( No, I don’t judge from one or two so don’t bother going there. ) YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/42 "2014-07-08T09:18:26Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > I did not see one demonstration in support of the US or denouncing those who were cheering. You didn’t? > **[Reactions to the September 11 attacks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_to_the_September_11_attacks#Islamic_world)** > > The September 11 attacks were condemned by world leaders and other political and religious representatives and the international media, as well as numerous memorials and services all over the world. The attacks were widely condemned by world governments, including those traditionally considered hostile to the United States, such as Cuba, Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea, and Afghanistan itself. However, in a few cases celebrations of the attacks were also reported,\[not verified in body\] and some... [QUOTE=Wikipedia] \*Almost all Muslim political and religious leaders condemned the attacks. The leaders vehemently denouncing the attacks included the leaders of Egypt (Hosni Mubarak), the Palestinian Authority (Yasser Arafat), Libya (Muammar Gaddafi), Syria (Bashar al-Assad), Iran (Mohamed Khatami) and Pakistan (Pervez Musharraf)… Renowned Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi denounced the attacks and the unprovoked killings of thousands of American civilians as a “heinous crime” and urged Muslims to donate blood to the victims. The alleged Hezbollah “spiritual mentor” and Lebanese Shia cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah condemned the attacks. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) condemned the attacks and attempted to censure and discredit broadcasts and other news reports. with many newspapers, magazines, Web sites and wire services running photographs. The PNA claimed such celebrations were not representative of the sentiments of the Palestinian people, and the Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the PNA would not allow “a few kids” to “smear the real face of the Palestinians”. > > Annette Krüger Spitta of the ARD’s (German public broadcasting) TV magazine Panorama states that footage not aired shows that the street surrounding the celebration in Jerusalem is quiet. Furthermore, she states that a man in a white T-shirt incited the children and gathered people together for the shot. The Panorama report, dated September 20, 2001, quotes Communications Professor Martin Löffelholz explaining that in the images one sees jubilant Palestinian children and several adults but there is no indication that their pleasure is related to the attack. The woman seen cheering (Nawal Abdel Fatah) stated afterwards that she was offered cake if she celebrated on camera, and was frightened when she saw the pictures on television afterward. [http://web.archive.org/web/20101115094604/http://www.time.com/time/europe/photoessays/vigil/2.html](http://web.archive.org/web/20101115094604/http://www.time.com/time/europe/photoessays/vigil/2.html) [QUOTE=Time Magazine] Iranian women light candles in Tehran’s Mohseni Square in memory of the victims of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC. Even the most hardline Islamic clerics, who despise the United States, have been shocked into silence by the attacks. President Mohammad Khatami set the tone for Iran’s reaction with a statement that in Persian rang with deep compassion: “On behalf of the Iranian people and the Islamic Republic, I denounce the terrorist measures, which led to the killing of defenseless people, and I express my deep sorrow and sympathy with the American people.” [/QUOTE] > **[BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran's gulf of misunderstanding with US](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5377914.stm)** > > Gordon Corera looks at the tangled relationship between Iran and the United States since 9/11. [QUOTE=BBC News] In Iran, vast crowds turned out on the streets and held candlelit vigils for the victims. Sixty-thousand spectators respected a minute’s silence at Tehran’s football stadium. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/43 "2014-07-08T09:42:58Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > They had one thing in common, they were Mid Easterners. I did not see one demonstration in support of the US or denouncing those who were cheering. They could not make a scene in Western countries … for fear of being misunderstood and/or falsely accused, harrassed, assaulted , murdered … Angry people would attack them saying they are _pretending_ … ---
**Author:** ![MostlyUseless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MostlyUseless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyUseless)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/44 "2014-07-08T14:04:54Z")
Unfortunately, it takes great effort to build and very little to destroy. Think of any class or workplace you were in that was bad. Odds on, a very small fraction of people cause 95% of the havoc. We equate all this hate to all these Muslims because that is the story we are being told. There are lots of muslims all over the world, but it only takes a minute fraction of those to act badly and everyone is quick to jump on Muslims in general. Think about what a fun time it must be to be a poor Afgani farmer. On one hand, you have the Americans, who try to reach out to you at times, but at other times blunder and kill your neighbors. On the other hand, you have the Taliban who are pressuring you and your family to support them often with threats of violence. If you give in to the Americans and help them, you offer yourself as a target to the Taliban and vice versa. I suspect that most of the population of Afganistan is simply trying to live, keep their families safe and fed, and not get caught up in this mess. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/45 "2014-07-08T14:16:35Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Many muslims speak up, and many criticize groups like ISIS. Yeah, the dead ones. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/46 "2014-07-08T14:28:10Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > Yeah, the dead ones. Oh, really? [http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2014/07/syria-iraq-isis-caliphate-egypt-azhar-reaction.html](http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2014/07/syria-iraq-isis-caliphate-egypt-azhar-reaction.html) > [@](#): > > In an interview with As-Safir, Ahmad Karima, an Islamic Sharia professor at Al-Azhar University, clarified the opinion of Islamic jurisprudence regarding the declaration of “the caliphate.” > > “In the history of Islam, there is no political caliphate affiliated with Islam, it has always been a religious caliphate. The Prophet said, ‘The caliphate will start out with an approach similar to that of the Prophecy, then it will turn into an oppressive rule,’” Karima said. > > He added that in the days of the Rashidun caliphs, Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, Ali and Hassan, the religious caliphate was there to guard religion. Case in point, the Prophet Muhammad said, “An approach similar to that of the Prophecy.” Then, the caliphate turned into a political rule in the Umayyad, Abbasid and Turkish eras, and that’s what he meant by “an oppressive rule.” > > Karima indicated that the caliphate should be in the hands of the imams of Quraish, based on the holy Hadith, which stated, “The caliphate in Quraish.” > > “By applying these texts to reality, the jurist Abdel Razeq al-Sanhouri deemed the caliphate in our modern era impossible. He suggested replacing it with an Islamic university. In light of this, the Muslim Brotherhood and violent militias’ talk about political caliphate is null and void, from a correct and sane academic perspective,” Karima said. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10943404/Most-Muslims-dont-care-about-the-Isis-Caliphate.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10943404/Most-Muslims-dont-care-about-the-Isis-Caliphate.html) > [@](#): > > I am sorry to spoil the party, but the caliphate fantasy being peddled by Isis in Iraq and Syria is not of importance to most Muslims around the world. When I read western newspapers, I sense an urgency and significance that is out of sync with reality. > Isis may take pride in its ragtag army, commanding what it calls a caliphate, but no Muslim scholar worth his salt has supported this entity. Even Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a major Jihadi cleric, has rejected the group’s experiment. No Muslim government has recognised it. > **[Hundreds of Calgary Muslims protest ISIS violence in Iraq | CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/hundreds-of-calgary-muslims-protest-isis-violence-in-iraq-1.2683589)** > > Sectarian violence in Iraq prompted hundreds of Sunni and Shia Muslims in Calgary to stand together in protest of ISIS on Saturday. > [@](#): > > Violence in Iraq prompted hundreds of Sunni and Shia Muslims in Calgary to stand together in protest of ISIS on Saturday. > > About 200 people gathered outside Calgary City Hall Saturday, many carrying signs opposing the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Over the past few weeks ISIS militants have taken control of multiple northern Iraqi cities and also launched an attack on the country’ largest oil refinery. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/47 "2014-07-08T14:40:22Z")
The main difference here is that when a Christian commits an atrocity, he or she is not labeled as a “Christian extremist” committing “Christian fundamentalist” acts of “Christian terrorism” and the entire “Christian community” with whom he or she shares “some fundamental Christian tenets” is not considered responsible for doing something about or denouncing it. For example, when is the last time that the news got flooded with questions like “what can moderate Christians do about the problem of Christian paedophilia amongst the Christian clergy”? Why didn’t the global Christian community do something to prevent Christian extremist atrocities in Jonestown or Waco or Oklahoma City? What is the problem with Christian society that results in so many mass shootings in schools? ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/48 "2014-07-08T14:42:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Oh, really? I refreshed my memory of youtube videos with a search engine of “death to America” and the West criticizing parts of their religion. I think these are the kind of demonstrations the OP had in mind of Muslims showing the same kind of fervor demonstrated against ISIS. There are hundreds of videos with overturned and burning cars, buildings destroyed, innocents being killed. I suspect many moderate voices in Muslim would love to do more but can’t, and will do very little about it, because fundamentalist extremists pretty much are in control or have such a stronghold, if they want to survive at all along with their loved ones, they for the most part have to stay quiet. Other Muslim voices far away from ISIS reach can obviously speak, but many more voices of dissent against ISIS are pretty much silenced. Even moderate Muslims elsewhere often have yet another fundamentalist radical sect in their presence as well, so don’t really get to voice as moderate a voice as they would like, and a liberal dissension would be even rarer. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/49 "2014-07-08T14:46:39Z")
Death, taxes, and the ability of people who say “Why don’t Muslims protest this stuff?” to fail to notice when they do. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/50 "2014-07-08T15:02:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Death, taxes, and the ability of people who say “Why don’t Muslims protest this stuff?” to fail to notice when they do. The protests I seen were lame, and not getting it done, but I guess that’s a start. I would notice it more and commend the moderate Muslims greatly if they actually could take care of the ISIS situation themselves, especially if it didn’t involve yet another radical extremist Muslim organization replacing ISIS. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/51 "2014-07-08T15:08:17Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > The protests I seen were lame, and not getting it done, but I guess that’s a start. We will move the goalposts, inshallah! > [@](#): > > I would notice it more and commend the moderate Muslims greatly if they actually could take care of the ISIS situation themselves, especially if it didn’t involve yet another radical extremist Muslim organization replacing ISIS. Maybe someone should invade Iraq and set up a functional government and army. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/52 "2014-07-08T15:25:16Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > We will move the goalposts, inshallah! Not moving anything. If there is video of Muslims protesting with as much fervor against ISIS that would compare with what was been demonstrated against the West in the past, those would certainly be worth looking at. > [@](#): > > Maybe someone should invade Iraq and set up a functional government and army. I emphasized that “they” take care of it. With as many moderate Muslims as everyone claims there is, what one billion, they should make short work of it and have the country up and running again in no time. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/53 "2014-07-08T15:34:58Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > Not moving anything. If there is video of Muslims protesting with as much fervor against ISIS that would compare with what was been demonstrated against the West in the past, those would certainly be worth looking at. They are fighting them. Real-world Muslims are right now fighting ISIS and dying. Is it that you deny that this is happening, or that you think this doesn’t count as a protest? ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/54 "2014-07-08T15:45:43Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > They are fighting them. Real-world Muslims are right now fighting ISIS and dying. > > Is it that you deny that this is happening, or that you think this doesn’t count as a protest? Yes, I’ve read where Al Qaeda is also fighting them and dying, along with other radical Muslims. And I know there are moderates fighting as well, and I truly commend them. But when you have over a billion moderate Muslims (so am told), I’d say that’s a hell of a lot staying home. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/55 "2014-07-08T16:14:17Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > But when you have over a billion moderate Muslims (so am told), I’d say that’s a hell of a lot staying home. Maybe their own lives and countries are their highest priority. No, wait, that can’t be it- that makes them sound like individual human beings. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/56 "2014-07-08T16:26:56Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > Yes, I’ve read where Al Qaeda is also fighting them and dying, along with other radical Muslims. And I know there are moderates fighting as well, and I truly commend them. But when you have over a billion moderate Muslims (so am told), I’d say that’s a hell of a lot staying home. Why haven’t you gone to Africa to volunteer in a war against Christians who are massacring innocent Muslims, women and children included, in the south of Nigeria? ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/57 "2014-07-08T16:34:09Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > Yes, I’ve read where Al Qaeda is also fighting them and dying, along with other radical Muslims. And I know there are moderates fighting as well, and I truly commend them. But when you have over a billion moderate Muslims (so am told), I’d say that’s a hell of a lot staying home. First off, there are around [317 million Muslims](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/07/worlds-muslim-population-more-widespread-than-you-might-think/) in the middle east and north Africa, not a billion (unless you expect people to fly from Indonesia and Dearborn to defend the good name of their religion from extremists… but if you expected that then you’d surely be in Uganda fighting against the oppressive, nominally “Christian” government there). Isis isn’t operating throughout that entire area, though - they’re pretty much limited to Iraq (36 million, 97% Muslim) and Syria (22.5 million, 73% Muslim). There are around 50,000,000 Muslims in that area. So the 950,000,000 (it’s actually closer to 1,550,000,000) Muslims that you’re decrying for not fighting Isis are doing exactly as much to stop the perversion of their religion in a place where they don’t live as you’re doing to stop the perversion of yours in Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/58 "2014-07-08T16:55:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Would you agree that the election of prominent segregationists in the US up through the sixties and seventies was a “stinging indictment” of Christianity? If these prominent segregationists were elected to the presidency then it would be a stinging indictment of _moderate_ Christianity. Extremists, of course, exist in every corner of the globe. We are no exception. But our mainstream society does not tolerate calling blacks black, much less Jews pigs. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/59 "2014-07-08T17:18:08Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > If these prominent segregationists were elected to the presidency then it would be a stinging indictment of _moderate_ Christianity. An excellent non-answer! It wasn’t until the middle of the last century that the U.S. elected a president opposed to segregation and it elected other officials who supported segregation in various forms long after that. And I’ll repeat myself: > [@Marley23](#): > > the people and the military both revolted and Morsi is now in jail. He lasted all of a year. And if you think Iran’s elections are legitimate, I have a New York City bridge to sell you. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555/60 "2014-07-08T17:42:46Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > An excellent non-answer! A pointed answer drawing the correct parallel to my initial claim. And Morsi said that stuff long before he was elected, fairly, by a majority of Islamic Egyptians. He was thrown out because he suspended the newly-formed constitution and did nothing to revive Egypt’s sagging economy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-dont-understand-the-double-standard-muslims-put-on-the-west-any-theories-or-explanations/692555.md?page=4)