By What Standard?

In an obscure Australian movie called The Fringe Dwellers there was one memorable scene where a student of Aboriginal ancestry becomes morally indignant when he is not punished for breaking the rules. He treated the lack of moral expectations as an indignity and insult—as if he were less than human. Recent media coverage on the events in Australia shows the double standard is still intact as Ilana Mercer explains.

Robert Spencer comments in a similar vein about the joy many Arab/Muslims take in the death of others. “This kind of inconsistency demonstrates that world opinion demands a higher moral accountability from the West than it does from the Islamic world.” And indeed it does. He notes, “The international media and governing bodies seem to assume that Palestinians and other Muslims are simply not capable of hewing to the moral and civilizational standards to which Westerners are held.”

Of course, he notes Muslims have standards, but they reject the standard of life and embrace “a culture that celebrates death.” “Mufti Sheikh Ikrimeh Sabri, a Palestinian Authority cleric, stated: ‘We tell them, in as much as you love life, the Muslim loves death and martyrdom.’” Does this not bring shame to other Arabs who perhaps don’t share this suicidal fantasy? Perhaps it would if we judged them and responded accordingly.