Extremism Is The Problem, Not Differences

The bombers of the Boston marathon were islamic. That one fact is now touching off a new round of demonizing followers of islam and congressional Republicans and other right-wingers. One congressman has even gone so far off the deep end as to suggest that all muslims in this country should be subject to government surveillance.
This is not, in my opinion, just an over-reaction but stupidity. Islam is not our enemy. The enemy is terrorism -- and that terrorism exists in both this country and other countries, and it exists in both islam and christianity. In fact, Americans face a greater danger from terrorists and criminals on the right than they face from islamic terrorists -- a fact borne out by a federal government study (which right-wing Republicans forced to be withdrawn).
But even more than the fact that there are terrorists both from the right and from the islamic fundamentalists, is the fact that those groups do not represent most of the people they claim to represent. Most muslims detest and do not support the actions of radical terrorists. And most on the right do not support right-wing terrorists. Most of the folks in both groups are decent, hard-working, honest people, who just want to lives their lives and get along with their neighbors.
I am not a right-winger, nor am I religious. But I have friends in both groups (and some muslims in that religious group), and they are good people. I regularly post against right-wing and religious ideas, because I feel those ideas hold this country and humanity back from making progress toward a better world. That is my opinion and I do not apologize for it -- but I hope my words are not taken as an attempt to demonize all conservatives or all religious people.
Conservatives may be wrong politically, but they are not enemies of this country. Muslims may hold religious views that differ from the majority in this country, but they are not our enemies either. The problem, the real danger, are the extremists in these groups. And it is simply wrong to lump these extremists in with others. We need to be better than that. Fortunately, I think most of us are.