Mike Puchol

So Dave Winer is tolerant and open-minded…not

[Update] After a tweet from @GadgetDon I thought I’d try to fix things, and thus deleted a couple of tweets that could have been offensive, and removed this post, with the thought of emailing Dave to ask what offended him so much. However, during the few hours since, I have been reading and researching Dave Winer’s background, and it seems I am not alone in what happened. It doesn’t seem to take much to be blocked out of Winer’s world, ergo, Winer’s world is by definition boring, uninteresting and dated. I have been going back through his Twitter feed (hint Dave: anyone can read your tweets just by logging out of Twitter, so blocking is pointless, duh!), and there hasn’t been anything that I didn’t find through other means, meaningful opinions or worthy information. Looks like I’m not going to be missing much. I’m moving on and re-posting this, there are tons of interesting people to follow on Twitter and blogs.

After an exchange on Twitter during which I stated my views on the Mosque / Islamic cultural center going up near the New York WTC, he unfollowed and blocked me from following him. After posting this on his blog post regarding the subject:

“Now that you have not only unfollowed me (whatever) but also blocked me (?!) on Twitter, I guess it can only mean that I’m a right-wing extremist that hates Muslims and goes shooting traffic signs on weekends for fun. For the record, I’m not trying to give lessons around religious beliefs, and thus will replace the word “Christian” by “other religions” below. Maybe you will find the words more suitable, or maybe you will say “thank you for the lesson in arrogant other religions superiority”.

Instead of trying to prove a point through whatever means possible, and silencing those who do not think the same way as you do, maybe you should try to do a little fact-checking before you post on a sensitive subject.

Cordoba is a city in Spain which was the symbol of Islamic rule over most of the Iberian peninsula (known as Al-Andalus) between 711 and 1492. It is also marked as the origin of the bulk of Islamic law, having hosted a library with half a million books. Calling this center “Cordoba” has very strong implications as to historic and current claims by a sizable chunk of Muslims.

Al-Andalus was established as an independent emirate, which lasted 780 years until it was taken over in 1492. This emirate is the very reason 192 people died, and over 1000 were injured, in the Madrid train bombings in 2004. Islamic theologists hold the theory that any land that once was Muslim, belongs to Islam forever. Thus, there are Muslims who still claim that most of Spain is in fact their land, and will go to violence to retake it. I fail to see other religions claiming that land occupied in past ages still belongs to them, and taking violent actions to re-claim it.

Recently, during the World Cup, 73 people were killed in a suicide attack in Uganda, for the crime of watching soccer. It is considered un-Islamic by some Muslim extremists. I fail to see similar attacks carried out by suicide bombers of other religions, or other religions prohibiting soccer and other forms of entertainment.

When the 9/11 terrorists crashed the aircraft into the WTC, they were most likely shouting “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “Allah is the Greatest” (it’s safe to assume this as we have seen it on countless terrorist attack videos, pre and post event). They were at least certainly not shouting “my superior being from another religion is the greatest”. They crashed those aircraft, and killed those people, believing they were defending Islam. We can argue all we want about wether they were not really Muslims, as some claim, but the fact is that there are -many- people out there willing to kill and die to defend Islam. And they don’t care what religion you follow, or even if you are agnostic, if you are not Muslim, you are an infidel. Your choice is to convert or die.

Having said all this, I do believe there is a large majority of Muslims who are NOT terrorists, who do NOT condone violence, and who would like to see extremism end. What is sad is that they have to endure the wrath of extremists from other religions who cannot distinguish the facts. What is also sad is that once you take sides, even in the most moderate form, the other side (and I’m looking at you Dave) automatically classifies you as the enemy.

As for your arrogant and insulting comment “you have a lot of brothers!” (it became arrogant and insulting once you put it in context along with your other comments and actions), maybe you can drop by Ten House on Liberty Street and ask the guys there to explain you the concept of brotherhood in the fire service. They lost six guys on 9/11, and had their firehouse destroyed. It was damaged again a few years later, during the Deutsche Bank fire where two firefighters also died. Maybe you can also watch the 9/11 documentary, it also provides a good insight into the meaning of brotherhood in the fire service.”

he has now also banned me from posting comments on his blog. Dave, do you consider yourself open-minded, tolerant and willing to respect and discuss other people’s points of view? Or do you simply live in your own world, where the only reality that counts is what you think and write? I think you should get back down to Earth and shed the prima-donna attitude, frankly. What is more amusing is that I’m reading comments on the blog post that are not much different from what I am saying, I guess I have now been moved to the Dark Side of Dave Winer’s world.