Vocations and Videos of Violence

Reactionary. Obscene. Stupid. These terms apply to both the YouTube video that has sparked protests across the Arab world and the mindless retaliations themselves. On Sept. 11, 2012, exactly 11 years after the infamous attacks that defined our century, in Benghazi — a town that in recent months has been a symbol of democracy and positive people power — the United States consulate was stormed and the U.S. ambassador to Libya was among those who died.

Enraged crowds of Muslim protestors have been seen all over the world, all because of “The Innocence of the Muslims,” an edited movie trailer uploaded onto YouTube by an unknown source. The United States government is clearly not personally responsible for every video that appears online, and Americans have done more riot-worthy blasphemes in recent years — mostly revolving around the desecration of holy texts. So why this extreme reaction now?

Easily accessible and in Arabic, the video is a more direct and outrageous insult. It also ties in nicely with the Arab spring. Violence often takes place in those countries where young men have successfully conducted revolutions — countries where organized, pseudo-democratic institutions are still only embryonic. At first glance, this violence seems to suggest that it was a mistake to openly support violent youths and religious fanatics who wanted to overthrow faulty but stable governments.

The truth, however, is that this violence is a tragic but timeless side-effect of revolution. One does not give thousands of young men who happen to own guns and enjoy killing people the aspirations of an entire nation and then expect to be able to take this power away overnight. We cannot say “your fight is over, the revolution is finished — now go back to what you did before.” The patriotic flame that flickered in these young men’s hearts can easily be reignited as a religious one, so long as there is something to fight against.

Right now there is something to fight against. However, a moderate mass of Libyan revolutionaries in turn took to the streets to dismantle the terrorist groups. These pro-West protests were truly remarkable and proved that supporting democratic regimes was the right thing to do.

In desperate contrast is what we saw in Pakistan, where a member of the government called out for the filmmaker’s death and a national holiday was declared for people to protest. The ensuing chaos and violence that resulted in several deaths was not surprising. In fact, it seemed as though higher powers had it planned.  Families were destroyed and lives were cut short because some people either can’t or don’t want to distinguish between reality and fiction.

Many of the protestors don’t want to realize that the reaction to this disgusting satire only serves to justify one of the film’s issues with Islam: its so-called inherent violence. If the Arab world wants to really criticize the film then it should ignore it. It’s a minute percentage of the overall Muslim population that took to the streets, but it is this population that makes the headlines and influences international perception.

All the extremists will gain from this violent protest is deepening isolation from the rest of the world as well as a reversal of much progress that was made by the Arab Spring.
Recent developments have shown that a Californian Egyptian Coptic Christian may have been linked to the publication of the video. This is a fitting reminder that religious-based hatred and violence is not restricted to a single faith.

Religion should act as a moral guide or a matter of faith, but not as a vile excuse for murder and war.