Not a veritable buffet

Previous post, also read this article by Tunku VaradaRajan (via Quizfan)

The other rather curious assertion about which Dr Sen was rather bold (thankfully) is hazing over identity. He states rather curiously that identity of a person is not a singular entity, indeed it is a multiple facet. So far, things are all right. But in a rather curious leap of logic that what a person identifies is a matter of personal selection. The implication of course is identity is a matter without context and as such arbitrary construct, if this is not bizarre enough he leaps again, this time clutching the thin air, blaming the west for connecting the world wide terrorism with Islam, thus putting the old witticism on its head (if it looks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it is a frigging duck).

The truth is simple enough, and bland enough. True a person may have multiple identities, but to believe that all identities are interchangeable in any context and further to argue the dominant identity is a matter of arbitrary selection is plain insanity. For in real world the single most important factor (and sometimes the only relevant factor) which determines a person's outlook is environmental forces working on them. And just so that there is no confusion environmental functions do not mean merely oppression and victimization.

So if west is concerned about Islam (or a particular strain of it), it has valid reasons for it.
Historically Muslims were not any more of victim than other people, (in fact if truth be told, more often than not adherents of this faith have persecuted non-believers and many times even believers to point of extinction, latest example being Pakistan).

It is one's prerogative to blame it on Satan, or even states, but as Tom Hanks said, There is a problem Houston. Unless Islam and adherents doesn't banish sword and dogma from realm of faith, this problem will remain, much as an Elephant in the drawing room.