What Rupert Murdoch Said

A lot of hatred is being thrown at Rupert Murdoch for asking Muslims to apologize for terrorism.

Although actually he did NOT ask Muslims to apologize. He asked them to take responsibility for terrorism. His Tweet:  Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible.

Do I agree with Murdoch? No. You can't really control other people...even if they have something huge in common with you.

Since JK Rowling's biting response to Murdoch has gotten a lot of attention, I decided to do a Harry Potter inspired analogy about the whole thing.

So....

Terrorists=Death Eaters

Muslims= wizards

Non-Muslims= Muggles

Are wizards to blame for the Death Eaters? No!  Most of them are good. Some are very good. Others are neutral. Some are slightly bad but not murderers.

Can wizards stop Death Eaters?

Sometimes. They can fight in scary wizarding wars against them. There's no guarantee, though, that they could win.

Can wizards speaking out against Death Eaters stop the Death Eaters?  No! I think the Death Eaters would either laugh at the wizards, ignore them, or attack them.

Should wizards apologize for the Death Eaters?  They don't have to.  If they do, it's nice. And not in a way of taking responsibility or accepting blame, but as a way of saying, I'm sorry this is happening. And Hey, I'm scared too. The Death Easters aren't just killing Muggles. They're actually killing more of us than you guys. So yeah. We feel your pain.  And it's embarrassing to me that Death Eaters come from our group. They're bring shaming upon Hogwarts and the rest of the wizarding world.

It's like Kevin Rudd and the Labor government saying sorry for past Australian governments stealing children. Is Kevin Rudd accepting responsibility for what happened? No! How could he have prevented something that happened before he was born?

Anyway...back to my analogy.

As unfair as it is, I think it would be expected that many Muggles end up scared of all wizards. Prejudice sucks, but it happens sometimes.  Some Muggles will be jerks about the whole thing and there's nothing wizards can do or say that will endear the Muggles to them. It's a lost cause. Other Muggles might just feel confused and nervous. They want to be open-minded and open-hearted but are hesitant.

So, I do think it's a good thing for wizards to speak out against the Death Eaters. It's not going to do anything to break or diminish the Death Eaters. But it's reassuring to many Muggles. Why? Because the nervous and confused Muggles might fear that other wizards are planning to join the Death Eaters.  The threat of Death Eaters is terrifying enough. It gets much worse if you fear other wizards are planning or wanting to join them. The decent Muggles will be reassured to see and hear that this isn't true. It's helpful to know that most wizards are against Death Eaters. And without hearing or seeing this, it's hard for Muggles to know where most wizards stand on the issues. They can't read minds.

Unfortunately, some Muggles seem unable to read or listen as well. They repeatedly say that wizards need to speak out against Death Eaters even though the wizards are already doing this.  Some wizards are shouting out until they're blue in the face, but certain strong-willed Muggles aren't listening. Yet the same Muggles are opening their ears and listening when it comes to wizards speaking out in SUPPORT of Death Eaters.

Anyway, Death Eaters are very scary for both the Muggles and the wizards. Hopefully they can work together to fight against the Death Eaters....and love and protect each other.