Russell says blaming Muslims for the Woolwich murder is “like blaming Hitler’s moustache for the Holocaust”. PHOTO: REUTERS
Actor-comedian and author Russell, Katy Perry’s ex-husband, wrote a piece for The Sun on the recent Woolwich murder case. Below is an excerpt from his article:
I caught up with the sad malice in Woolwich and felt compelled to tweet in casual defense of the Muslim community who were being haphazardly condemned by a few people on my time line.
Perhaps a bit glibly (but what isn’t glib in 140 characters) I posted: “That bloke is a nut. A nut who happens to be Muslim. Blaming Muslims for this is like blaming Hitler’s moustache for the Holocaust.”
As an analogy it is imperfect but I was frightened by how negative and incendiary the mood felt and I rushed…
… After my Hitler tweet I got involved in a bit of back and forth with a few people who said stuff like: “The murderer said himself he did it for Islam.”
Although I wouldn’t dismiss what he’s saying entirely, I think he forfeited the right to have his views received unthinkingly when he murdered a stranger in the street. Someone else regarding my tweet said: “Hitler’s moustache didn’t invent an ideology that sanctions murder.”
That is thankfully true but Islam, when practised by normal people, is not an advocacy for violence.
“People all over the world are killing in the name of Islam,” someone added. But this is the trickiest bit to understand.
What I think is that all over our country, all over our planet, there are huge numbers of people who feel alienated and sometimes victimised by the privileged and the powerful, whether that’s rich people, powerful corporations or occupying nations.
They feel their interests are not being represented and, in many cases, know their friends and families are being murdered by foreign soldiers. I suppose people like that may look to their indigenous theology for validation and to sanctify their — to some degree understandable — feelings of rage.
Comparable, I suppose, to the way that homophobes feel a prejudicial pang in their tummies then look to the Bible to see if there is anything in there to justify it. There is — a piddling little bit in Leviticus.
The main narrative thrust of The Bible though, like most spiritual texts including the (Holy) Quran is: Be nice to each other because we’re all the same.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2013.
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Russell Brand stand up for the Muslim world Bettet then any celebrity who are worrying about what may effect them if they talked. Love him
I agree with Syed that every religion has nut cases but it's only news worthy if the nut case happens to be a Muslim! I live in Canada and it's sad how news like these dont make up into the mainstream newspapers. "An Islamist bombed here," "a Muslim killed there," "a suicide bomber killed in the name of Islam etc" is all what we get in the news here. Murders happen here as well but it bothers me when the murderer is either mentioned by their name or something else, not a "Christian/Jewish" person murdered so and so. Also sadly, any comment against a Jewish person would be turned into an anti semitic comment! So much for the fairness of Western media!
When everyone was treading in silent, it was Russell Brand who whispered. Thank you so much!
If Russel Brand lived in Pakistan, he'd be dead by now, because he is a libertarian and a hedonist in the true sense of the word. lol. Tolerance.
Feels bad that the very people who would speak up for Islam and stereotyping, our Muslim brothers would silence.
Always knew him to be an intelligent man its nice to know hes willing to polarize his following by standing up for his principles, bdw ET hes a pretty famous actor himself a very good genuine comedian and not merely husband to an american pop icon
I suddenly am in LOVe with you Russell Brand! You have my utmosttt respect :)
Will Russell jump on anything to buoy his sinking career?
Truth about western society - people favor rights of "people" and not "ideology" - the same cannot be said about Muslim societies when it comes to Islam.
.....well the question now is can people in muslim countries defend marginalized nd often persecuted minorties eloquently as did Russell brand.
I'm not a Muslim myself but find the prejudice on the Internet shocking, especially after this London attack. Can't believe people can be so narrow minded. Pleased that Russell Brand is one of the intelligent people in the public eye
the difference is every religion has nut cases. at the moment our nut cases kill innocent people, be it muslim or non muslims. their nut cases condemn entire muslim population, mostly on internet.
Well said Russell, and as a peace loving Muslim, I thank you for speaking up and speaking justly.
Sometimes you get support from the most unlikely quarters. I appreciate russell taking the time to write this article. Thanks et for mentioning it as well....