Before I comment on the article I’d like to say few things. In case of any attack against Islam there are two ways to tackle the situation. Either 1. Ignore it or 2. Take action. The key is to evaluate the possible impact of it.
1. There is no way you can control people who put such things on the Internet. In general when people forward emails with a list of certain websites not to visit, out of curiosity many people do visit them. Every single hit makes them popular. If you don’t share it many will die with ignorance. For instance I went to the above website three times and then finally saved it on hard drive so I don’t have to go again. For discussion purposes I think the best way is to paste the article instead of sharing the source. For this website the biased tone is evident; moreover, he is speaking against the JP II, I doubt he will gain much popularity. Though its available in five languages.
2. Some situations require immediate attention for example if it appears in a widely published Newspaper or Television. When condemning the source, be diplomatic and non-emotional. The best way is to report such incident to a local organization who have the expertise to deal with such an issue. For instance you can report to CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations) they have a whole department primarily dealing with such issues. Actually what you do is that you report a story (positive and negative both) of a newspaper or TV to them (CAIR) after they verify they send it to different professionals all across U.S. A strategy is then designed from the feedback. Usually their team of experts then formulate the response and send it to thousands of people through CAIR Action Alert. All you’ve to do is to copy the text and send an email to the editor or author.
I urge everyone to join their mailing list. Believe it or not it is very effective. Their web site is
http://www.cair-net.org A current request is given below.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE and RESPECTFUL. Calls are best, followed by faxes and then e-mails.)
Contact President Bush to ask that he withdraw the nomination of
Daniel Pipes to the
board of the United States Institute of Peace.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Call even if you responded to previous action alerts on this issue. Please ask your family, friends and colleagues to also call, e-mail or fax the president.
CONTACT:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
TEL: 202-456-1414
COMMENT LINE: 202-456-1111
FAX: 202-456-2461
E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov
COPY TO: greggstaff@labor.senate.gov, senator@kennedy.senate.gov,
cair@cair-net.org