You may have heard of the saying, doing the right thing for the wrong reason. At its core is the concept that someone may do something you agree with, but do it for motives that are anathema to yourself.
I dare say, I speak of this as I feel that often the words I write may often be agreed with by people for the wrong reasons. Let me be clear. I really oppose the ideology of Islam. In fact, and other XYZ contributors will disagree with me here, but I do not particularly care for any religion. I especially loathe theocracy. Institutions that centralise power make me flail my arms like a futuristic robot proclaiming “danger danger danger!”
Sure, the underlying philosophy of most religions is very similar.
Then you get to the nuances of the religion, and for someone like me who thinks it is fairy tales, you start to read the religion and its teachings very differently.
Imagine being signed up to Vodafone by default because your parents use them. And told you can never leave Vodafone or you will die. And you need to point to the nearest phone tower multiple times a day and shake your first. That if the signal is poor it’s because you are a bad customer. That you will get good reception and free texts once you die, but for eternity. Yay! Oh, but you must learn the terms and conditions by memory. And never ever draw pictures of mobile phones.
It is madness. It’s authoritarianism in a religion like Islam.
But it is not a race. It is a set of ideas, which form an ideology, which is called a religion, which is “practiced” by people anywhere, but which when practiced en masse leads to horrible situations.
Coming full circle, I shudder to find myself in the same grouping as genuine bigots who oppose it out of xenephobia and ignorance.
I can empathise with the progressives and lefties who must shudder at the thought that they are allies with head chopper and clit cutters and women haters and paedohiles and gay haters and people who really despise the values of those erstwhile allies of theirs.
I am sure they too are allies for the wrong reason. I am sure these are many who are doing the wrong thing for the right reason.
