Not only is Vox making a “BS” “straw man” argument, but they’re doing so with a close to 400 word explainer from Max Fisher on how just “one tweet” is the “perfect response” to Bill Maher and his alleged Islamophobia:
The perfect response to people who say all Muslims are violent, in one tweet http://t.co/ik3eNZWyfv
— Vox (@voxdotcom) October 14, 2014
Let’s see if we can summarize Vox’s point in far fewer than 400 words, shall we? Here goes:
“If Muslims are so violent, how come they won all these Nobel Peace Prizes? Boom!”
How’s that? Now let’s take a look at the single tweet that Vox considers a “perfect response”:
5 of the last 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners were Muslim. So according to Bill Maher, we're all Peace Prize winners! pic.twitter.com/SDY3w51A3D
— hend amry (@LibyaLiberty) October 10, 2014
Get it? Tell “people who say all Muslims are violent” about all these Nobel Peace Prizes! Case closed. Argument won. Debate over.
But not really.
First off, Both Fisher at Vox and @ladyliberty have created a straw-man argument that Maher (and people who agree with him) claimed that “All Muslims are violent.” He never said anything of the sort:
@voxdotcom feel like this is false equivalence. Can't say I agree w Bill but this doesn't take into account most of his argument.
— Frank Karl (@realfrankkarl) October 14, 2014
https://twitter.com/AdamKishel/status/521848240908427264
https://twitter.com/tmcmahon2/status/521854050506379264
@voxdotcom FYI @billmaher & @SamHarrisOrg DID NOT SAY all Muslims are violent. @Max_Fisher Is this willful misunderstanding?
— Ellen Jean Meany (@EllenJM) October 14, 2014
That’s a great question. This certainly reads like a “willful misunderstanding” on Fisher’s part as this entire piece is based on something Maher never, ever said or argued:
https://twitter.com/Max_Fisher/status/521704274452316160
And secondly, when you review the bios of the winners — 2014 Malala Yousafzai; 2011 Tawakel Karman; 2006 Muhammad Yunus; 2004 Mohamed El Baradei; and 2003 Shirin Ebad — you’ll see that Yousafzai, Karman and Ebad won their Nobels because of their fights to promote women, children and broader human rights in their home, Muslim countries. And El Baradei won his Nobel, at least in part, for his work to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. In other words, they won their Nobels because of everything that Bill Maher said about Islam:
@voxdotcom they won those fighting the atrocities created by Muslims
— UpTheArsenal (@AFC__1886) October 14, 2014
@voxdotcom To be fair, the Nobels are incidental to their being Muslims while IS's insanity is derived from their specific religious views.
— wormbolt (@wormbolt) October 14, 2014
https://twitter.com/AdamKishel/status/521849150158032896
Fisher is now tweeting out a few of the “200” or so angry emails he’s gotten because of this piece in an effort to paint those who agree with Maher as the real crazies:
https://twitter.com/Max_Fisher/status/521841303441928192
That’s cute, but he’s still missing the point. So let’s give Vox and Fisher our one-tweet, perfect response to their straw-man attack:
@SandaBlue burn a Koran and see what happens @voxdotcom
— Somite of the Devil’s Backbone (@toxicpath) October 14, 2014
If Max Fisher is right and Bill Maher is wrong, Vox shouldn’t have any issue with putting a video of a burning Koran on their website, no?
Related:
Bill Maher ‘nails’ it on liberal Western culture vs. Islamic extremism
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