Pretty much what Gandhi said. You can justify bullshit stereotypes any way you want.
"Have the people that built the mosque supported violence?" I don't know. Have they?
fuck you.
My parallel here is that well-meaning Muslims should go above and beyond the call of duty to demonstrate their peaceful intent, educate Western masses who think peace-loving Islam doesn't really exist, and whenever possible, help curb the violence, by exposing extremist militants, or their haunts. Sitting on the sidelines and letting the fringe element get all the attention does not work well for them during this time. You can point fingers at the media or at provincial Americans all you want. The status quo won't change for the better until someone changes it. I suggest that those with the most to lose should have the greatest interest in positive change. The Japanese understood this, 65-70 years ago.
There are plenty of well meaning Muslims who stand up for their faith and peaceful way of thinking and life. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they should advertise to every close minded hick in the world who gets his news from networks intent on ratings rather than actual news.
Them wasting their time to convinces the likes who generalize would be equal to the average American trying convince the rest of the world that he isn't a fat stupid racist redneck. The people who have that absolutely incorrect view of Americans don't deserve to be reconditioned. It would be like talking to a brick wall.
The other point is who exactly do you present the average peace loving Muslim minding his/her own business? We get a lot of European networks, and they often show the average Muslim. If many Muslims conducted peaceful demonstration against extremism, or if powerful Muslim leaders condemned extremists, how would that be exactly shown to the racist American? How are they supposed to reach you?
Because a long time Pakistani cleric Ghamidi, who is considered one of the top five Muslim leaders across the world has condemned terrorism, suicide bombing etc. I've seen him show up on BBC several times. Has he been on Fox News?
What about the millions, and I mean MILLIONS of Indian and Pakistani Muslims who took to the streets two years ago against terrorism? What about the Muslims who marched in London?
Have you heard of that? Of course you haven't. Because you are arm chair critic, with little perspective of what is actually happening.
Here is a list of Muslim countries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_majority_countriesTell me how many want to kill you.