Media loves the term Moderate Muslim

I just saw a debate today on bbc world in which the topic was 'Are the Moderate Muslims Failing to Reign in Extremeism’. It was debate which had representatives of diverse opinions and backgrounds including this one lady who could give George Bush a run for his money for being the most dumb person on the planet..

If any of you ever get to catch this debate on television then do watch it because it is very thought provoking and insightgul. The angle that I wanted to explore in this debate is why the mainstream media relegates the role of reigning extremeism to moderate muslims only. Does that mean I am absolved of any responsibility if I belong to a different religious community? That only if you are a part of that community can you step up to solve its problems? Should I forget that it is my role as a citizen of this world to reign in extremeism irrespective of my religion, caste, colour, economic or geographic background? My silence irrespective of my background encourages the rise of violent extremeism that we see in the world.

I become very angry with the mainstream media when they use terms like moderate muslim failing…hell ech and everyone of needs to do something but we are not, all of us are failing. Hell are they trying to divide us on the lines of religion by focussing on the religious identity of who is failing and who is not? And then I become very suspicious of the media when they start speaking like this. Through this debate they divide a community into muslims and non muslims and then encourage the non muslims to think as if the muslims are not capable enough to solve the problem of their community.

And why doesn’t the media use the term moderate when it comes to other religions like Hinduism , Sikhism and Christianity. Why don’t we hear today in Maharastra and Gujarat that moderate hindus are failing to reign in extremeism. When Sikh families kill the daughters in their families if they have married somebody from a different community, why dont we have debates about the failures of moderate Sikhs? And with these questions I begin to question the intention and intelligence of the media companies which highlight such debates. After all every individual or organization has a set of beliefs and principles according to which they act.. so are these debates reflective of their way of thinking?

When I look at my responsibility of spreading the light of humanity against the waves of extremeism then I should not be looking through the lenses of religion or community the only lens that I need to put on are those that make me realize that im a citizen of this world and I need to set my world in order.