Sometimes I come across memes here on Facebook that make me laugh. Some make me roll my eyes. Others--well, others deserve a headdesk because they are so unselfconsciously silly.
In general, like Twitter (I have an account but it's rarely active), memes attempt to condense profound thoughts in a picture and a few words. Sometimes this can be done well. Sometimes there can be a lot of wisdom in a few words and a picture, enough to make us think, laugh or at least pause for a moment.
At other times, though, they fail, and fail badly, to convey the meaning that they attempt to convey. This can be because they aim to simplify the complex, and the medium really isn't fit for it. A treatise on the Anthanasian Creed won't really be captured in a meme...nor will the complexity of hydrodynamics. But sometimes they work well, especially if they're about parenting small children, making fun of silly people, or extolling the virtues of coffee.
But the ones that are headdesk-worthy...well, you just have to see them. And here's one for you now:
A friend shared this from Allen West a few weeks ago. (And if you're reading this, please--I'm not making fun of you...I'm making fun of Allen West and whoever made the meme. Remember, I love you, bruh.)
But let's deconstruct this meme, shall we?
To begin, sure, it's entirely fare to criticize the claim that Islam is "the Religion of Peace". We can talk about that, see if the label fits. It's ok to examine statements in the Quran, Hadith, and those of Islamic scholars that might make one question if that label is accurate.
But what this meme is seeming to say is that "if a religion claims to be one of peace, the place where there a lot of adherents of that faith should be peaceful." Fair 'nuff...but do you really want to go there? Really? I do remember something about stones and glass houses, so do be prepared....
Let's ask ourselves a question: can it be said that Christianity is a religion of peace? Jesus is called "The Prince of Peace", but He also said "I come not to bring peace, but a sword". Whatever nuance we should bring to these verses, I think it's safe to say that Jesus thought that love was pretty important...indeed, that love was the whole of the law.
So, by the logic of this meme, shouldn't the places with the highest number of self-identified Christians be, well, full of love? Shouldn't, say, Europe, be full of peace, sweetness and light?
Well, it is a pretty peaceful place currently (aside from the Ukraine and the recent unpleasantness in the Balkans.) It's also largely post-Christian.
But back when the majority of Europeans were self-identified Christians of various sorts, was it a peaceful place? After the Roman Empire was largely Christianized, did it become peaceful (except of course for those nasty Muslims invading, of course)?
Hardly...it was wracked by war, political intrigue (in which the Church was a major player), and even pogroms against Jews or fellow Christians (who didn't quite see things they way others did). And though the Intelligentsia was already moving away from any real faith by the start of the twentieth century, the rank and file soldiers of the armies of Europe were still Christians in the two most devastating wars of human history. Gott Mit Uns, indeed.
The violence of the Middle East? A bunch of pikers. European Christendom (and those of European descent in these colonies) developed modern weapons of mass destruction, modern conscript armies, strategic bombing of cities, poison gas, et cetera ad nauseam.
"But wait! That's not fair! They weren't real Christians!" Ok, fine...laying aside the no true Scotsman fallacy, don't move the goalposts. The logic of the meme was that if there are bunch of Muslims in a place, and Islam is the religion of peace, then that place should be full of peace, Q.E.D. No one is asking if these are "real" Muslims or not in this meme (and as I said, it's fair to ask "what does Islam really teach?"--but the meme skips that question.) So why should we add that standard to the same question of Europe? If the history of a region is proof-positive as to the nature of the religion of its adherence, then the history of Europe would suggest that Christianity is a baptized variation of the Ares cult.
In the end, memes are, well, propaganda. They don't inform, they assume and they try to present statements in a way to say "you are a brain-dead fool if you don't agree with what I'm saying here." They are not eloquence, they are not debate--they are virtue-signaling to the friends you agree with, and snarky comments to your friends who don't.
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