[Buddha-l] Was Buddhists Taking a Stand Against Isllamophobia

[Richard Hayes]

On Sep 23, 2012, at 11:48 PM, "Dan Lusthaus" <vasubandhu at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Of course, if one has one's hands full dealing with local corporate shenanigans, fine. But then don't lecture others about what to think or do about international situations.

Lecturing is my job. But I restrict my topics to Sanskrit grammar, about which I know something, and Indian Buddhist scholasticism, about which I wish I knew more.

There was a time when I thought a list called buddha-l would mostly carry messages about Buddhism rather than endlessly tedious screeds based on people's unfounded fears about our nation's universities being taken over by billionaires from overseas. When I have a craving for that sort of thing I tune in to Rush Limbaugh or Michele Bachmann.

Here in my home town I'm more concerned with the virulent and toxic anti-Semitism and Islamophobia manifesting on campus than with many other issues. It seems to me that both there is a connection between the two specific forms of hatred. I see no way of combatting one without also combatting the other.