Sudanese Teddy Saga Lays Bare Islamic Inferiority Complex

People of one culture can never perfectly understand the fine points of another culture, and extreme reactions to any mistakes or misunderstandings only widen the divide. A British teacher in Sudan devised a class project that required her students to name a toy bear, take turns bringing it home, caring for it and writing about the experience. After the children named the bear Muhammad, police arrested the teacher, and an assignment for schoolchildren became a small international crisis. Expecting slights and humiliation – and then demanding extreme punishments – is common among the insecure rather than those who are confident, writes Waleed Aly in an opinion essay for the Sydney Morning Herald. Very few Muslims, indeed very few members of any oppressed group, engage in such tactics. Loud advocates of victimization, however, define the image for some groups and contribute to a self-fulfilling prophecy. – YaleGlobal