Everyone is seemingly condemning Donald Trump's proposal for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States"—the latest in his anti-immigrant rhetoric—which presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders slammed last month following the Paris attacks when Trump and others argued refugees should be turned away from the U.S. "This country has gone too far," said Sanders. "Too many have people suffered, and too many people have died for us to continue hearing racist words coming from major political leaders." One British soldier who lost his leg while serving in Iraq because of a Muslim man has tackled why blaming all Muslims for the actions of a few is foolish by sharing his experience in a now viral Facebook post.
Chris Herbert was in Basra, Iraq when a Muslim man blew him up, costing him his leg, but he hasn't become anti-Muslim just because of that. Herbert begins the post writing, "Getting frustrated by some people expecting racism from me, because I got blown up. Here it is: Yes. A Muslim man blew me up, and I lost my leg." He then talks about all of the Muslim people who also helped him after his near death experience, including a medic, a surgeon, and even a cab driver who gave Herbert and his dad a free ride on one of his first trips out after coming home.
Herbert then switches gears and contrasts how horrible white Brits treated him after he lost his leg. In one instance, one guy called him a "cripple," in another someone moved his wheelchair away just so they could use the elevator first.
The soldier then asked people to stop trying to push their hate mongering ideas against Muslims only because he was almost killed by one. He wrote, "If you want to hate an entire race of men and women for the actions of a few dickheads feel free, but don't push your views on me, thinking I am an easy target because one douchebag decided it was my day to die."
Herbert drove the point home about how stupid it is to generalize for all Muslims: "Blaming all Muslims for the actions of groups like Daeshe and the Taliban, is like blaming all Christians for the actions of the KKK or the Westboro Baptist Church."
