The bigotry of low expectations

Came across this on The Jawa Report.  I think that while their chosen money quote was a good one:

“There is one religion in the world that kills you when you disagree with them and they say ‘look, we are a religion of peace and if you disagree we’ll fucking cut your head off.” ~Bill Maher

Probably even more significant was Andrew Sullivan’s quote from President Bush regarding “the bigotry of low expectations“.  The problem with acknowledging that the primitive muslims of the Middle East are prone to violent overreactions to the slightest offense is that you are forced to acknowledge that they’re less than human.  When gay entertainers get eaten by their pet tigers, we understand that these morons were playing with their own lives all along.  It’s not the tiger’s fault, it’s his nature and as a dumb animal he can’t help it.  When islamist fundamentalist nutjobs attack everyone who doesn’t agree with them because they don’t agree with them, we cannot simply say “it’s their nature” and still believe they are human beings deserving of the same respect we give all civilized human beings.  They’re either our equals, and we can expect them to act according to the standards of a civilized global society, or they’re animals and belong in cages (or should be put down humanely, like we would any rabid animal).

It just can’t be both.  Remember that when our leaders blame the cartoons and burning korans, and don’t even mention the barbarians.