Ben Affleck, the super hero

It seems the Muslim world has a new hero in the form of a tall, handsome, charismatic Hollywood actor and celebrity by the name of Ben Affleck.

Just pay a visit to his Facebook fan page and you will see the hundreds of postings and messages expressing adulation for him and how he defended Islam.

Affleck appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher where he, along with several other panelists including Sam Harris and Nicholas Kristof, talked about Islam and the Islamic State (Isis).

From the discussion, it seems that Maher and Harris were berating the Muslim world and basically calling the entire global community a pool of stupid ideas and beliefs.

They called Islam a religion that kills and murders people and said that the entire Muslim population believed that was the right thing to do. Hence, it was a dangerous religion consisting of dangerous people.

Then action hero Affleck raised his voice in defence of all innocent Muslims by saying that the broad statements by Maher and Harris were racist and ignorant.

He said that Maher and Harris’s statements regarding Islam and Muslims were very stereotypical and an insult to the millions who weren't jihadists or extremists. Occasionally, Kristof would put in a word of support.

Here's the thing: Muslims in Malaysia (and around the world) are going head over heels expressing how Affleck succeeded in putting forth his support for Muslims against the “enemy”.

What they don't realise is that a debate like this can only happen because it is allowed to happen. Different views are allowed to be expressed, discussed and debated.

Yes, the discourse may have been heated. Yes, they all agreed to disagree. But at the end of the day, the ideas and thoughts came out and the entire world society benefitted from it.

If it were stifled and censored, Affleck’s views might not have come out and those who are hardcore opponents of Islam would not have heard how stereotypical and racist their views were.

So that is the importance of freedom of speech and expression. It doesn't matter if there will be lots of ideas and views that are different. What it allows is the sharing of thoughts and the sharing of knowledge.

Now, I do realise that the discussion about Islam on that particular episode of Real Time with Bill Maher was quite superficial. They either didn't understand the subject fully or were just being stereotypical American (uh oh!).

They forgot to mention the different concepts and interpretations of Islam around the world. They also never mentioned the complicated geopolitical history that has influenced the global Muslim community.

But hey, at least it was discussed and debated. And now a lot more proper and indepth discourse on the issue is happening all around the Western world in newspapers and other media.

Imagine if just because America consisted of a majority who were Islamophobic, they decided to censor Affleck and Kristof's opinion. Wouldn't Muslims be upset? – October 10, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.