Sinead O’Connor has been a controversial figure for a few decades, now.
She has recently converted to Islam and goes by Shuhada’ Davitt, but that is not the source of his latest controversy
The issue is a tweet in which she says that she never wants to “spend time with white people” ever again.
“I’m terribly sorry,” Sinead’s tweet begins.
She continues: “What I’m about to say is something so racist I never thought my soul could ever feel it.”
“But truly I never wanna spend time with white people again,” she writes.
That is such a head-scratcher, but she does offer a strange definition of “white people.”
In parentheses, she writes: “(if that’s what non-muslims are called).”
We don’t claim to be experts in theology, but that word would probably be kafir, not “white people.”
“Not for one moment, for any reason,” Sinead makes clear. “They are disgusting.”
Regardless of her religious adherence, Sinead O’Connor is very, very white.
Converting does not change that, and she’s hardly the only white Muslim — which makes her statement so much stranger.
Unfortunately, that was only one tweet of many.
Sinead followed up her controversial tweet:
“Interesting to see if Twitter bans this when it allows people like Trump and Milbank spew the satanic filth upon even my country,” she wrote.
Twitter has not, as of Wednesday afternoon, done anything of the sort to her tweet.
On top of that, the 51-year-old folk singer seemed eager to get into heated religious discourse.
“How come so called christian and jewish theologians,” her question begins.
She interrupts herself to claim: “(the christian theologians being atheists and satanists actually in practice, though they know it not).”
Sinead continues: “never talk about the smashing of their enemies babies heads on rocks which in all over their psalms?”
What she means to ask is why don’t members of other Abrahamic faiths who claim that Islam is violent because of the Qur’an when their own holy books have similar content.
She then promptly answers her own question.
“BTW if one IS an intelligent theologian and has taken the journey,” she tweets.
“One would know there is no more talk of ancient violence in the Q’ran as the Tanukh, the Bible, or The sodding Mahabarata,” she writes.
The Tanakh (which stands for Torah, Neviim, and Ketuvim) is the holy book of the Jewish people, known as the Old Testament in Christianity.
The Mahabharata is one of the oldest Sanskrit texts of India, and describes the Bharata dynasty.
“And,” she concludes. “Its ALL EQUALLY IRELLEVANT TO OUR TIMES.”
Which makes one wonder why she brought up old-timey scriptural violence in the first place.
So, there are a few obvious things to unpackage.
Her tweet isn’t racist, exactly, it’s just hostile, prejudiced, argumentative, and deeply confused.
She is a white woman, in terms of what that term actually means.
If she’d said that she didn’t want to hang out with non-Muslims ever again, that would be prejudiced and obnoxious.
But remember that she has been making impulsive and sometimes offensive statements for decades.
Just one year ago, Sinead O’Connor recorded a disturbing video in which she shared that she was suicidal.
She probably converted in the hopes that it will bring her peace, but lashed out online because she cannot help herself.
Sinead O’Connor has been an outspoken critic of organized religion for a very long time.
Unfortunately, her confrontational approach is sometimes off-putting, even to those who share her views.
At the end of her Twitter rant, she did at least acknowledge how bizarre her social media messages have been.
“Final word,” she wrote. “If its ‘Crazy’ to care. Then by all means, spank my ass and call me Fruity loops : )”
We hope that she is getting whatever help and support she needs in this time.
Perhaps her newly found religious community can help.
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