Recently, the op-ed section of this paper has seen some heated debate. Mark Twain once said, “Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.” Against his sage advice, I have thrown my hat into this arena.

For those of you who have not followed Sumaya Attia’s, Haley Lambert’s, or Megi Hakobjanyan’s articles (Opinion page, Sept. 27, 30, Oct. 2, 4) I encourage you to read them. However, for those of you who are lazy like I am, the “TL; DR” (Too long; Didn’t Read) version is whether or not Muslims, or people from any religious or social group for that matter, should be held responsible for crimes and atrocities committed by fellow members of their group.

Ms. Attia first brought up this issue in response to an on-air rant made by Bob Beckel during an episode of Fox News’ “The Five.” Beckel argues that no Muslim students should be allowed in the United States and no new mosques should be built until moderate Muslims take a stand against jihadist violence.

I would like to point out that any opinion of a person who is paid to stir up argumentation on-air may not hold the most moderate of opinions.

Attia states that, “If Muslims have to apologize every time a terrorist claims ties to Islam, shouldn’t they then consider every attack the United States has made on a Muslim country to be a war against Islam?”

In many ways, Attia is right. It is tiring to be expected to defend your faith every time a radical portion brings shame to the whole.

I know every time I see the strange or hateful evangelical preachers who occupy Fresno State’s Free Speech Area, I get a knot in my stomach. I pray each time I see them that people don’t lump me in with their impressions of Christians, but I know people do.

This is a sad fact of being human. We make sense of the world by putting things in boxes, making generalizations and creating rules of thumb. That doesn’t make it right, but it is a fact of life, and it is what differentiates us from the pure logic of computers.

I try to explain that not all Christians like them, but I can only reach a fraction of those the preachers have completely turned off.

In her article, Hakobjanyan said that she feels compelled to stand up for the honor of the Armenian people when a specific group of Armenians chose to commit fraud.

We choose what political, social and religious groups we associate ourselves with, so we cannot simply wash our hands of what deviant members do.

Injustice is injustice, and in the words of the philosopher Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of good over evil in this world is for good men to do nothing.”

Should Muslims have to speak out against every act of terror? No. But they should. Just as every member of a political party should speak out against injustice in their ranks. Just as every religious group should. Just as every cultural group should.

In a society such as ours we vote with our voices. We enact change by discussing things with our friends. We cause politicians and corporate executives to step down by making a fuss. We march, we blog, we protest.

The fact is, people are ignorant. If given the chance, they will be biased. Not because they are evil, but because they often lack information.

We may not be able to stop every wrong, but we can let people know where we stand. We can educate them, and show how we are different from the “bad apples” that exist in every group.

Then what does Attia want? Will bigotry and ignorance be solved simply by complaining about being lumped in with radicals?

In many ways, Islam suffers unduly in the news from blowhards like Beckel because there are few Islamic leaders who are household names in the Western World.

For better or for worse, on issues of Catholicism we turn to the Pope, for Protestantism we turn to mega-church pastors, and for black culture we turn to leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. However, I don’t know of any spokesperson for Islam who has enough star-power to be known to most Americans.

Yes, it is unfair the amount of negative attention average Muslims receive from morons like Beckel, but the answer to idiots is not to complain about how stupid they are. The answer is to show them how wrong they are.

At Fresno State, clubs like the Muslim Student Association (MSA) are already doing a great job of showing what Islam really looks like in Fresno and the United States.

So if the answer to injustice is to speak out against it, then where is the best place for all of us to start?

Let’s start with our own military, the organization that Attia and many around the globe point to to show the United States’ hypocrisy and lack of moral authority.

It has been disturbing to see a cult of the United States armed forces” (as I call it) surge in the years since 9/11, one that is nearly immune to criticism.

Even after scandals like Abu Ghraib and the Wiki-Leaks’ count of Iraqi civilian casualties, too many are blinded by their own patriotism and refuse to actually acknowledge that a broken system may exist.

Do I have pride in the United States’ military? Yes. Do I think it has been, and is capable of being a force for good in this world? Yes.

The moment we stop speaking out against injustice in our nation, our cultures, our religions and our politics, we risk not only losing the moral high ground, but also letting evil prevail by doing nothing.

Andrew McMillan is president of the Fresno State chapter of Young Americans for Liberty.