A reader recently emailed me a number of photos from an article by blogger Rai Saqib, purportedly showing the massacre of more than a 1,000 Muslims in Burma at the hands of Buddhist attackers.

First, let me stipulate that Muslims are indeed being killed in Burma, and the purpose of this article is not to excuse the way the Burmese Military has handled the conflict between Buddhists and its native Muslim population. The purpose of this article is to show how Muslims and their apologists throughout the rest of the world use lies and deception to hide why Buddhists, who are arguably the most peaceful people on this planet, have acted with violence toward Muslims, although not in the outrageous numbers being bandied about.

Before we discuss those lies and deception, let me answer why Buddhists have become violent: the answer of course is fear of losing their culture to a barbaric cult. Buddhists know what happened to one-time Christian-majority countries like Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and are now Muslim-majority countries.

Buddhists know that countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia were majority filled with Buddhists and Hindus and are now devoid of Buddhists and Hindus.

Buddhists know that Iran was once a country filled with Zoroastrians, Christians, and Jews and is now 99.4% Muslim.

But Bernie, what about the thousands of Muslims slaughtered by Burmese Buddhists? OK, let's look at some pictures shown on thousands of social media, websites, blogs and Islamic news organizations worldwide. Consider for a moment the photo above which claims that "More than 1000 Killed Yesterday," and implies that the bodies are those of Muslims killed by Burmese Buddhists. But a cursory glance at the bodies shows not one drop of blood on any of the victims. Were they all strangled in their sleep or drowned in their bathtubs? And why are they all men? Where are the women and children? Shouldn't a massacre include entire families?

The Photos are Deceptive or Fake

Actually, none of the men in the photo are dead - they are lying down being watched over by Thai soldiers.

Here is the correct caption from Getty Images:

Violence in Thailand's muslim south In Tak Bai, Thailand On October 25, 2004- 85 Muslim men died during a demonstration in Tak Bai district (Narathiwat province.). Seven protesters were killed by police gunfire when security forces broke up a violent demonstration outside a police station and detained some 1,300 Muslim men. 78 of those detainees subsequently died, mostly from suffocation, after being packed into trucks and taken to camps. The Thai army holding up Muslim demonstrators by the river.

Then what about the photo below where we see Burmese Buddhist monks standing over the bodies of Muslims they killed:

Nope, not about Burma at all - most of the victims are Tibetan Buddhists. Here's the story from Getty Images tied to that photo:

Tibetan monks prepare a mass cremation for the victims of a strong earthquake, on April 17, 2010, in Jiegu, near Golmud, China. Current reports state 1144 people died and more than eleven thousand were injured when the 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Qinghai Province. Most of the victims are Tibetan and would normally have a sky burial, in which the bones of the bodies are broken and are left for vultures, but the sheer number of victims have forced the authorities to abandon the practice.

OK, so none of those photos going around have anything to do with Burmese Muslims being killed, but how many Burmese Muslims did die? Well, according to Human Rights Watch, which investigated the matter of the 2012 riots: fewer than a few dozen deaths occurred on both sides - read the pdf here. According to China Daily News, the number of Muslims killed during and since those riots is about 166.

Even one life is precious, so I don't mean to diminish the tragedy of any Muslim death, however these photos, showing thousands of deaths, are meant to evoke images of a genocide.