Yeah… I tend to do that. (Piss my "allies" off
as well as my "enemies.")
(*CHUCKLE*)
While I’ve got a FEW friends who can separate emotion
from intellectual analysis, human nature being what it is, unfortunately such a
trait is fairly uncommon.
Yeah, yeah… I know… and YOU no doubt can feel it coming…
FULL CONDESCENION MODE!
(*GUFFAW*)
So... all these knee-jerk (or rather just plain ol' jerk)
anti-Islam graphics and commentary I see on Facebook...
(*SIGH*)
I'm surrounded by morons. Ignorant morons. Products of
American public schools and public colleges primarily. A few of you having gone
to better private high schools and colleges/universities...
(*SHRUG*)
But basically (no offense!) most of you don't really...
er... know all that much.
(Shout out to my friends who serve - or who have served -
in the military and been stationed abroad; you folks I take seriously - yes...
even if some of you end up disagreeing with what I'm about to write.)
Islam isn't the enemy.
Not really...
Question: Prior to 9/11 how many of you looked upon
"Islam" - the religion itself - as "evil?" I'm guessing not
many.
Raise your hand if you're my age (53), close to it, or
older. OK... now... consider...
Do you recall "Muslim terrorism" when you were
a kid... or even during your formative early adult years?
No. You don't. I don't. And I have a friggin' DEGREE in
International Affairs from a major university!
(*SNORT*)
Yeah... we had "Palestinian terrorism." (Hijackings...
bombing... shootings...) Then there was the fall of the Shah of Iran followed
by the creation of the Iranian theocracy and of course the Iranian Hostage Crisis.
Then there was Afghanistan... the Soviets vs. "our" mujaheddin...
(*SIGH*)
We won! We beat the Soviets! Unfortunately... that in and
of itself led to other problems arising. And in a sense our policies in
Afghanistan during the '80's lit the fuse.
But I digress...
Recall the Gulf War... the FIRST Gulf War... and the
Bush/Powell bungling of the end-game...
(*SIGH*)
And then AFTER the "resolution"...
(*SNORT*)
...of the FIRST Gulf War we kept troops - and maintained
bases - in Saudi Arabia.
Folks... that there was another spark...
Next up... the FIRST World Trade Center Bombing... 1993.
Now, folks, I've omitted terrorist activities which
occurred prior to 1993. I'll skip the post-1993 list as well. (Google it if you
feel the need.) Suffice it to say: The "War Against Islam" really
started for all intents and purposes with the FIRST World Trade Center Bombing in
1993. Prior to that... we talked of Palestinian - or Syrian... or Libyan... or Iranian
- terrorism. (And then "Africa" got into the act; the Somalis... and so
on and so forth.)
Folks... I can't simply concentrate decades of academic
and experiential knowledge into one blog post... nor even a hundred blog
posts... but the bottom line is that MOST of you simply react to media stimuli
and the echo chamber of the equally uniformed and misinformed. I... not to put
too fine a point on it... actually KNOW what the hell I'm talking about.
So... back to Islam.
ISLAM per se is NOT our enemy.
The UAE is not Saudi Arabia. Kuwait is not Saudi Arabia.
Neither Jordan nor Egypt is Saudi Arabia... NOR are they the UAE or Kuwait for
that matter. My point? Different "Islamic" nations - take Turkey as
opposed to Iran for example; or the Shah's Iran as opposed to the Mullahs' Iran
- have far different internal dynamics. I'm talking socially... culturally...
politically... and so on and so forth.
(And, hell, folks... I'm not even gonna ATTEMPT to go
into Sunni vs. Shia!)
(And folks... note my serial mention of Saudi Arabia;
then ponder that Saudi Arabia is our "ally.")
(*SNORT*)
And no... woman aren't treated as chattel... as slaves...
used and abused via "Islamic tradition."
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
Most of you seem to confuse religion with culture as presented
through an economic lens. Folks... sure... it's not ideal being a poor Muslim
woman in some third-world hellhole. But neither is it ideal to be a
Christian... or an Animist... or a Hindu... or...
Well... hopefully you get the idea.
Women are abused where there's poverty and ignorance. (Children
are abused... men are abused... anyone without independent power is abused!)
Poor and backward is poor and backward. Period.
BY THE WAY... you dolts (obviously a targeted slur) DO
realize that 62% of the world's Muslims live in South and Southeast Asia -
right? The largest Muslim population in a country is in Indonesia...
Yeah... kinda "confuses" the calculations a
bit, doesn't it? Yeah... I worry about SAUDI terrorists. I worry about
Pakistani terrorists. I worry about terrorists from Yemen. I worry about
Palestinian terrorists...
(*PAUSE*)
Do you folks GET my point? Your fear and loathing
shouldn't be directed at Muslims as Muslims... at Islam as Islam... but rather
we need to focus - to discriminate (in the truest sense of the word) and "profile"
based NOT upon mere religious affiliation, but upon all the cultural and societal
dysfunctions that "raise a terrorist."
Have ANY of you actually READ the Quran?
Raise your hand if you actually KNOW any Muslims; really
"know" any as true friends.
(*PAUSE*)
Am I getting through to any of you - "you"
being the folks who post the hate?
Anyway... as previously posited, I can't suddenly turn
ignorance into understanding via one blog post - nor 100. You folks who post the
crap are likely gonna continue to post the crap. Hell... a few of you may even
"defriend" me in answer to my snark. (I'll survive, somehow.)
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