Who are the ignorant ones?
I'm bored. For some reason, I always wind up falling into these stretches of apathy and numbness where I don't feel like doing anything. I can't think of anything better to do than to just lie still and stare at the ceiling. Unfortunatly here at work, the best I can do while in a mood like this is to stare at the computer screen and try to think of something interesting to write or say.
I got really pissed off yesterday. Earlier this week, a columnist in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote an op-ed piece titled, "Terrorism and Ignorance." The gist of the article was that the Islamic world doesn't hate us for our freedoms like Bush and his yes-men claim, but rather they hate us because we don't even understand their initial gripes with us (most notably, US foreign policy). Some jerk from Marietta wrote a letter which the AJC published yesterday that was some of the most racist garbage I could imagine. The letter was implying that the journalist was the ignorant one, and went on to claim that Islam is an inherently violent religion ever since its inception, and Muhammed forcibly converted the masses to Islam. Moreover, this idiot claimed that Islam has always threatened the west. And ironically, the idiot who wrote the letter was claiming that others are ignorant.
A little background on early Islam - when Muhammed came to prominence, the Arabian peninsula was a horribly violent and continuously warring hell-hole. Muhammed gained a following through preaching a message of tolerance and practicality. It wasn't as pacifistic as Christ's 'Turn the other cheek,' ideology, but it was far more humane than anything else existing in the region at the time. Islam saw war as an inevitability that must be fought from time to time, so the religion put restrictions on its use. Holy war was only for defensive purposes, you had to be attacked first. If the other side offered peace or a truce, you were bound to take it, no matter how lousy the terms. Dealing with POW's and ransom, you were required to deal in good faith and procure the release of the POW's you held. In the end, Islam was the least belligerant of the ideologies existing in the region at the time.
Forcible conversion? That's a load of crap. When islam spread to the rest of the region, it was the religion of the elite conquerors. Nobody was forced to convert. A protection tax was levied on non-Muslims, but in return, they received military protection and social protection. When Muhammed was invited to Medina, marking the Hijra that begins the Muslim calendar, he was invited there because he was known to be a just and capable ruler who would bring peace amongst the clashing groups. He did just that. In Medina, the Christian and Jewish tribes there were granted equal protection and rights, and there was a collective defense treaty. Two of the Jewish tribes betrayed Muhammed and sold him out to the Meccans, and after the war was fought, Muhammed had those two tribes disbanded. The men were executed, the women and children were sold off into slavery. Sounds harsh, but at the time, the standard practice would have been to kill everyone in the betraying tribe. It was the most practical and humane decision that could have been made. DId this make Muhammed anti-Jewish? Absolutly not. It was only those two tribes that were destroyed. Smaller Jewish tribes that stood by Muhammed continued to enjoy his protection and friendship in Medina and Mecca. When Medina was under attack by the Meccans, a Rabbi stood at Muhammed's side and took to arms along side of him. When Mecca surrendered to Muhammed, no blood was shed, and nobody was forced to convert.
Yes this idiot who wrote the letter feels that he's the enlightened one and that everyone else is ignorant. It's lovely how this "religious" area called the bible belt is so "enlightened." Christ preached pacificism, to love your neighbor, love your enemy, show compassion, and other very beautiful messages. These so called bible belt residents chose to start the Ku Klux Klan, which claimed to be a Christian organization and used Protestant churches as major recruiting stations for decades was also an organization that committed mass terror and murder. The Crusades were entirely an assault by the Christian west on the Islamic world. When Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusading armies, the first thing they did was massacre the Jewish quarter of the city and turned it into a river of blood. It's a good thing that these "Christians" heeded the message of Christ to turn the other cheek and love their enemies. Luckily our extremely Christian president remembers that message... oh wait?
Yet people insist that it's only the Islamic world that's in a situation of ignorance today. Every religious community today seems to keep forgetting to remind itself why its philosophy was introduced to begin with. Muhammed united a warring and chaotic peninsula into a pragmatic and peaceful place that reached new heights of civilization in record time. Christ introduced his message at a time of extreme hedonism and indifference toward the common man. Moses did the same in leading his people out of slavery. Instead, today's messages have been dumbed down and turned into petty goals. Kill the unbelievers, claim the land, convert the masses so they can realize the evils of believing in evolution.
What pisses me off most is the entire 10 Commandments display cases. The supreme court, very wisely, ruled recently that it was not constitutional to display them at court houses as a violation of the Establishment Clause, but the context must be examined first. People are yelling and screaming about how it's a violation of free practice of religion and free speech. Ann Coulter, one of the especially wise ones of our day, wrote another piece blasting the censorship of the 10 commandments while showing all sorts of obscene and sexually explicit art that is partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts using taxpayer money. Well, Ann, were any of those explicit artworks displayed in federal courthouses? Is anyone trying to censor the display of the 10 commandments in Church or in a private residence? No. Those are nice and secure. If obscene art was displayed in the federal courts, I'm sure it would be censored just like the commandments displays.
Why is our world becomming more and more intollerant? The Islamic world is becomming increasingly intolerant the more it is threatened and repressed by the west. The west is becomming increasingly militant and intollerant the more it is threatened by the growth of Muslim extremism. In this day and age where it is possible to immediately send a message around the world in less than a second, why is it so unbelieveably hard to actually communicate good ideas to one another? People are sending these messages all the time, but it looks like nobody is bothering to listen to them and deal with them. People are too concerned with their safety that they want to fight fire with fire. Well hello, water puts out fire, not more fire. If there are extremists spreading a message of hate and violence, counter with a message of reason an moderation, not hate and violence of your own.
I wonder what the world will look like 50 years from now. For some reason, I'm not so sure it will be the utopia some of us would like to envision.
I got really pissed off yesterday. Earlier this week, a columnist in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote an op-ed piece titled, "Terrorism and Ignorance." The gist of the article was that the Islamic world doesn't hate us for our freedoms like Bush and his yes-men claim, but rather they hate us because we don't even understand their initial gripes with us (most notably, US foreign policy). Some jerk from Marietta wrote a letter which the AJC published yesterday that was some of the most racist garbage I could imagine. The letter was implying that the journalist was the ignorant one, and went on to claim that Islam is an inherently violent religion ever since its inception, and Muhammed forcibly converted the masses to Islam. Moreover, this idiot claimed that Islam has always threatened the west. And ironically, the idiot who wrote the letter was claiming that others are ignorant.
A little background on early Islam - when Muhammed came to prominence, the Arabian peninsula was a horribly violent and continuously warring hell-hole. Muhammed gained a following through preaching a message of tolerance and practicality. It wasn't as pacifistic as Christ's 'Turn the other cheek,' ideology, but it was far more humane than anything else existing in the region at the time. Islam saw war as an inevitability that must be fought from time to time, so the religion put restrictions on its use. Holy war was only for defensive purposes, you had to be attacked first. If the other side offered peace or a truce, you were bound to take it, no matter how lousy the terms. Dealing with POW's and ransom, you were required to deal in good faith and procure the release of the POW's you held. In the end, Islam was the least belligerant of the ideologies existing in the region at the time.
Forcible conversion? That's a load of crap. When islam spread to the rest of the region, it was the religion of the elite conquerors. Nobody was forced to convert. A protection tax was levied on non-Muslims, but in return, they received military protection and social protection. When Muhammed was invited to Medina, marking the Hijra that begins the Muslim calendar, he was invited there because he was known to be a just and capable ruler who would bring peace amongst the clashing groups. He did just that. In Medina, the Christian and Jewish tribes there were granted equal protection and rights, and there was a collective defense treaty. Two of the Jewish tribes betrayed Muhammed and sold him out to the Meccans, and after the war was fought, Muhammed had those two tribes disbanded. The men were executed, the women and children were sold off into slavery. Sounds harsh, but at the time, the standard practice would have been to kill everyone in the betraying tribe. It was the most practical and humane decision that could have been made. DId this make Muhammed anti-Jewish? Absolutly not. It was only those two tribes that were destroyed. Smaller Jewish tribes that stood by Muhammed continued to enjoy his protection and friendship in Medina and Mecca. When Medina was under attack by the Meccans, a Rabbi stood at Muhammed's side and took to arms along side of him. When Mecca surrendered to Muhammed, no blood was shed, and nobody was forced to convert.
Yes this idiot who wrote the letter feels that he's the enlightened one and that everyone else is ignorant. It's lovely how this "religious" area called the bible belt is so "enlightened." Christ preached pacificism, to love your neighbor, love your enemy, show compassion, and other very beautiful messages. These so called bible belt residents chose to start the Ku Klux Klan, which claimed to be a Christian organization and used Protestant churches as major recruiting stations for decades was also an organization that committed mass terror and murder. The Crusades were entirely an assault by the Christian west on the Islamic world. When Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusading armies, the first thing they did was massacre the Jewish quarter of the city and turned it into a river of blood. It's a good thing that these "Christians" heeded the message of Christ to turn the other cheek and love their enemies. Luckily our extremely Christian president remembers that message... oh wait?
Yet people insist that it's only the Islamic world that's in a situation of ignorance today. Every religious community today seems to keep forgetting to remind itself why its philosophy was introduced to begin with. Muhammed united a warring and chaotic peninsula into a pragmatic and peaceful place that reached new heights of civilization in record time. Christ introduced his message at a time of extreme hedonism and indifference toward the common man. Moses did the same in leading his people out of slavery. Instead, today's messages have been dumbed down and turned into petty goals. Kill the unbelievers, claim the land, convert the masses so they can realize the evils of believing in evolution.
What pisses me off most is the entire 10 Commandments display cases. The supreme court, very wisely, ruled recently that it was not constitutional to display them at court houses as a violation of the Establishment Clause, but the context must be examined first. People are yelling and screaming about how it's a violation of free practice of religion and free speech. Ann Coulter, one of the especially wise ones of our day, wrote another piece blasting the censorship of the 10 commandments while showing all sorts of obscene and sexually explicit art that is partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts using taxpayer money. Well, Ann, were any of those explicit artworks displayed in federal courthouses? Is anyone trying to censor the display of the 10 commandments in Church or in a private residence? No. Those are nice and secure. If obscene art was displayed in the federal courts, I'm sure it would be censored just like the commandments displays.
Why is our world becomming more and more intollerant? The Islamic world is becomming increasingly intolerant the more it is threatened and repressed by the west. The west is becomming increasingly militant and intollerant the more it is threatened by the growth of Muslim extremism. In this day and age where it is possible to immediately send a message around the world in less than a second, why is it so unbelieveably hard to actually communicate good ideas to one another? People are sending these messages all the time, but it looks like nobody is bothering to listen to them and deal with them. People are too concerned with their safety that they want to fight fire with fire. Well hello, water puts out fire, not more fire. If there are extremists spreading a message of hate and violence, counter with a message of reason an moderation, not hate and violence of your own.
I wonder what the world will look like 50 years from now. For some reason, I'm not so sure it will be the utopia some of us would like to envision.
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