Nadene Goldfoot
Instead of proving to the world how wrong a stupid video was that was made by a handful of uneducated people in the USA that few of us here have watched or even knew about, radical Muslims, whose group seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, fell into the trap of proving that this poorly made-video is correct.
The hateful al-Qaida, Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists most likely were behind a coordinated attack on the anniversary of 9/11/2001 when Muslim extremists managed to attack the Twin Towers and other places, killing more than 3,000 Americans. With American cell phones, it's easy to stir up people and dictate attacks. It's too easy to stir Muslims up with the claim that we were disrespecting Islam with this video.
Americans note that we did not observe this anniversary by attacking Muslims to get even. Instead, it is Muslims who attacked Americans by human sacrifice; attacking American Embassies in the Muslim world. First Egypt, then Libya where 4 were killed, people who had befriended that country. These Americans thought they were in safe territory and didn't have Marines to protect them, only a few security people who were killed. Now it's spreading to Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and Gaza. Stronger controls in Jordan and Afghanistan so far have kept it under more control. Don't tell me they didn't have human slaughter on their minds when they stormed that building. They killed their best friend and spokesman in their violence.
If Muslims are irate that someone had made fun of their prophet, a man who they believe uttered divinely inspired revelations, they have an unusual way of expressing it. It's behavior that this prophet was teaching that is now made fun of by these radical Muslims!. To react by rioting and killing is not doing Mohammed any good at all in garnishing respect. I haven't seen the film and don't want to, but that's what religion is all about; teaching people how to behave among other people. Your leadership, who are still dealing with the world in a Genghis Khan type of thinking, are not fulfilling Islam at all, unless of course, people are right in that you just want to take over the world with 7th century thinking.
All this rioting and screaming "God is great" while shooting and throwing grenades and rocks only demeans G-d. You're turning people off religion of all sorts, and especially Islam. You only know force. That's a very primitive level of thinking to the rest of the world. It's time to grow up.
Update: Since Friday's prayers, rioting has also spread out to India, Bangladash, Pakistan, Phillipines, Indonesia, Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, Kuwait, Qatar, Tunisia, Jerusalem and now a US army post in Afghanistan and an English one with 2 US soldiers killed. .
Resource: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/lybia-embassy-attack-stevens/2012/09/13/id/451778?s=al&promo_code=10103-1
Oregonian Newspaper 9/14/12 page kA5, US braces for more violent protests over anti-Islam film by Matthew Lee, Kimberly Dozier from AP.
Update: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4281556,00.html
Instead of proving to the world how wrong a stupid video was that was made by a handful of uneducated people in the USA that few of us here have watched or even knew about, radical Muslims, whose group seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, fell into the trap of proving that this poorly made-video is correct.
The hateful al-Qaida, Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists most likely were behind a coordinated attack on the anniversary of 9/11/2001 when Muslim extremists managed to attack the Twin Towers and other places, killing more than 3,000 Americans. With American cell phones, it's easy to stir up people and dictate attacks. It's too easy to stir Muslims up with the claim that we were disrespecting Islam with this video.
Americans note that we did not observe this anniversary by attacking Muslims to get even. Instead, it is Muslims who attacked Americans by human sacrifice; attacking American Embassies in the Muslim world. First Egypt, then Libya where 4 were killed, people who had befriended that country. These Americans thought they were in safe territory and didn't have Marines to protect them, only a few security people who were killed. Now it's spreading to Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and Gaza. Stronger controls in Jordan and Afghanistan so far have kept it under more control. Don't tell me they didn't have human slaughter on their minds when they stormed that building. They killed their best friend and spokesman in their violence.
If Muslims are irate that someone had made fun of their prophet, a man who they believe uttered divinely inspired revelations, they have an unusual way of expressing it. It's behavior that this prophet was teaching that is now made fun of by these radical Muslims!. To react by rioting and killing is not doing Mohammed any good at all in garnishing respect. I haven't seen the film and don't want to, but that's what religion is all about; teaching people how to behave among other people. Your leadership, who are still dealing with the world in a Genghis Khan type of thinking, are not fulfilling Islam at all, unless of course, people are right in that you just want to take over the world with 7th century thinking.
All this rioting and screaming "God is great" while shooting and throwing grenades and rocks only demeans G-d. You're turning people off religion of all sorts, and especially Islam. You only know force. That's a very primitive level of thinking to the rest of the world. It's time to grow up.
Update: Since Friday's prayers, rioting has also spread out to India, Bangladash, Pakistan, Phillipines, Indonesia, Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, Kuwait, Qatar, Tunisia, Jerusalem and now a US army post in Afghanistan and an English one with 2 US soldiers killed. .
Resource: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/lybia-embassy-attack-stevens/2012/09/13/id/451778?s=al&promo_code=10103-1
Oregonian Newspaper 9/14/12 page kA5, US braces for more violent protests over anti-Islam film by Matthew Lee, Kimberly Dozier from AP.
Update: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4281556,00.html
It is terrible that some innocent people died, who had nothing to do with the video, because of someone else's actions. And violent protests aren't too much too. A peaceful protest would have had more appeal.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of factors that will help understand why such violent reactions.
1 - Life is very tough in most of the countries you just noted in your update. There is corruption, poverty, almost no law and order, people don't trust governments, basic necessities like clean water are not available even in metropolitan cities. No electricity, no jobs. If someone manages to find job, the working conditions are like hell. A few days ago in Karachi (Pakistan) a garments factory caught fire and 300 people were burnt to death. Then there are the political parties killing people on ethnic grounds, they have a new term for it "target killing. In such living conditions people undergo huge psychological pressures. And IMHO this all leads to violent reactions on all matters. I saw on a tv channel a few years ago, there was fight between two families and couple of people died just for 1/10th of a dollar! Then there were these 2 kids who were beaten to death, in presence of police, by crazy mob who thought they were thieves! If the people have peace of mind, they will calm down and reactions or agitations will become more decent, IMHO.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305213/Lynch-mob-killing-Sialkot-video-sparks-mass-demonstrations-Pakistan.html
2 - The cultural difference. It is not just the Muslims, but lets say if you make some movie against Hindu religious figures in India, it will spark the reaction as well. Similarly, people respect books here, not just religious ones but the ordinary ones too. If someone sees a torn piece of book on a road they will tend to move it to a side so that people don't walk over it. The general approach is that the books are a source of knowledge so they be taken care of. The same feelings are only amplified for religious books. The trouble happens these generally frustrated people due to terrible conditions of their life start protesting. They vent their anger accumulated over the years in that protest.
A culture is a reflection of the teaching to those people. There is no excuse in any culture to react with violence at the drop of a hat to things they perceive as disrespectful. One must examine what people are being taught in their homes from their parents, and then from their schools, if lucky enough to have schooling. At least it used to be, I don't know if it still exists, that in the Chinese culture people thought first before acting to avoid bringing shame to their parents. These countries where violence has erupted are in need of examining what precepts they are teaching their people, especially from their religion. To hate everyone not like them is not something that should be advanced. It's good they have respect for books. Can they read any? More importantly, do they know how to look beyond their own government's controlled media to learn other sides of issues? This is where higher education steps in, or should. We're not bees or ants, we have the ability to learn to think, and mob violence is not The action of thinking people. They're just reacting and following. Sometimes there are even instigators who stir up people to cause rioting, too, for political purposes. Most now see this reaction to an unknown stupid video of which I finally broke down and tried to watch 10 minutes of as a poor excuse to vent hatred towards America and Israel. I couldn't even understand the trailer, let alone get some sort of disrespect for Muhammed. Yes, there are always hotheads in a peaceful demonstration that will try to start something. We can go on and on about the psychological need for attention, etc.,. The point is, others should have more control over themselves and not buy into such behavior, hard as it is in a mob situation.
ReplyDelete