Could social shame bring about the change the War on Terror can't?

by Country Girl 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Country Girl

  EDITORIAL

  Muslim media's criticism of terrorism gives us hope

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  EDITORIAL BOARD

  Sunday, September 12, 2004

  The massacre of hundreds of children in a Russian school by Muslim terrorists has resulted in an outpouring of criticism in the Muslim press.

  In unusually strong language, several courageous and influential editors and columnists have condemned not only the unspeakable horror in Beslan, but the other terror attacks around the world. Some of the more powerful comments lament what terror is doing to the image of Islam in the Arab world and beyond.

  "It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslim," wrote Abdel Rahman al-Rashed in the influential Arab newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat. Rashed is the general manager of the satellite television station Al Arabiya.

  It was Muslims, he added, who murdered the Nepalese workers in Iraq, who brought down the World Trade Center towers in New York, who rape and murder in the Darfur region of the Sudan and brought down two airliners in Russia.

  "What a pathetic record," Rashed wrote. "What an abominable 'achievement.' Does all this tell us anything about ourselves, our societies and our culture?"

  He continued, "We cannot clear our names unless we own up to the shameful fact that terrorism has become an Islamic enterprise; an almost exclusive monopoly, implemented by Muslim men and women."

  Rashed's column was an impressive and welcome condemnation of terror from an important position in the Islamic world.

  He wasn't alone in deploring what Osama bin Laden, Egyptian Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi and others have done to pervert a venerable religion by preaching hatred and mass murder.

  In a Jordanian newspaper, a columnist said the Arab world cannot continue to pretend that the horrifying terror loosed on innocents comes from anywhere other than among Muslims. "They come from our midst," he wrote of those who blew up the trains in Madrid, beheaded civilians in Iraq and murdered the Russian schoolchildren. "Therefore, we must all raise our voices, disown them and oppose all these crimes."

  If terror is to be diluted and counteracted, it can come from no better place than within the Muslim world. Condemning these crimes against humanity is a welcome gesture from the Muslim press and the Arab world.

  Most Muslims believe that their religion has been hijacked by terrorists, which is tainting them, their holy Quran and Islam.

  It is not the first time that religion has been used to justify atrocities, of course.

  But the more that Muslims denounce terror in the name of their religion, the better the chances of curbing it.
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  NewSense

  It's all well and good that moderate, mainstream Muslims condemn the atrocities carried out by those professing to follow Islam but who, in reality, are effectuating a travesty of its teachings. But while true Moslems are condemning such horrific conduct, it behooves true Americans to equally condemn the atrocities being carried out by their own government. It's sickeningly ironic that the American government speaks constantly of the "War on Terror," all the while being guilty of committing state-sponsored terrorism of its own. The invasion of Iraq is nothing other than state-sponsored terrorism. Just as Hitler did, Bush fabricated a chimerical excuse - that of eliminating the non-existant "weapons of mass destruction" - in order to illegally invade a sovereign nation.

  The Nazis frankly confessed that they had no desire to tell the German populace any small lie; no, they spoke only of the Big Lie. They intuitively knew that the German people would believe a big lie more than a series of small lies. Likewise, too many Americans remain silent in face of the big lie told by their own government. The heinous conduct of the American government makes the conduct of such "rogue" states as North Korea seem like school-boy pranks. And, to speak of *South* Korea for a moment, I wonder what the U.S. plans to do now that South Korea has admitted that it has attained nuclear weapons capability. In my opinion, South Korea has most definitely in its possession a weapon of mass destruction. Using the "logic" that Bush stated, ought the U.S. now invade South Korea - or at least get rid of its naughty leaders who, by the way, give no more of a godamn about democracy than Saddam ever did? Just think, now the U.S. has an excuse to invade BOTH North and South Korea. To bring a lovely phrase from the Vietnam war era, the U.S. can now "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out." Fuck, while the U.S. is at it, it can also "bomb China back to the stone age." The Tibetans, Mongolians and Taiwanese would all love to see that!!! There would be parades with dragon dances everywhere!!!

  But seriously, it's time that Americans took back their country. If they don't, it may well soon be too late. The barbarians are at the gate. It's indeed high time shame brought about social change for the better - in America. It's ironic that Americans speak of introducing democracy and social freedoms to Iraq, while the so-called "Patriot Act" does nothing other than deprive Americans of their owm constitutional rights. Slowly but surely, the American people is being stripped of rights that it has always taken for granted. History - from the time of ancient Rome to our contemporary era - offers many examples of the utter destruction and ruin wrought by demagogues and tyrants like Bush. And as Santayana said: Those who do not heed the warnings of history are doomed to repeat it.
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  stillajwexelder

  A free and brave press eventually helped stopped the Vietnam war. Brave Muslim editorials will help a great deal - history shows us that
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  Pole

  Many Americans are missing the point in the so called "war on terrorism", and falling back on social shame in countries like Palestine will only result in more innocent victims of terrorism. It's actually a sign of weakness, and hopefully a sign of a better understanding of the problem of terrorism.

  If the real political reasons for terrorism are not dealt with in political and not only military terms, the problem will only intensify. Expecting social shame from Muslim societies without showing much social shame in your own country about some aspects of its foreign policy is delusional, if not hypocritical.

  If I didn't care about America's safety and stability I wouldn't be voicing this opinion.