COMMENTS RECEIVED BY ME BY E-MAIL FROM A NON-MUSLIM READER OF MY ARTICLES ON THE MUSLIM ANGER AGAINST FACEBOOK
"In a number of websites, as you will find by typing 'cartoons of Mohammed' in Google, cartoonists in all industrial countries have started a concerted vilification campaign to depict the Prophet in the crudest and the most obscene manner. Hundreds of such cartoons have sprouted in most sections of the media in those countries. It would seem that all of them are bent upon teaching a lesson to Muslims for their perceived tendency to eliminate those whom they call infidels and avenging killings by jihadi/Islamic terrorists, and daring them to do their damnedest. One page of Facebook can be closed, but the mushrooming of these hundreds of cartoons is another kettle of fish altogether. The laws against minarets, burqas etc are part of the same psychological war against Muslims and Islam. For the present, Muslims and Muslim countries seem helpless and unsure of what to do to counter this new form of 'clash of civilisations'. It will be interesting to watch the outcome."
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indeed. The muslim adherents are at cross roads here. I think the reactions have to be watched in the coming months (note - delayed response to Danish cartoons). It will be particularly interesting to watch the reactions of the younger generation living in countries such as Pakistan, Iran and Turkey where 21st century living are side by side with 7th century Islam. Will the comforts of our current day be enough to wean the majority into a more neutral or rather "less extreme" camp. It will be interesting to see. I hope Raman ji, will keep readers informed of his opinion on this situation as it develops.
Sir,
our highly intellectual, diplomat par excellence, very honourable, down to earth honest, as bright as Sun & very beloved Pram Minister's govt. had told us that India will be given access to David Coleman Headley soon, if i am not wrong, by the end of this month, so now only 8 days are left. May i know when that auspicious day is coming?
I think Manmohan ld ve been a good spinner. They way he spins all the things at us is remarkable.
Religion, like language, is hard-wired into the human psyche. At their core, all religions are the same. Religion typically splits into two aspects: spiritual and political. The spiritual aspect of religion is straight forward. Its ‘signature’ is tolerance. It deals with questions regarding faith, God and eternity. The political aspect of religion currently draws most of our attention because it has the potential of affecting our immediate circumstances. The same is true for ‘isms’. We can say that man is in essence a religious animal. Or we can say man is in essence political. Both statements accurately reflect a singularity of the human condition.
While it is true that equating man’s spiritual nature with his political nature is paradoxical, the two are nevertheless inseparable. Mankind is most at ease when the political aspect of whatever his primary concern may be (as Alfred North Whitehead suggests) is benign. A wizened curmudgeon professing his belief in Marxism within the confines of an ivory tower suite is no threat to anyone. Man suffers when such concerns become militant as happened during the crusades and is happening now as militant Islam makes its moves.
The constant striving of religion is to reduce all the divergent aspects of life to one. People who may be several happy meals short of enlightenment do not recognize the essential oneness in what they see. They fail to make the connection that ties everything together. There are two ways to force the issue to its resolution. One is persuasion (proselytizing), militancy and violence; the other is tolerance.
Tolerance is the more difficult nut to crack. We have chosen the easy path. It is easier to lop off the heads of non-believers. It’s easier to ban conservatives from speaking at universities. It’s easier to call for jihad. It’s easier to cause havoc and break things, and then pick up the pieces of whatever is left and cobble these into a single atrocity based on the principle of exclusion. It is also easier getting people to submit.
We here in the West have chosen submission. Our enemies attack us and we submit. In order to rationalize our cowardice, we change the language. We blur the line between good and evil. We assume our enemy’s narrative and admit that we are at fault; that it is we who must adjust or even erase ourselves. Our mea culpas – and even our sacrifices - are flawed; it is only ego that speaks. We abandon our principles; our allies. We no longer tolerate ourselves.
This is the mindset of our current administration. It pays no mind to the violence, pain and dislocation that is certain to ensue. For them, all these comprise the necessary gateway through which we all must pass in order to achieve a more perfect union – the Utopia that is envisioned in James Hilton’s Shangri-La, in B.F Skinner’s “Walden Two”, in Pol Pot’s Cambodia, etc.
In today’s world the concept of tolerance has been all but abandoned. Political strife has taken its place. Unfortunately, just as religion cannot be exorcised from the human psyche, we cannot fight ‘isms’ with ‘isms’ and arrive at a good place. Religion has always been a double-edged sword. We have chosen the blunt edge of brutality.
Peter, to say mankind is inherently religious is like saying mankind is inherently violent. It does not have to be so and we can choose to rise above it if we want to. Our intellect should allow us to override our instincts. The paradoxes of religion disappear when you realise that they are all equally absurd and should all have stayed in the seventh century.
I do not think this is a conspiracy from any govt but it is clear that internet users have started a war.
This isn't a surprise. Whenever a company tries to delete piracy content of a particular movie from the internet, the users increase there distribution activity as a form of protest and eventually win.
The same is being done with "mohammed". Since countries and web companies are banning content from the internet, the users are taking matters in there own hand.
Just search for "draw mohammed" on youtube and look at the sheer number of results on that site. Several websites have been floated in a matter of hours that are begun displaying mohammed as a paedophile, war monger, rapist, murder etc etc
This will soon get out of control if this banning solution is continued. You cannot censor the internet - period.
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