Five Years Later....
A Quick Introductory Note:I have written this post for myself because I want most of all for my journal to be just that: a journal that I can look upon in a few--or many--years time. I am leaving it unlocked, however, because I think [hope?] that discussing and thinking about these things will help us in the end, whether in the practical sense of
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It's hard to fight a war when no one will name the enemy. "War on Terror?" Terror is a tool or a result, not an enemy. Only recently has the president said "Islamic fascism," the Islam that wants to dominate the world.
Peace is great, but Westerners are of the opinion that that is what everyone wants. Islamic fanaticists are happy to die if you die too. Their goal is Dar al-Islam, that the ummah be restored and sharia be the law of the land.
Islam requires jihad or the financial support thereof. Conversion, dhimmitude or death are the only options granted to a conquered populace.
Obviously, not all Muslims subscribe to this and really do want to live their lives in peace. How do we encourage this? Answer that and we will have a chance for peace.
Until that is done, the military, law enforcement and intelligence communities are all tools to fight the war.
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Only recently has the president said "Islamic fascism," the Islam that wants to dominate the world.
This is interesting and something that never really occurred to me. But of course not...I don't watch the news and least of all that which pertains to Bush. But knowing what my husband goes through with his job at Customs, I can believe it. I hate to say it, but people are simply too PC sometimes. I do not approve of the general populace using skin color or ethnicity as an excuse to treat people with hate, and I'm really personally confused about issues dealing with profiling, to be honest, at airports and such. But I do know that whenever a radical Islamic leader is stopped at the border for being...ummm, a radical Islamic leader, then everyone throws their hands in the air and goes, "OMG it must be racism!" The fact that the same guy was on a soapbox a week before, preaching about killing "infidels" has nothing to do with it, of course.
But then, I wonder if some of that kneejerk "He must be innocent! It must be racism!" comes back to the fact that a lot of times innocent folks with darker skin are treated in a racist manner. And as much respect as I have for law enforcement (working for them), I am not so foolish to think that all cops or all Customs officials have the same outlook as Bobby and me, and I know that people are sometimes treated unfairly. And so these people's ignorance only makes things worse because when the real bad guys try to come into the country, very rarely is it believed when Customs says, "Really, we have proof that this guy wants to hurt us." Often, of course, they can't reveal the specifics, which only makes the frenzy worse.
I don't know what you've done to earn this ramble, but I apologize.... ;)
Peace is great, but Westerners are of the opinion that that is what everyone wants.
I am personally a pacifist. I am also a realist, and I recognize that there are times when a threat can only be removed through violence. For example, if I was given a gun and the chance to kill the hijackers on 9/11 and that was the only way...I would have done it.
I think that there is danger in any belief system that is simple, clear, black-and-white, including pacifism. Would I be less evil in allowing 3,000 people to die than shooting hijackers who want to harm them anyway?
It seems also that there is a danger in fundamentalism, no matter if it comes in the form of Islam, Christianity, or any other religion. Naturally, the Middle Eastern culture encourages this sort of thing more than, say, Americans encourage Christian fundamentalists. But they all have this black-and-white view that pardons evil done in the name of upholding their narrow set of beliefs. I often think that whoever concocted the "rules" for these religions was one smart cat indeed. It is not enough to live one's own life by the morals required of the religion but everyone else must be converted too--or eliminated.
I guess that beyond that, it's less an issue even of fundamentalism so much as extremism--as political extremists are similarly guilty--or the notion that good and evil can be easily classified as such.
Okay, I'll stfu and stop rambling.... ;)
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Poor Dawn, I thought, here she is sharing her memories of that day and its tragedy and she takes out a red hanky to dab at her eyes when all of a sudden Bam! here comes Rinnor seeing this tiny red flag and charging like a bull. I apologize like that.
Little did you know that you alluded to one of the two issues most likely to start a diatribe, and 9/11 and all its memories was enough to get me started.
Politics has its place, though these days the left and right seem to live in their own worlds and only seemed interested in screaming at each other.
I've never considered myself very political, but it seems I can go on at length about some subjects, however I don't think your LJ is the place to do that ;-)
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And anything that I post as viewable is subject to opinions of my flist. I know that, and that's fine.
So please don't worry about it. Your opinions are always welcome here!
I don't post a lot of political stuff on LJ because I don't know much about it. I find it very aversive, most times. These issues happen to be closer to me because my husband studies them (and I was his editor for enough years to have read my share of papers on them!) and he now works for Customs, so I can speak to what they go through as an agency and what difficulties he faces. Working for law enforcement, I can speak on that too.
After that, I'm naive by choice. ;)
So please don't feel bad or worry about it. You were not perceived that way at all, and even if you did come across as having strong views...well, I've done the same before. It's all good. :)
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