In George Orwell's book, 1984, the phrase "Big Brother is watching you" and "Big Brother is watching" are repeated numerous times to express that people should behave because some higher (governmental) persona is watching their every move and judging them every hour of the day. The last line of the picture objectifies their supreme deity as some petty, micromanaging, lower deity with nothing better to do than constantly meddle directly in the affairs of mortals. The comparison makes "Allah" no better than the imaginary higher being controlling society in 1984.
I'm not encouraging to argue the whole gamut of issues with your mother. Or even a deep take on it. But you should be able to convince her not to perpetuate hatred against people who were her friends and neighbors, i.e. Indians. You don't need to bring up patriotism. You should even bite your tongue on her anti-semitism. You should just tell her not to continue enflaming a hatred against herself, her family, her husband, her friends and neighbors- and the next time she forwards one of these e-mails it shouldn't include any hatred against Indians.
Ah, I get the Big Brother connection now. I had no idea there was a book called 1984.. If you ever made the mistake of sitting in one of the Islamic Studies classes in any English-medium school here, you'd hear that phrase a lot. "Don't do X because Allah is watching you." "Pray 5 times a day because Allah is watching you." Well! Allah must be having a darn good time watching pretty little me prancing about, mustn't he? ;)
I'm not encouraging to argue the whole gamut of issues with your mother. Or even a deep take on it. But you should be able to convince her not to perpetuate hatred against people who were her friends and neighbors, i.e. Indians. You don't need to bring up patriotism. You should even bite your tongue on her anti-semitism. You should just tell her not to continue enflaming a hatred against herself, her family, her husband, her friends and neighbors- and the next time she forwards one of these e-mails it shouldn't include any hatred against Indians.
Reply
If you ever made the mistake of sitting in one of the Islamic Studies classes in any English-medium school here, you'd hear that phrase a lot. "Don't do X because Allah is watching you." "Pray 5 times a day because Allah is watching you." Well! Allah must be having a darn good time watching pretty little me prancing about, mustn't he? ;)
Reply
Try to check out a copy of "1984"- it's considered standard reading for high school students in the english speaking world.
Reply
Leave a comment