An Islamic centre being built a few blocks from where the 9/11 attacks took place is in the news a lot these days. A large proportion of Americans are against this….am I surprised no….am I annoyed yes. It is quite sad and is also quite unreal that the people and the country and supports freedom and is the leader of the free world are actually making a big deal out of this. Religious freedom has been part of what America stands for and now this is being trampled. It is also quite funny to know that there are a few mosques around that area already…but this one has made the news and has become such an issue that the President is also forced to comment on this. I do have to admit that through the years, I don’t know if it’s the media or the government, it’s always been the case to demonise and then victimise people of the same race/religion who the US is fighting its wars with. This is just the turn of the Muslims. I remember during the Second World War, people of Japanese descent were being rounded up and put in camps just because of who they were and not because of what they had done. Reminds me of the cold war period, when communists were being rounded up regardless of who they were and what they had done.. There are examples like this throughout history and not only in the US.
If we have evolved to a state that we preach that freedom is the best thing everyone should have. Why do we then discriminate like this? Is it because we really don’t have freedom in the first place? I mean freedom in some things and not others?
It always gets muddy when people start saying things like, ‘It’s freedom of speech, let’s show these kids getting murdered on TV’, ‘It’s freedom of speech, let’s show the white supremists of this world, some Nazi favoured material’, ‘It’s freedom of speech, let’s all draw the prophet of your religion’. Where does common sense and respect come in to all of this? Why don’t we understand that there are certain things in this world that shouldn’t be done because of compassion, dignity, respect for others? Isn’t this the first instinct and value we should all teach others and practice?
Shouldn’t we think that if a particular group of people are sensitive about something, we should show some respect?
Sadly, there are a lot of nut cases in this world who would exploit this. Terrorists are the best example of this. What they are looking for is making a statement and an audience. They know that even though they are a small number, they can still instil fear into a lot of people just by posting something on the internet or even mailing it to a news channel, which will show the video because they want to make money. And unfortunately, they succeed and the rest of the people who haven’t done anything have to bear the brunt of the hatred and victimisation against them.
Also, there are people in this world that would do exactly what is sensitive to other people. It reminds me of a bully in school, who would say something hurtful to another kid and even though it’s trivial and nothing, he would keep saying it JUST because the other kid is getting annoyed by it.
I guess this is just us being human? I certainly would hope not.
On another note, I saw a video today of two kids mindlessly being beaten by a mob in Pakistan while people and police stood by and watched, eventually killing them. After watching it I really thought to myself why I even watched it as I felt sick to my stomach and felt a lot of feelings, which ranged from anger, rage, pity and sadness. Why did I click on the video which I knew was going to bother me? I think I’ve written about this before, but I just can’t understand why we as humans would be curious to have a look at something, which we know is going to bother us. I gave the example of slowing down to look at a traffic accident, everyone does it and so do I…
I don’t think I have the words to say to show my anger and sadness on the video itself. It’s just another example of human stupidity, madness and barbarism. No matter what those two brothers did, they didn’t deserve to die like this. May God bless their souls! And give the people who did this what they deserve….
