Friday, November 23, 2007

Fanatics: Not an Islamic Monopoly

Iraqi kooks are in the news again. This time three people, presumably connected with Al Qaeda, killed their uncle and his wife, forcing the couple's children to watch the execution. The uncle was an infidel, it seems, because he wore western trousers, and didn't pray.

This story could be handled quite a few ways in the news, or in blogs:
  • Gender equality
    • Two of the killers are sisters, showing that Islamic culture is willing to give women equal access to culturally-significant roles
    • Islamic clothing standards apply both men and women: Women must wear burqas, men mustn't wear pants
  • Western guilt
    • Oppressive American dominance of global culture forced the uncle to wear trousers, resulting in his death
    • Western oppression of Islam forced the three Muslims to defend their faith
  • Islamic guilt
    • Islam's rigid dress code claimed more victims
    • Islam forces Muslims into an intolerant, hate-filled lifestyle
There are more possibilities, of course, many more sensible than what's in that list. Including what I think this terrible incident, and others like it, mean.

I think, and hope, that the nominal Muslims who committed these and other atrocities ("It's Arabic, Is It Islamic?" (November 21, 2007)) are as typical of Islam as the "Westboro Baptist Church" is of Christianity ("Does Free Speech Include Disrupting Funerals?" (October 26, 200)).

In the news:

2 comments:

Brigid said...

Oi.

And just because it's so stupid, I'll say it again.

Oi.

~.~ Killed for wearing pants? Oi.

Brian H. Gill said...

Couldn't have put it better, myself

Oi.

Unique, innovative candles


Visit us online:
Spiral Light CandleFind a Retailer
Spiral Light Candle Store

Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.