Hanging a Child: "Militants" Touching the Hearts and Minds of Afghanistan

This is - sad, putting it mildly. I'm a father with four surviving children: and grieve with the Afghan police officer.

"Militants hang 8-year-old boy in southern Afghanistan"
David Ariosto, CNN (July 24, 2011)

"An 8 year-old boy was hanged by militants in Afghanistan's Helmand province after the boy's father -- a police officer in the southern city of Gereshk -- refused to comply with militants' demands to provide them with a police vehicle, officials said.

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the hanging, saying 'this action is not permitted in any culture or any religions,' according to a statement Sunday, which provided details of the incident...."

I suppose I'm nitpicking - but President Karzai's statement that "this action is not permitted in any culture or any religions" may not be quite true. Between honor killings, and beheaded a man because he wore trousers, it's hard to shake the impression that at least some subcultures in the Islamic world have - interesting? - laws and customs.

Still, assuming that President Karzai meant 'cultures similar to those of post-18th-century Europe and America,' I think he's fairly accurate. Not that cross-burnings are completely unknown, even now.

Points I've made before:

• Some folks in the Islamic world were yanked from a culture that hadn't changed for millennia into the Information Age
  • In one or two generations
  • No wonder some of them went a bit nuts
• The "Islamic world" isn't a big, monolithic block of nearly-identical cultures
  • Examples:
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Sudan
    • Indonesia

I think Information Age technology and social structures have forced some Muslims to take a hard look at what they actually believe - and want to believe.

Vaguely-related posts:

• Diplomacy, culture, and unpleasant realities
  • "War is Not Nice"
    (February 15, 2010)
  • "Afghan Husband Rapes Wife: Culture, Law, History, and Catching Up"
    (September 24, 2009)
  • "Obama Reaches Out to Taliban: This Might Actually Work"
    (March 8, 2009)
  • "Iraq: Car Bombs, Awakening Councils, and Hope"
    (June 18, 2008)
  • "America, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban: Who's on Your Side?"
    (October 4, 2007)
• Living in a big world
  • "Norway: Oslo, the Island of Utoya, Dead Bodies, Bad Motives"
    (July 24, 2011)
  • "Actions have Consequences: Burning the Quran"
    (September 7, 2010)
  • " 'Allah,' Dominant Cultures, and Tolerance"
    (January 9, 2010)
  • "Of Bias, Veils, and Crucifixes"
    (February 25, 2008)
  • "Islam, Denmark, and Freedom of Speech: a Learning Experience"
    (February 13, 2008)
• Freedom
  • "Freedom, Burma / Myanmar / Myanma, and Getting a Grip"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (June 29, 2011)
  • "Beer, Basketball, the War on Terror, Today's News, and Me"
    (March 10, 2011)
  • "Zimbabwe, Where Watching the Wrong Videos is Treason"
    (February 25, 2011)
  • "What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
    (August 14, 2009)
  • "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (August 3, 2009)
• Religion
  • "Religious Freedom, Niemöller, and Muslims in America"
    (April 7, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Why the Rights of Muslims Matter to This Catholic
  • "Hating People: Not a Good Idea"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (January 22, 2010)
    Particuarly
    • Legislating Beliefs / Protecting the Innocent
  • "Fatwa Condemning Terrorism? Apparently"
    (March 3, 2010)
  • "Sudan, Women, Trousers, Culture and Common Sense"
    (September 7, 2009)
  • "Honor Killing is Against Islam, Islamic Party Members Say"
    (September 7, 2008)

In the news:

• "Militants hang 8-year-old boy in southern Afghanistan"
  David Ariosto, CNN (July 24, 2011)

Norway: Oslo, the Island of Utoya, Dead Bodies, Bad Motives

Anders Behring Breivik killed people with a car bomb in downtown Oslo two days ago. He also killed dozens of people - mostly teenagers and young adults - at a Norwegian youth camp on the island of Utoya.

The probable motive for that mass killing/terrorist attack in Norway started coming out yesterday. Basically, Breivik didn't like Muslims; didn't want Muslims in Norway; didn't like the idea of folks who weren't old-school Europeans in Europe: and wanted to start a war against Islam.

To 'cleanse' Europe - although I haven't noticed that phrase in the news.¹

Saving Norway by Killing Norwegians?!

So he blew up a building in Oslo, Norway - killing Norwegians. Then he went to a Norwegian youth camp and killed dozens of Norwegians there.

It makes sense, in a twisted way. Breivik seems to think that by killing lots of people who look like him, he'll encourage other people who look sort of like him to kill folks who don't look like him.

A World Where Everyone Looks Like Me?!

I think killing people who don't look like me, or act like me, is a bad idea. Really bad.

I also think it's a bad idea, when someone decides that the world should consist of folks they approve of - and nobody else.

Screwball politics and ham-handed 'fairness' rules have given the idea of 'diversity' a beating. But I still think the world would be a dull - or monotonous, at any rate - place if everybody fit like some ethnic ideal. Or if we all had to stay in our little territories - for the sake of racial purity. Or whatever.

'My End of the Boat's Not Sinking?'

Why be concerned about what happened in Norway? I'm half Norwegian, for one thing: so this is a little more personal than some news. I also value freedom: and think that Niemöller made a good point. I've posted about that before.

'My end of the boat isn't sinking' is not a good attitude to take. And I've written about that before.

Related posts:

• "The Threat of People Who Aren't Just Like Us?"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 23, 2011)
• "Chauvinism Knows No Borders"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 23, 2011)
• "A Blast, Bullets, Bodies, Norway, and Getting a Grip"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (July 22, 2011)
  Particularly
  • "Islamist," "Islamic," and Unintended Consequences
  • Unpleasant Realities - are Still Realities
• " 'Towelhead,' 'Retard,' and Talking Sense in a Global Society"
  (February 24, 2009)
• "The Subway Project and 'Why Islam?' - Terrorists in the Subways! Or, Not"
  (July 23, 2008)

News and views:

• "Norway suspect wanted European anti-Muslim crusade"
  Joern Amland, Sarah DiLorenzo, The Associated Press, via The Salt Lake Tribune (July 24, 2011)
• "Norway Killing Suspect's Postings Offer Clues to Personality"
  SFGate, The San Francisco Chronicle (July 24, 2011)
• "WCC general secretary shocked by unleashing of violence in his homeland"
  Vatican Radio, via News.va (July 23, 2011)
• "Pope: May All Norwegians Reject Hatred"
  Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 23, 2011)

¹ Excerpt from today's news:

"Norway suspect wanted European anti-Muslim crusade"
Joern Amland, Sarah DiLorenzo, The Associated Press, via The Salt Lake Tribune (July 24, 2011)

"The man blamed for the terrorist attacks on Norway's government headquarters and an island retreat for young people that left at least 93 dead was motivated by a desire to bring about a revolution in Norwegian society, his lawyer said Sunday.

"A manifesto he published online — which police are poring over and said was posted the day of the attack — ranted against Muslim immigration to Europe and vowed revenge on 'indigenous Europeans,' whom he accused of betraying their heritage. It said that they would be punished for their 'treasonous acts.'

"The lawyer for the 32-year-old Norwegian suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, said Sunday that his client wrote the document alone. While police said they were investigating reports of a second assailant on the island, the lawyer said Breivik also claims no one helped him...."

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"Norway Killing Suspect's Postings Offer Clues to Personality"
SFGate, The San Francisco Chronicle (July 24, 2011)

"Online postings from Anders Behring Breivik, detained by Norwegian police for killing 93 people in a shooting rampage and bombing, offer a portrait of a man obsessed with what he views as the threat of multiculturalism and Islam.

"In a 1,500-page English manifesto posted hours before the killings, Breivik, 32, describes nine years of planning the attacks and his vision for revolution in Europe led by the Knights Templar. Breivik has a picture posted of himself in a Freemason outfit on the Facebook page bearing his name.

"In the document entitled '2083 - A European Declaration of Independence,' which Breivik began writing while he was still a member of Norway's opposition Progress Party, he describes how the attacks would form part of a crusade against 'cultural Marxism' and the rising 'Islamization' of Europe. He writes that the massacre would serve as a tool to market the manifesto...."

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"WCC general secretary shocked by unleashing of violence in his homeland"
Vatican Radio, via News.va (July 23, 2011)

" 'Norway has today experienced an unprecedented and horrible level of violence against innocent people,' said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, a Norwegian Lutheran pastor and General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

"Tveit, who is currently in Norway, had just left Oslo when he learned of the first attack, the bombing of a government building that left several injured and seven dead.In a statement, Rev. Tveit said that 'Attacking the core institutions of a democratic society and innocent youth gathered for a workshop to discuss political issues, leaves me shocked. Being close to these events, I am deeply saddened, realizing that this has happened in my beloved country, with its people, its leaders, and its institutions.' 'In times like this the Norwegian people and government need the solidarity of international society and the prayers of the worldwide church,' he said...."

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"Pope: May All Norwegians Reject Hatred"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 23, 2011)

"Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday he is praying for the victims of Norway's terror attacks and urging Norwegians to unite in a resolve to reject hatred.

"The Vatican released the text of a condolence message the pope sent Saturday to Norway's King Harald V. In it, Benedict said he was 'profoundly saddened' by the great loss of life caused by the 'senseless violence' in the Oslo bombing and the following massacre at a youth camp on a nearby island that police say have left at least 92 dead.

"The pope invoked God's peace on the dead and offered 'fervent' prayers for the victims and their families...."

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