A culture of violence and bigotry
May. 13th, 2004 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pluralthis will probably piss some of you off but it has been brewing for sometime
I am literally fed up and appalled with the coddling by the liberal west of Arab and Muslim governments and militants
To quote Bill Maher
"I am not prejudiced against them, prejudiced means "pre-judging", I am judging"
Which is what I am doing here, looking at their actions, and practices and judging them according to our standards.
Take the prison situation; for Americans to be outraged makes sense such behavior is outside the norm and the boundaries of what is acceptable in Western civilization. For Arabs in middle eastern countries to be outraged is hypocritical bordering on humorous. You cannot honestly be outraged at behavior which is the culturally and societally accepted norm in your society. They are not appalled and outraged that such behavior occurred, they are appalled and outraged that it was done by Americans
When Saddam did the same, there was no Arab outcry.
When King Hussein of Jordan shelled Palestinian refugee camps for a month, slaughtering thousands, there was no Arab outcry
When Arafat has lynched, jailed, tortured or executed his political opponents, there was no Arab outcry
When the Saudis have summarily executed political activists, and dissentors, there was no Arab outcry
But if an American or Israeli does anything remotely similar, all hell breaks loose.
This isn't outrage, it is hypocrisy and racism
They say Islam is a religion of peace, and let us for a moment, assume that is true. Then the questions I must ask are:
Why is nearly every Islamic regime categorically famous for its violent human rights violations?
Why on a per capita basis does Islam produce vastly more extremist militants and terrorists than any other nation, race, or religion?
The answer I hear, is the old "Bad Apples" clause, a few rotten ones spoiling the bunch, but that simply doesn't cut it when you look and realize the extent to which their governments and societies not only approve and condone but carry out large scale human rights abuses. Lets look closely at Arab/Muslim culture, not in the western world where they function (peacefully and successfully) as a minority, but in those places where they are a majority and determine their own society:
Homosexuals are commonly killed or beaten for being homosexual
Women are second class citizens
Daughters are murdered as a result of being raped or having sex in the name of "protecting the family honor"
Wives are beaten at their husbands whim
Dismemberment and beheadings are commonly practiced forms of punishment
Democracy is unheard of
Corruption is commonplace
Censorship of both news and ideas is the rule
Terrorists who target civilians, women and children are lauded as heroes
Religious leaders give public and televised sermons espousing racism and urging the killing of women and children
State text books slander other races/religions with accusations of ritual murder and blood sacrifice
Mainstream politicians call for the destruction of sovereign countries and the extermination of their entire population
Political dissent is met with summary executions or long prison sentences
Militants use children as bombs or cover from which to launch attacks
Public figures routinely threaten the US (and other nations) with Terrorist attacks
I wonder how can any liberal westerner, who supports Human rights, Gay rights and Equality for Women. Who Fights against racism and intolerance, or advocate the Democratic Process, look themselves in the mirror and still support these regimes and this society?
When sermons like this are produced and aired on government television channels, how can we support those causes which so blatantly encourage racism, murder and gross violations of human rights?
I am honestly confused and befuddled, please explain this to me?
I am literally fed up and appalled with the coddling by the liberal west of Arab and Muslim governments and militants
To quote Bill Maher
"I am not prejudiced against them, prejudiced means "pre-judging", I am judging"
Which is what I am doing here, looking at their actions, and practices and judging them according to our standards.
Take the prison situation; for Americans to be outraged makes sense such behavior is outside the norm and the boundaries of what is acceptable in Western civilization. For Arabs in middle eastern countries to be outraged is hypocritical bordering on humorous. You cannot honestly be outraged at behavior which is the culturally and societally accepted norm in your society. They are not appalled and outraged that such behavior occurred, they are appalled and outraged that it was done by Americans
When Saddam did the same, there was no Arab outcry.
When King Hussein of Jordan shelled Palestinian refugee camps for a month, slaughtering thousands, there was no Arab outcry
When Arafat has lynched, jailed, tortured or executed his political opponents, there was no Arab outcry
When the Saudis have summarily executed political activists, and dissentors, there was no Arab outcry
But if an American or Israeli does anything remotely similar, all hell breaks loose.
This isn't outrage, it is hypocrisy and racism
They say Islam is a religion of peace, and let us for a moment, assume that is true. Then the questions I must ask are:
Why is nearly every Islamic regime categorically famous for its violent human rights violations?
Why on a per capita basis does Islam produce vastly more extremist militants and terrorists than any other nation, race, or religion?
The answer I hear, is the old "Bad Apples" clause, a few rotten ones spoiling the bunch, but that simply doesn't cut it when you look and realize the extent to which their governments and societies not only approve and condone but carry out large scale human rights abuses. Lets look closely at Arab/Muslim culture, not in the western world where they function (peacefully and successfully) as a minority, but in those places where they are a majority and determine their own society:
Homosexuals are commonly killed or beaten for being homosexual
Women are second class citizens
Daughters are murdered as a result of being raped or having sex in the name of "protecting the family honor"
Wives are beaten at their husbands whim
Dismemberment and beheadings are commonly practiced forms of punishment
Democracy is unheard of
Corruption is commonplace
Censorship of both news and ideas is the rule
Terrorists who target civilians, women and children are lauded as heroes
Religious leaders give public and televised sermons espousing racism and urging the killing of women and children
State text books slander other races/religions with accusations of ritual murder and blood sacrifice
Mainstream politicians call for the destruction of sovereign countries and the extermination of their entire population
Political dissent is met with summary executions or long prison sentences
Militants use children as bombs or cover from which to launch attacks
Public figures routinely threaten the US (and other nations) with Terrorist attacks
I wonder how can any liberal westerner, who supports Human rights, Gay rights and Equality for Women. Who Fights against racism and intolerance, or advocate the Democratic Process, look themselves in the mirror and still support these regimes and this society?
When sermons like this are produced and aired on government television channels, how can we support those causes which so blatantly encourage racism, murder and gross violations of human rights?
I am honestly confused and befuddled, please explain this to me?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-05-13 06:21 pm (UTC)Americans didn't because we are too lazy to learn about such things (consider the Congo, and the unspeakable attrocities going on there, and the total lack or outrage, or even coverage IN THIS COUNTRY).
Why in the world should our actions be dictated by their behaviour? Because they are sadistic fucks, does that really give us a right to be a sadistic fuck back?!
Being a flaming liberal,I heartilly agree! we should overthrow these regimes... but HOW?
You can't impose democracy at the point of a gun. It has NEVER worked... ever.
Consider theis: we will have spent over $120B in the last year on this Iraqi adventure. What if we had spent that money over five years on developing alternative fuels, or subsidizing the transition to a tripling of the gas tax... Halve or quarter our consumption of petrolium products...
You want to see change in those countries? You want to put a spark under thier asses? The reason they don't give a fuck about human rights is they know they can do whateverthefuck they want as long as they keep the taps flowing... and whateverthefuck attrocities they pull to keep those taps flowing, our leaders are good with.
IF we spent this money robbing them of that monkey on OUR backs, that would spark the ultimate revolution, brother.
Not killing 1 in 10 men
no subject
Date: 2004-05-13 06:31 pm (UTC)I think you will get a better idea of what I mean by reading my response to