Politics Cannot Hide The Truth
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Everyday, we are inundated with a barrage news of pictures, so perfectly edited and contrived, that we instinctively know how to emote. We see beyond the pictures, or so we think, and we are able to comprehend the issues that surround the photos and film.
Of course, nothing is further from the truth. News is no longer an honorable profession, it has it's own agenda. We think of news as slanted to either the Right or the Left- and if the news is reported accurately, someone is there to tell us it's really biased.
Some politicians, too, think a few glib words and catchphrases can provide the answers, or can reduce issues of the day to a simplistic slogan. Certainly political correctness has a hand in mitigating the truth.
In this piece, I want to address the reality of of the challenge of our times, (Radical) Islam and the impact it is having on our lives. There are no pictures, no images and I will not quote any news reports. No filters, no airbrushing. I want to present a snapshot of Islam as I see it.
America and Israel are not the problem in the Islamic world, despite the nightly newscasts and the Stalinesque 'useful idiots' that insist that is the case.
Iraq and Iran fought a war that resulted in the death of over a million people, many of them children, used as fodder by the Iranians.
What is happening in Darfur, the massacre of Christians and Animists by Muslim militia, was not brought on by America or Israel. It has been going for years and and over 2 million have been butchered.
In Algeria, the GIA did not rape and dismember thousands of children because of America or Israel.
Saddam did not invade Kuwait, or threaten Saudi Arabia because of America or Israel.
Churches and Mosques in Pakistan are not set afire with worshippers inside because of America or Israel.
Poison gas was used in Yemen, in the 1960's. The perpetrator? Our friends, the Egyptians.
Universal laws no longer exist in the Arab world.
The civilized world understands the rule of law. The ideals of human rights are meant for all, rights that include free speech, a free press, and the need for rules that cross borders and languages.
The fact of the matter is that today, we face an enemy that that uses hospitals and schools to shield terrorists, and Houses of Worship are used as armories. Children become a means, used human fodder, to throw in front of an enemy, as they are in Israel for propaganda purposes as they shield gunmen, or they become disposable chattel, as they were in Beslan.
Beheading is celebrated with joy and the mutilation of corpses takes place within view of frenzied, dancing mobs.
Terrorists and rogue regimes are racing to develop weapons of mass destruction.
The Nazis attempted to hide their evil and deny it.
The Islamists can't be bothered.
In plain view, they proudly pronounce their aims and intent. They want to subjugate us or destroy us. Officially appointed Arab government clerics reiterate these goals in mosques and on television. School curriculum educates from an early age, the Islamic destiny, to be fulfilled by a never ending Jihad.
These aren't matters of debate or issues up for discussion. They are facts. In facing these realities, it is not enough to discuss them or even understand them. They must be dealt with. In doing so, we must be prepared not only to ask the questions, but to answer them clearly and unequivocally.
Do we extend equal civil rights to those who's stated aim is to destroy us? Do we respect the sanctity of a Holy Shrine if it is being used to as a military base from which to shoot and bomb? Do we target schools and hospitals used by terrorists and hiding behind children? Do we refrain from searching women, knowing that terrorists have used pregnant women to smuggle explosives?
In a time and place where ambulances are used to transport murderers and ammunition, should different cultures found in different cultures, countries and continents.
Desperation is not the magical elixir that makes weapons, explosives and rockets appear out of nowhere. Neither does despair turn a whole society into one that supports and rejoices at the death of innocents.
Africa has had centuries of despair, and there are no suicide bombers. Tibetans, long under China's iron boot, have not resorted to suicide bombers. The same can be said for many societies living under cruel circumstances.
Suicide bombers are calculated, cold and vicious. They are cruel, well funded terrorists, with no regard to human life, including the life of their fellow countrymen. These behaviors are taught.
They do not come naturally or spontaneously.
Terrorists leaders and their enablers- in this country- however, care a great deal about themselves and are entirely focused on their own power, control and wealth.
This is not, and has never been about a religious endeavor. It is the misuse of a religion, a calculated attempt to realign a religion to serve the needs of a few evil men. It is an effort that is succeeding, largely because of the backwardness of a people, and their willing, desperate search for an escape from their dark medieval prisons.
As has often been repeated, there are no sons or daughters of Arab religious or political leaders to be found among the legions who claim to want to blow themselves and others up, in the name of Allah. The promise of heavenly sexual delights and pleasures apparently, is a message that does not get passed on to some. The promise of the respect and recognition by a grateful Ummah, is also not enough to inspire the children of religious and political leaders in the region- or here. It is enough to send money or support the cause as loudly as possible.
Those to whom the message is passed, are the easily influenced, the poverty stricken (the promise of money for the shahid's family has been referred to more than once as a motivating factor), children or women somehow disgraced and are offered redemption instead of 'honor Terror organizations and terror supporters are using our own language to defeat us. Suicide bombers and terrorists are now 'military factions,' while those that plan and pay for the crimes are now referred to as 'political factions'- as if patterning themselves after the IRA will somehow camouflage their identity and objectives. Ever dutifully, the media parrots these ridiculous assertions as credible.
Unlike the murderous IRA, however, Islamist objectives are global and will not recede after a military victory over Israel or the exodus of US troops from the Gulf.
We are still working on the premise that we in the west are somehow contributory to the problems.
We have allowed ourselves to be 'dumbed down,' in an attempt to negotiate our way out of an impossible situation. This post has been about politics because they want it to be about politics.
Sooner or later, we're going to have to deal with reality and deal with the problem clearly and substantively-- and we're not going to be able to talk our way out it.
Until the Arab community deals with the reality that we are not their biggest problem, they cannot possibly contribute or achieve the American Dream, imperfect as it may be, but a whole lot better trhan anything out there.
Everyday, we are inundated with a barrage news of pictures, so perfectly edited and contrived, that we instinctively know how to emote. We see beyond the pictures, or so we think, and we are able to comprehend the issues that surround the photos and film.
Of course, nothing is further from the truth. News is no longer an honorable profession, it has it's own agenda. We think of news as slanted to either the Right or the Left- and if the news is reported accurately, someone is there to tell us it's really biased.
Some politicians, too, think a few glib words and catchphrases can provide the answers, or can reduce issues of the day to a simplistic slogan. Certainly political correctness has a hand in mitigating the truth.
In this piece, I want to address the reality of of the challenge of our times, (Radical) Islam and the impact it is having on our lives. There are no pictures, no images and I will not quote any news reports. No filters, no airbrushing. I want to present a snapshot of Islam as I see it.
America and Israel are not the problem in the Islamic world, despite the nightly newscasts and the Stalinesque 'useful idiots' that insist that is the case.
Iraq and Iran fought a war that resulted in the death of over a million people, many of them children, used as fodder by the Iranians.
What is happening in Darfur, the massacre of Christians and Animists by Muslim militia, was not brought on by America or Israel. It has been going for years and and over 2 million have been butchered.
In Algeria, the GIA did not rape and dismember thousands of children because of America or Israel.
Saddam did not invade Kuwait, or threaten Saudi Arabia because of America or Israel.
Churches and Mosques in Pakistan are not set afire with worshippers inside because of America or Israel.
Poison gas was used in Yemen, in the 1960's. The perpetrator? Our friends, the Egyptians.
Universal laws no longer exist in the Arab world.
The civilized world understands the rule of law. The ideals of human rights are meant for all, rights that include free speech, a free press, and the need for rules that cross borders and languages.
The fact of the matter is that today, we face an enemy that that uses hospitals and schools to shield terrorists, and Houses of Worship are used as armories. Children become a means, used human fodder, to throw in front of an enemy, as they are in Israel for propaganda purposes as they shield gunmen, or they become disposable chattel, as they were in Beslan.
Beheading is celebrated with joy and the mutilation of corpses takes place within view of frenzied, dancing mobs.
Terrorists and rogue regimes are racing to develop weapons of mass destruction.
The Nazis attempted to hide their evil and deny it.
The Islamists can't be bothered.
In plain view, they proudly pronounce their aims and intent. They want to subjugate us or destroy us. Officially appointed Arab government clerics reiterate these goals in mosques and on television. School curriculum educates from an early age, the Islamic destiny, to be fulfilled by a never ending Jihad.
These aren't matters of debate or issues up for discussion. They are facts. In facing these realities, it is not enough to discuss them or even understand them. They must be dealt with. In doing so, we must be prepared not only to ask the questions, but to answer them clearly and unequivocally.
Do we extend equal civil rights to those who's stated aim is to destroy us? Do we respect the sanctity of a Holy Shrine if it is being used to as a military base from which to shoot and bomb? Do we target schools and hospitals used by terrorists and hiding behind children? Do we refrain from searching women, knowing that terrorists have used pregnant women to smuggle explosives?
In a time and place where ambulances are used to transport murderers and ammunition, should different cultures found in different cultures, countries and continents.
Desperation is not the magical elixir that makes weapons, explosives and rockets appear out of nowhere. Neither does despair turn a whole society into one that supports and rejoices at the death of innocents.
Africa has had centuries of despair, and there are no suicide bombers. Tibetans, long under China's iron boot, have not resorted to suicide bombers. The same can be said for many societies living under cruel circumstances.
Suicide bombers are calculated, cold and vicious. They are cruel, well funded terrorists, with no regard to human life, including the life of their fellow countrymen. These behaviors are taught.
They do not come naturally or spontaneously.
Terrorists leaders and their enablers- in this country- however, care a great deal about themselves and are entirely focused on their own power, control and wealth.
This is not, and has never been about a religious endeavor. It is the misuse of a religion, a calculated attempt to realign a religion to serve the needs of a few evil men. It is an effort that is succeeding, largely because of the backwardness of a people, and their willing, desperate search for an escape from their dark medieval prisons.
As has often been repeated, there are no sons or daughters of Arab religious or political leaders to be found among the legions who claim to want to blow themselves and others up, in the name of Allah. The promise of heavenly sexual delights and pleasures apparently, is a message that does not get passed on to some. The promise of the respect and recognition by a grateful Ummah, is also not enough to inspire the children of religious and political leaders in the region- or here. It is enough to send money or support the cause as loudly as possible.
Those to whom the message is passed, are the easily influenced, the poverty stricken (the promise of money for the shahid's family has been referred to more than once as a motivating factor), children or women somehow disgraced and are offered redemption instead of 'honor Terror organizations and terror supporters are using our own language to defeat us. Suicide bombers and terrorists are now 'military factions,' while those that plan and pay for the crimes are now referred to as 'political factions'- as if patterning themselves after the IRA will somehow camouflage their identity and objectives. Ever dutifully, the media parrots these ridiculous assertions as credible.
Unlike the murderous IRA, however, Islamist objectives are global and will not recede after a military victory over Israel or the exodus of US troops from the Gulf.
We are still working on the premise that we in the west are somehow contributory to the problems.
We have allowed ourselves to be 'dumbed down,' in an attempt to negotiate our way out of an impossible situation. This post has been about politics because they want it to be about politics.
Sooner or later, we're going to have to deal with reality and deal with the problem clearly and substantively-- and we're not going to be able to talk our way out it.
Until the Arab community deals with the reality that we are not their biggest problem, they cannot possibly contribute or achieve the American Dream, imperfect as it may be, but a whole lot better trhan anything out there.
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