Predictible? You Bet!
When will we ever learn that it is not the fault of Muslims who wish to live in peace with their neighbours but who become so outraged at the deliberate harm done to their religion, at the scorn which is too-often directed at Muslims for no good reason, that they have no option but to strike back. These good people who live in harmony with others as long as no perceived affront is given or no slanderous cartoons are published in reflection of what is actually happening in far-off places. These occasions which reflect badly on Islam's off-shoots tend to offend to the point that otherwise-reasonable people will hoist placards demanding the death sentence on offenders. What's not to understand?When select members of the Islamic community become radicalized and as such are a present danger to their own co-religionists, let alone to the larger world community the blame for their murderous intent can be laid squarely at the feet of those whose provocative actions have brought down the wrath of Allah through the medium of his willing servants turned jihadists. A decadent, corrupt Western world is seen to be deserving of all that the anger of religion-crazed young men whose basic humanity and purported decency has been radicalized out of them in the higher interests of representing an all-powerful entity who demands no less.
The hostile intent of increasingly autonomous, independent cells of committed Islamists distributed liberally around the world is blamed on the loss of morals, integrity and total corruption of Western countries. These same immoral, inhumane countries which have embraced immigrants from Muslim countries to the point where their original population has become severely diluted now face the problem of how to cope with an immigrant population that views its welcoming countries' culture, mores, laws and values with extreme distrust, distaste and total rejection. The size of the immigrant populations is such that when they demand a greater share in shaping the original countries' mores and laws the effect becomes destabilizing, and the future begins to look rather clouded.
These are immigrants who have fled dire economic conditions, war, natural disasters, religious intolerance for a country which could offer them relief from all those conditions. While in most instances more economic stability has been attained, many immigrant populations now demand more in concessions than their host countries are willing to offer, in deference to their own background values, cultures, established rule of law, and freedom of religion and tolerance of free speech.
The problem is now seen a little more clearly: too many immigrants were accepted without due diligence with respect to their ability to adapt to their adoptive countries' values and laws. Too many of the immigrants were simply not good risks for absorbability into the greater culture. But guess what? The cat's out of the bag, and the problem now seems insoluble, made all the more so by the host countries' pride in encouraging their immigrant populations to preserve their original cultures, values, traditions and religious adherence. This is what generosity of spirit has begotten.
It's possible that the crossroad to solving these problems has long been passed. And the world has gained one truly great headache. For how now to deal with extreme weaponry now on the cusp of being handed over to rogue countries which themselves harbour radical jihadists at their helm, let alone terrorist groups determined to wipe out as many of their perceived enemy at a single, bold stroke as possible? In the not-so-distant past this type of scare-mongering scenario seemed the stuff of really poor fiction.
The past few years has brought poor fiction perilously close to dire reality.
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, August 13, 2006
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