Dogs can apparently read in Switzerland...
Besserwisser
6 years ago
Friday, 11 September 2009
Sunday, 6 September 2009
Reading the Qur'an in the dark
Forgive me for stealing the title from a recent Guardian article about Sebastian Faulk's apparently ignorant and shallow comments on the Islamic holy book. I find it rather good. (And we should all be recycling more anyway, so why limit this to PET bottles and paper?)
I am constantly surprised and somewhat alarmed with people's reactions and opinions to events and figures in the Middle East. A quick read through many Western papers, or a few minutes infront of the news channels is enough to make anyone believe that anyone who wears a headscarf is a beaten woman, that anyone named Mohammed is a terrorist and that the peaceful democratic European continent is about to be invaded and ruined by people in headscarves and people called Mohammed.
My job involves working with these people on a daily basis. They are (nearly) all called Mohammed. Their culture is so distant from ours, it is no wonder that people have a fear of these people; but it is simply a fear of the unknown. In reality they are the same as us. Well, they're not. But then the Germans aren't like us either, but no-one is scared of them as most people have probably had a conversation with a couple of Germans in their lifetime and therefore do not have to rely on the jibbering opinions of some American propaganda newschannel to form their opinions of Germans.
A couple of people, on being told of my holiday plans to Syria have reacted with "but it's a Muslim country, why are going there?!"
The fact is that any extreme version of a religion or a belief in isolation will always be dangerous. Instead of labelling everyone entering a mosque as a terrorist, journalists ought better discover their culture more, and target the correct people, rather than the innocent majority. So, find the real terrorists, the real harmful groups and start with them, and leave the others to believe in what they believe in.
The world is crazy if the power of sex-pests like Berlusconi can go virtually unchallenged, if the state can throw money into bankers pockets and ignore the struggle of those living below the poverty line, no-one steps in to sort out Darfur, because everyone is too busy checking under the headscarves for terrorists and living in fear of the world's Mohammeds. It doesn't really add up.
For the article with the same name from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/aug/27/sebastian-faulks-quran-islam
I am constantly surprised and somewhat alarmed with people's reactions and opinions to events and figures in the Middle East. A quick read through many Western papers, or a few minutes infront of the news channels is enough to make anyone believe that anyone who wears a headscarf is a beaten woman, that anyone named Mohammed is a terrorist and that the peaceful democratic European continent is about to be invaded and ruined by people in headscarves and people called Mohammed.
My job involves working with these people on a daily basis. They are (nearly) all called Mohammed. Their culture is so distant from ours, it is no wonder that people have a fear of these people; but it is simply a fear of the unknown. In reality they are the same as us. Well, they're not. But then the Germans aren't like us either, but no-one is scared of them as most people have probably had a conversation with a couple of Germans in their lifetime and therefore do not have to rely on the jibbering opinions of some American propaganda newschannel to form their opinions of Germans.
A couple of people, on being told of my holiday plans to Syria have reacted with "but it's a Muslim country, why are going there?!"
The fact is that any extreme version of a religion or a belief in isolation will always be dangerous. Instead of labelling everyone entering a mosque as a terrorist, journalists ought better discover their culture more, and target the correct people, rather than the innocent majority. So, find the real terrorists, the real harmful groups and start with them, and leave the others to believe in what they believe in.
The world is crazy if the power of sex-pests like Berlusconi can go virtually unchallenged, if the state can throw money into bankers pockets and ignore the struggle of those living below the poverty line, no-one steps in to sort out Darfur, because everyone is too busy checking under the headscarves for terrorists and living in fear of the world's Mohammeds. It doesn't really add up.
For the article with the same name from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/aug/27/sebastian-faulks-quran-islam
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