September 20, 2006
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jihad.
Sometimes I accidentally just let an email fly without toning it down.
The latest has been in regards to Republican campaigns and pundits trying to scare voters away from voting for any
DFL candidates by raising terrorism and other anti-American spectres
because district 5 is supporting Keith Ellision, a Muslim and a man who
has been a black activist.This is part of my initial response to the subject on the city issues list:
The
DFL needs to educate its potential voters that Muslim is NOT the >
same as terrorist. If they are unwilling or unable to do that, then
they get what they get on November 7th.The response I got was this:
This
statement presupposes that everyone is educable. However, religionism
plays a big part in why people do not want to be educated on this
issue. Last week, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a speech to a university
in Germany. The Pope claimed that jihad is intrinsically violent and,
by quoting from a 14th-century Roman Catholic on the “truth” of
Christianity vs. Islam, said: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that
was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as
his command to spread the sword by the faith he preached….The
pope is not alone in that belief among Christians. Asking the DFL to
overcome centuries of propaganda before November, particularly when it
was repeated as recently as last week, seems a teensy bit unfair.And that just lit something in my belly. My response, typos and all:
No, I really don’t think it is.
I
think that we’re currently in the midst of a crisis such as the world
hasn’t seen in half a century, a crisis that could destroy – is
destroying – everything good that the founders of this country tried to
create with their bold experiment. Simple beliefs like “all people are
equal in inherent worth”, “everyone should have the freedom to follow
their own religion”, and “all people have the right to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness”.I think our generations are in
the fight of our lives – not a physical fight, not a fight against
terror, but a fight for ethics and ideals. A fight that the future will
look back on in the same way it looks back at the rise of the Nazis in
Germany, the myriad crimes of slavery, and the crimes of the
Inquisition in spain.Anyone not willing to commit themselves
fully to what I consider to be the side of decency and ethics in the
struggle we are faced with is simply not worth my vote.To make
matters worse, I believe that we are facing this ethical crisis at the
same time that we are being rapidly approached by the climax of a
terrible enviornmental crisis that has been years in the making. If we
are unable to resolve this conflict soon, if “Islam” becomes synonomous
with “enemy”, if the “poor” continue to be seen as tantamount to
“criminal”, the crimes our society will commit to survive what is
coming will be unconscionable. We have so much power and so little
control … it is breathtaking to contemplate.Every day I look
around and I see people walking around in a world that seems so
different than the one I see. To an extent, I walk in it to. I go to
work every day, sometimes I go for a ride on my motorcycle. I turn on
my gas stove and get my gas furnace checked for winter. I have faith
that tomorrow, these appliances will still work. That I will have food
and heat through this winter and winters to come.But when I think deeply, I see that these are very optimistic beliefs and are not truly grounded in reality.
I don’t think these struggles are lost causes, but unless people see them and rally to them, they soon will be.
I
think statements like these are good for rallying those who believe
what you’re saying but accomplish little to convince anyone of
anything. They may actually do the cause harm. But yet, sometimes, you
gotta say what you feel without toning it down to pablum, don’t you?The thread can be read here:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/minneapolis/contacts/groups/mpls/messages/view_em ail?id=102350&show_thread=1
