In a message dated 9/14/2001 3:07:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< That's one reason why the g*vernments are a necessary evil.
Maybe instead of spending billions on mass-destruction
weapons, our western nations could divert part of this
money to convince Islam that we are not The Great Satan.
>>
Personally, I think this would be a much better way of handling the
situation, as opposed to increasing our own tolerance and awareness of
muslims. The problem here is what form the message should take.
"Propaganda" in any form (cartoons, documentaries, religious essays etc.,)
would be dismissed as lies. Should we start spending money to build mosques
in other countries just to show the muslim world we respect their point of
view? Aid in terms of food and medical supplies don't seem to be
particularly appreciated. Supporting revolutionary forces against current
forms of government smacks of incredible arrogance and assumption, and
generally is forgotten without a force of military 'squatters' who make sure
everything is status quo according to our standards.
Unfortunately, I believe that the only way these people would stop viewing us
as demons from hell is to stop supporting our allies in any form. We're not
about to do that... and there's our catch-22.
I wanted to mention something else here, which is only somewhat irrelevant :)
You know, Americans may be intolerant, but you generally don't see us bombing
civilians in another country without a war or overt military action taking
place. In fact, when we do, we also stand up and say 'we did this'.
My niece was doing a paper for school, so I checked. There is plenty of
information available on the net and in American libraries on Islam and the
culture of muslim countries. Muslims believe that the Koran can't be
translated properly into other languages from Arabic because nuances would be
lost. The Koran is available in a variety of languages on a number of
websites, including one ambitious project that has *three* separate English
translations of every sentence to give you the fullest translation possible.
.
We Americans have the freedom to explore other belief systems without fear of
reprisals from our government or our fellow citizens. Do the citizens of
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran or Iraq have the same freedoms? If they don't,
then any efforts on our part would be useless, IMHO.
No, I believe that what you said earlier may be the only solution:teach the
new generation the value of life. Only I'd like to add a coda: all life, not
just human. How is this species going to be capable of meeting Eatees on any
terms approaching equality or saneness if we can't even deal with our own
people?
Jon
