Bren Tierney
Contributor
Hey Amber,
the rights and wrongs of the gig are multifarious:
* Has the US persued a 'support Israel at ANY cost' policy for too long to the detrement of the that country's Middle East neighbours? Yes.
* Has this policy fostered resentment (due or otherwise) amongst the Islamic world? Yes.
* Has the US persued an isolationist policy, vis-à-vis the rest of the world, for too long? Yes.
* Have the above three issues come back to bite the US in the arse? Yes.
Conversely:
If a peasant family in Pakistan, Afghanistan, ANYstan, where the parents have in excess of 10 kids (not uncommon by any stretch of the imagination) and are not just struggling, but are now in a postion where they can no longer either feed or clothe their children one day meet a well dressed and (compared to the parents) very eloquent Mullah, who offers to take a number of the male children and both feed, clothe and educate them - with an emphasis on a good religious education in the Koran - for no cost whatsoever, what are the parents going to say? What choice do they have? Dead children or the services of a willing benefactor?
This Mullah obviously meets all the parent's 'must do criteria': food, clothes and education - future.
BUT, what the Mullah hasn't told (indeed, had NO intention of telling) the parents is that he will take the boys and teach them HIS version of the Islam and the Koran - i.e. radical and extemist.
All the parents then hear is that their boys are doing well in school and are healthy. What they're not told is that the boys are now is some remote camp learning how to make shape-charges, wear webbing bombs and fire a bewildering array of weapons in the 'name of Allah'. Why wouldn't the children believe the Mullah? He is after all, the one who feeds, clothes and educates them.
Which, if we're being frank, is not what Islam and the Koran are all about - they've been hijacked (in the very literal sense of the word) by extremists.
So, the once poor and hungry children, because they've been caught at an early, susceptible and impressionable age, have learnt and absorbed the mad-Mullah's teachings hook-line and sinker.
Next thing you know, they're wandering around Tel Aviv looking for a shopping Mall to blow up. And all because their parents couldn't afford to feed/clothe them and were too inarticulate and ill-educated themselves to argue with a 'respected' holy man!
So how would you resolve the issue?
A) Shoot the guy as he's walking into the Shopping Mall with the bomb strapped to him? or
B) Sort out a programme where the hungry are fed, clothed and educated early enough for the Mad-Mullahs not to be given the chance to indoctrinate the kids for their own evil means?
Good luck with your project Amber. And remember, things are never as clear cut as you see on CNN.
Take care.
the rights and wrongs of the gig are multifarious:
* Has the US persued a 'support Israel at ANY cost' policy for too long to the detrement of the that country's Middle East neighbours? Yes.
* Has this policy fostered resentment (due or otherwise) amongst the Islamic world? Yes.
* Has the US persued an isolationist policy, vis-à-vis the rest of the world, for too long? Yes.
* Have the above three issues come back to bite the US in the arse? Yes.
Conversely:
If a peasant family in Pakistan, Afghanistan, ANYstan, where the parents have in excess of 10 kids (not uncommon by any stretch of the imagination) and are not just struggling, but are now in a postion where they can no longer either feed or clothe their children one day meet a well dressed and (compared to the parents) very eloquent Mullah, who offers to take a number of the male children and both feed, clothe and educate them - with an emphasis on a good religious education in the Koran - for no cost whatsoever, what are the parents going to say? What choice do they have? Dead children or the services of a willing benefactor?
This Mullah obviously meets all the parent's 'must do criteria': food, clothes and education - future.
BUT, what the Mullah hasn't told (indeed, had NO intention of telling) the parents is that he will take the boys and teach them HIS version of the Islam and the Koran - i.e. radical and extemist.
All the parents then hear is that their boys are doing well in school and are healthy. What they're not told is that the boys are now is some remote camp learning how to make shape-charges, wear webbing bombs and fire a bewildering array of weapons in the 'name of Allah'. Why wouldn't the children believe the Mullah? He is after all, the one who feeds, clothes and educates them.
Which, if we're being frank, is not what Islam and the Koran are all about - they've been hijacked (in the very literal sense of the word) by extremists.
So, the once poor and hungry children, because they've been caught at an early, susceptible and impressionable age, have learnt and absorbed the mad-Mullah's teachings hook-line and sinker.
Next thing you know, they're wandering around Tel Aviv looking for a shopping Mall to blow up. And all because their parents couldn't afford to feed/clothe them and were too inarticulate and ill-educated themselves to argue with a 'respected' holy man!
So how would you resolve the issue?
A) Shoot the guy as he's walking into the Shopping Mall with the bomb strapped to him? or
B) Sort out a programme where the hungry are fed, clothed and educated early enough for the Mad-Mullahs not to be given the chance to indoctrinate the kids for their own evil means?
Good luck with your project Amber. And remember, things are never as clear cut as you see on CNN.
Take care.
