Taichiliberal
Shaken, not stirred!
Once again, the world has to face the trageic results when you mix extremism with hate. This time it's some evil, narcissistic asshole in Norway, who wasted 80 some lives in order to gain attention for his mean spirited viewpoints.
Now here in America, the initial reaction was that Al Qaeda was somehow linked to this horror. But even after the facts reveal that the culprit was a totally home grown terrorist, some of our local papers opinion and op-ed analysis STILL tried to mentally link Al Qaeda to the situation, as if this incident will somehow take some steam out of the Al Qeada fear factor that drives much of our Homeland Security and basic national security appropriations and actions.
And this is what annoys me, because given the history of the world one cannot keep pretending that only people of a certain race or ethinic group or religious belief are capable of mass destruction and murder.....that it's "others" who are only capable of such evil acts, and that it "rarely happens here". I recall how Italy STILL has a political party expousing fascism, and Germany has one with shades of nazi ideology dripping from it, and how France's Sarkozy makes forcing muslim women to remove their ceremonial head scarves a rallying point for his society. Then you have the ethnic cleansing in Rwanda, Bosnai/Croatia/Kosovo, the murder of catholics in the Sudan, that Chile's Pinochet literally got away with murder, the far right, anti-immigrant nationalist Swedish Democrats the old National Front and it's offshoot the BNP in England....and God knows the plethora of separatists/supremacist groups that are alive and functioning here in the good old USA.
I could go on, but hopefully you get my point....we must all acknowledge the evil that dwells within our own backyard, and make the effort on any level to stamp out or halt it's spread. Remember, the jokes you think are harmless about someone's race or religion or culture that are told among your friends may be taken seriously by one...and as we see in Norway, one is all it takes. I see it like this...I don't have to like you or hang out with you or agree with everything you say or do...but so long as you don't break laws or hurt anyone, I do have to give you the same respect and courtesy that I expect to be given. Remember, as children in 1st grade we were taught to share and be nice to each other. Maybe applying those simple rules to the adults in the world might prevent another Norway terror strike.
Now here in America, the initial reaction was that Al Qaeda was somehow linked to this horror. But even after the facts reveal that the culprit was a totally home grown terrorist, some of our local papers opinion and op-ed analysis STILL tried to mentally link Al Qaeda to the situation, as if this incident will somehow take some steam out of the Al Qeada fear factor that drives much of our Homeland Security and basic national security appropriations and actions.
And this is what annoys me, because given the history of the world one cannot keep pretending that only people of a certain race or ethinic group or religious belief are capable of mass destruction and murder.....that it's "others" who are only capable of such evil acts, and that it "rarely happens here". I recall how Italy STILL has a political party expousing fascism, and Germany has one with shades of nazi ideology dripping from it, and how France's Sarkozy makes forcing muslim women to remove their ceremonial head scarves a rallying point for his society. Then you have the ethnic cleansing in Rwanda, Bosnai/Croatia/Kosovo, the murder of catholics in the Sudan, that Chile's Pinochet literally got away with murder, the far right, anti-immigrant nationalist Swedish Democrats the old National Front and it's offshoot the BNP in England....and God knows the plethora of separatists/supremacist groups that are alive and functioning here in the good old USA.
I could go on, but hopefully you get my point....we must all acknowledge the evil that dwells within our own backyard, and make the effort on any level to stamp out or halt it's spread. Remember, the jokes you think are harmless about someone's race or religion or culture that are told among your friends may be taken seriously by one...and as we see in Norway, one is all it takes. I see it like this...I don't have to like you or hang out with you or agree with everything you say or do...but so long as you don't break laws or hurt anyone, I do have to give you the same respect and courtesy that I expect to be given. Remember, as children in 1st grade we were taught to share and be nice to each other. Maybe applying those simple rules to the adults in the world might prevent another Norway terror strike.
its religious law you know....
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