A critical issue against America made by extremists Islam is that of it's overall moral standing. Should this be a concern addressed by 2008 Presidential hopefuls? Should they seek to create a better impression to the rest of the world, particularly rising fundamentalism? Should they seek to stand the country's position to remain civilized, while seemingly shifting from being agnostic to actually removing religion from society, or should they be more proactive in pursuing and wiping out fundamentalism, even if it involves funding wars in foreign countries?
Answers:
Creating a more positive impression is a useless effort for any Presidential hopeful. That is the job of the public. How can he/she create a better impression when the media (seen world wide) shows nothing but the worst in us.
It seems to me that we need to point out that terrorism is flat out wrong. That this sort of behavior is not acceptable no matter where you may live, for any reason and the people of other countries will not stand for it. Killing innocent men, women, and children to create fear to get you way is not the better way of life. How is it possible that these individuals can see it this way. Gangs on the streets of major cites use a similar tactic while fighting among themselves. To me they are just a step away from being domestic terrorists. But even they can see that it is wrong to kill women and children caught in the middle.
The change, if there is to be one, must be at home. We must teach our children to value life, respect social norms, get back to doing what is right and stop just thinking about ourselves for a change. Maybe we need someone who will encourage this type of change.
Its not a quick fix, but nothing ever worth anything ever is.
Islamic fundamentalists tolerate nothing, and no one. Whatever we do, short of converting, will not satisfy them. Anything else -- they want to kill us.
Wow, great question.
It can simply be wrapped up as an issue of freedom. We allow women to wear halter-tops. In many Islamic country's, that is immoral. They practice terrorism, we do not. On the other hand, we do have a culture focused on loveless sex and violence in the media. Is that moral? Not necessarily, but more importantly than morality is freedom, for without freedom to be immoral, there is no moral fiber.
Moral highground is lost to us. We have too many high up that believe waterboarding is a good idea. We own and operate Gitmo and secret prisons around the world. We are the human rights abusers. Becoming completely secular would help. Especially getting rid of the Crusader type rhetoric that goes around some. The Crusades were a vile and disgusting time in history and the ones that remember best are the islamic fundamentalists. We need to purge from our society people that believe things like the world is 5,000 yrs old, dinosaurs and humans were alive at the same time.
It is my theory that each of us are born with the ability to understand the parameters of morality. Religious philosophical structures have been established,and are utilized by the leaders of these religions for the purpose of defining moral and social behavior approved by the religious tenets of the religion.
Guilt is the tool utilized by every religion to manipulate their congregations. Guilt is created when any of us commit actions which we know are unacceptable or immoral. Rationalization, denial, projection, and ignorance are the primary excuses people use to try to excuse their immoral behavior. Hypocrisy is alive, well, and practiced by most of the members of every religion, from the leadership down to the congregation.
What has happened is we've rewarded people for behaving selfishly and interpreting laws to benefit themselves. This behavior encourages others to follow and now we've become an I/me nation instead of the we/us nation we used to be.
The moral standing of America is not something that can be addressed on the governmental circuit, because our morals are influenced more by our media. When the government has tried to step in, America cried out "Freedom of speech!" and "Freedom of expression!" without realizing that when the constitution was founded, there was the unwritten clause of responsibility. We have our freedoms as long as they are used responsibly.
A critical failure of criticism of America are people who believe everything from Hollywood is a true reflection of American society, then criticise that picture.
Every community has all kinds of churches, mosques, synagogs, etc. with heavy attendance on holy days. Alcohol may not be sold on Sundays. Most of the population believes in some holy book, or respects its teachings.
While western advertising loves to show unclothed women, walk down any street in America, and you can see that men and women are clothed appropriately.
You can't tell that from TV and the Movies.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment