Sep 28 2006
Daily Notes 09-28-2006
I was (as always ) listening to NPR on the way in to work this morning. A couple of times a week, they read e-mails from listeners and this morning was one of those days. It seems their broadcast of interviews of Muslims on the anniversary of 9/11 was not received well by many. The interviews did not pertain to 9/11 specifically, but were more aimed at learning about the Muslim culture and way of life. They mostly centered around the head scarf worn by Muslim women when out in public. Many Americans and Europeans view the headscarf as a way for Muslim men to oppress their women and there are no doubt some men who employ it in that manner, but, according to the two young women interviewed, it’s a personal choice to wear it or not.
I had no problem with the interviews themselves or the date they occurred on — they were interesting enough although insubstantive in content. What they did do was to drive home once more to me how perceptions without information create misunderstanding, intolerance and strife.
Standing as I do, on the other side of the world (literally) from the Middle East, I can’t help but wonder ***IF*** the Palestinians, Jews, Arabs, Nepalese and Kurdistans could/would all learn each other’s history, a bit about thier culture and religions if they would not be more tolerant of each other and somehow learn to live in harmony with each other. They all have so much to offer this world that it seems a terrible waste of human lives, energy and materials to be used for war just because we don’t understand why they wear their turbans a certain way. I know in my heart that extremists will always focus on those differences and label them as evil and frighten or coerce others into believing the worst of their neighbors, but there HAS to be more people who are desiring the road of peace and who could, by their sheer numbers, prevail over these few. I also know that diplomatic solutions to such problems is harder to achieve and has less visible results than waging war on the “enemy” which is what makes war so attractive to many. It was the argument Mr. Bush used on Congress to talk them into waging war in Iran and is the argument he continues to use to keep us there. While I admire Mr. Bush for many of the things he has accomplished, this is one area that I have not and do not support.
Well, need to get to work.
Have a wonderful day everyone.
Love to all,
Margaret
One response so far
One Response to “Daily Notes 09-28-2006”
Mom – while it is true that Muslim women in Western countries wear the scarf or burkha by choice, women in Muslim countries do not always have that choice. Wearing of the burkha (the head to toe, black robe with veil) is MANDATORY in Saudi Arabia. The religious police will arrest you if you don’t wear it. (BTW – They are also arresting people for having too many pets now. No religious reason, the religious police just decided that keeping pets was too Western and they had to stamp it out.) In Afghanistan, during Taliban rule, women could not go out in public without a male escort who was a family member. If caught by themselves, they were beaten and sometimes killed. NPR forgot to mention these unfortunate facts.
BTW – Saudi women are also not allowed to drive cars, which makes the Bahraini roads very dangerous on the weekends because they can drive here. 😯
You are correct that everyone here could benefit from a history lesson, but there are so many viewpoints it is difficult to reconcile them all. The sad thing, IMHO, is that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the God of Abraham. Yet, it’s a large group of Muslims who insist on conversion of the entire world by force if necessary.