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I think we all need to keep in mind that what we want is to live peacefully on this planet with others. Not tell others how they may live their lives around us according to our own principles. Granted, if you are in this country, you must live by our laws. But we cannot tell a country like Iran or Afghanistan that they must give up their religion and their culture.
Also, it is important to note that in regards to Sharia Law, it does not always equate with Taliban-style rule. There are Islamic scholars who believe that Sharia can be reformed to correlate with modern life.
What we need to do is encourage reform. It's the only thing we can do. And sitting over here talking about how backward and fucked up 'they' are doesn't help. Nothing is isolated on this planet. Everything that happens is the direct result of other actions. Take Afghanistan, for instance. Before the Soviets invaded, women in Kabul were doctors, lawyers, scientists, writers, activists, artists. But America enabled the fundamentalist ascendency there because of our fear (then) of the godless communists. Now those women, those who still live in Afghanistan, must wear the burkha. Now not because they have to, but out of fear.
Iran, again, we were instrumental in the fundamentalist ascendency there by meddling in their politics and installing a puppet as their shah. The resulting revolution officially ended the communist movement among the country's intellectuals and young people and installed the Ayatollah Khomeini. Big surprise.
Which in turn, as we all know, prompted us to prop up Saddam Hussein in his ridiculous war with Iran.
We all know these things, but we fail to recognize their impact on why things are the way they are in the ME/SE Asia. And we are still impacting the region in a negative way NOW.
And let's not forget that none of us really cared how Islamic societies lived their lives before 9/11. If change is to come, it's going to take a long time. What we need to do in the meantime is form alliances, encourage reform and, since we've pretty much made our bed in the world, sleep in it.
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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce
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