Hey everyone! To open things up and make all this clear, my blog's goal will sometimes be to calm people down and sometimes be to shake people up. Usually, this means the stream of thought or belief I'm highlighting is a minority; I'll be attempting to make clear all the things big, common (and usually sensationalist) media glosses over, and hopefully reveal a level of depth that has also not been touched on. I will not solely represent the minority for the sake of it; my post will attribute itself to whatever view needs recognition for those who are skimming over the lessons we could be learning from other cultures and out past.
As a quick example, the work has already been done for me in the "Ground Zero Mosque" "scandal". By now, luckily, most people who care to know are in fact aware that said building is neither a mosque nor being built on Ground Zero. And simply put, almost all Americans who can remember that day have had it affect them in some harsh way that they would rather not be reminded of; my sister's current fiancé was in one of the towers on 9/11 and narrowly escaped before the towers fell. Still, when we look outside our own sphere of collective American memory and remorse, we see a world that is increasingly powerful and educated, hoping that we hold our American ideals to the standard at which they are written: in this case, that freedom of religion and assembly means so for all people in this nation. They also demand a world leader--if the United States wishes to hold this position for long-- that will look at the bigger, social picture, which in this case would note that refusing to allow the Center to be built would be lumping all Muslims in a negative pile--in the one location where the most progress of intercultural understanding should ideally be made.
These arguments (regarding the Islamic Center specifically) have been made for me, but given their effectiveness in moving past basic emotion to help us illuminate the real issues at the heart of this situation, I will try to reflect their style of inward reflection. I will be coupling this dedication to revealing the hidden meaty issues with specific historical allusions as well.
One last bit: President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated his belief today in a UN Summit that the U.S. government was at least partially behind the 9/11 attacks. And while he believes to be representing the views of many, unluckily for him, any government of power was not openly of said opinion. Led by the US delegation, the British and other delegations simply walked out on his speech. One may fear Ahmadinejad's rhetoric; many loosely connect his hatred for Jews, denial of the Holocaust and now, apparently, the innocence of the U.S. government as a cause of the 9/11 attacks, and create an image of a new, extremist, Hitler-esque dictator of sorts. The thing is, Hitler made it fully clear that he wanted territories back. The allies knew he was recreating the German Army and had grand aspirations. But then, the Allies appeased that particular dictator. Now, the balance of world power is noticeably not on the side of leaders like Ahmadinejad. UN sanctions continue, and if he is veiling a desire for nuclear weapons under his buzz phrase, "nuclear energy for all, nuclear weapons for none," then the US and its allies have called Ahmadinejad's bluff. Having disrespected the government whose President at one time said he would be open to negotiations with Ahmadinejad, the Iranian leader seems to truly lack the ability to choose his words wisely or convincingly. That man with the swastika was known for just the opposite.
Don't worry too much; removing Ahmadinejad's credibility isn't even our job anymore.
