Friday, June 04, 2010

The Actions of a few


In a discussion in the comments section of the Culturism blog, the comment by a Muslim thought that we shouldn't judge all Muslims by the actions of a few. In other words, just because a few Muslims are militant and a small amount of them are terrorists, doesn't mean that the majority of Muslims have similar ideologies.
In fact, I can't argue against that line of thinking.
On the other hand, I did point out that the course of  history did turn on the actions of a few. Too many examples that I could mention here so just let your imagination run wild.

Now here is another more specific example of how history is affected by the actions of a few. In this case a few very rich individuals in Saudi Arabia who manage to give financial support to the Taleban in Afghanistan via Pakistan.

So we might like to pause and consider the actions of a few individuals who have managed to turn the world upside down. Since 9/11 a few individuals have managed to cause major psychological damage to the citizens of the US and the rest of the world. And a few individuals who grow fat on the profits of oil manage to cause mischief and war in places like Afghanistan.

3 comments:

Jeannie said...

It's always a small percentage who have or take the power to influence or change society. Most of us just try to get by and carry on as best we can.

The US citizens were paranoid long before 9/11 - and arrogant enough to believe no one would dare bring war to their shores.

The days are over when the American people naively believed that their country was a pure and good power bringing aid and enlightenment everywhere for noble reasons.

ButterSnatch said...

Jeannie... *although I agree with your initial "The US citizens were paranoid long before 9/11..." statement, I can't see myself clear to agreeing with your follow-up "The days are over when the American people naively believed...". (*I’m in no way offended by your statement, for the record)

Yes, we are an arrogant, ethnocentric, judgmental bunch of folks. I am one of the very few (in general) that is educated in global events, and has kept up with world news & happenings as a matter of course (I like to know what’s going on all over the world, not just in our little corner of N. America). Generally speaking, the people in this country, prior to 9/11, didn’t want to know what was going on all over the globe because it didn’t matter. They couldn’t relate to it. It had no effect on their lives. 9/11 changed all that.

9/11 was horrific, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s ushered in a new era of GLOBAL awareness for us. “…we are an arrogant, ethnocentric, judgmental bunch of folks”, and the silver-lining on the 9/11 cloud, is that it has dragged us (kicking and screaming, mind you) out from under our rock into the daylight that everyone else has been dealing with for 20 years.

BUT (and you knew there’d be a but), the days are FAR from over that we think of ourselves as a pure and good and enlightened. On the contrary. Most people I know are even more giving and mindful of others needs than they were before the catastrophic events of September 11th. If nothing else, it woke us up and helped us realize that we were not alone in the world, and helped us realize that there are others on this little planet with struggles that far surpass our own.

Terrorism… what’s that?!? (We are now painfully aware)
Afghanistan… where’s that?!? (We are now painfully aware)
Israelis and Palestinians… who are they?!? (ditto)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad… who’s he?!? (ditto)

The United States is well aware of her place in the world, and is becoming ever more mindful that if she doesn’t watch her step, she’ll go the way of the Roman Empire…

Lexcen said...

Well said Buttersnatch.
I think it's naive to think of any political system as being without faults and to denigrate the US for her shortcomings is pointless no matter how true those observations might be.
Political systems no matter how good or how bad they are will eventually collapse. The first democracy in Greece lasted less than 300 years. Communist Russia collapsed after 70 years. The British colonial Empire eventually gave way to a new world order.
My personal view, as I've often stated on this blog is that western democracy is under threat not from terrorism as such but the more sinister and unstoppable infiltration by Muslim immigrants. Wholesome and peace loving as they might be as individuals, Muslims en masse become a social pressure group who use democracy to undermine democracy by demanding Islamic values be imposed and eventually lead to imposition of Sharia Law. The Islamic religion/political system is the ultimate threat to the US and Europe. The Trojan Horse you may say.

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