Reflections: A Woman From Iraq

I met a woman and her daughter who were originally from Iraq, when I was in NZ at the end of last year. She and her daughter came into NZ as refugees following the death of her husband, who was murdered. She wanted a better life for her daughter and she feared for their safety as we can appreciate.  She has made a nice life for the two of them in Auckland. She owns a lovely little fashion jewellery business, which is what drew me to her shop. 

We struck up a conversation and I asked her about her family. She told me they were all in Iraq. I asked her how they coped. She said, they just get on with it and that some have known, no other life. I was intrigued as to why they didn't leave as she had. Her comments made some sense. She said it's their home. It's the only thing they have after years of fighting. Their home and each other. Some just wanted to stay in the hope it would improve (sadly it hasn't) and some to keep fighting in the only way they know for a better life. They haven't taken up arms. They were merely being defiant. 

I've been thinking a lot about her and her daughter over recent weeks. I pray her family is safe and I can't imagine the anguish she is feeling right now. Although I only met her briefly, I will remember her always and on reflection I suspect she and her family (in Iraq) will be 'just getting on with' being defiant and believing they will overcome. 

The Silence of Our Muslim Leaders in Australia Isn't Acceptable

Our Muslim neighbours in Asia; Indonesia, India, Malaysia to name but three have been very vocal in their condemnation of extremism and terrorists organisation. They have been joined by the OIC. There have been half a dozen releases in the last week alone. All of which I've posted on here. They recognise the dangers and are rightly concerned about it. Their countries have suffered the impact on their own shores. We on the other hand, thank God have not. 

This is the bit I need to ask forgiveness for saying. Perhaps that's the problem. Perhaps that's why Muslim leaders here are silent. It's all too easy to be remote from the violent happenings elsewhere. Whilst there is no doubt that young people are being radicalised here (apart from the few that have travelled overseas to join terrorists groups) it's just talk; thus far. Like the far, far, rightwing nutters that sprout their hate on social media so do the Muslim Youth. Whilst I'm sure much is said behind closed doors in the Muslim community it is frankly not good enough that Muslim leaders here remain silent. Perhaps they would wake-up and mobilise if something did happen here. Perhaps only then will they realise as our northern neighbours do the real dangers we face. Let's pray it doesn't come to that and that they act soon. Their silence is no longer acceptable.

When Did Ordinary People Become So Vicious?

Social media is an interesting beast. It facilitates the organisation of communities of people around various causes, and interests and ‘slams’ together people who perhaps would never socialise on a personal level. Some of these communities can be enlightening, some are informative and others sadly, are increasingly frightening.


Perhaps I’m being overly simplistic, but I sense, as a result of the ability to communicate quickly, to form ‘mobs’ quickly and to voice our opinions we have lost some of our ability to reason. As a result, I feel (just my opinion) that far too many are migrating into a society of ‘cyber lynch mobs’. What drives this is perhaps fear, the feeling of helplessness (we hear a lot about that these days), maybe even ignorance and maybe simply the desire to ‘shout’ about something; the reactionary cause.


I’ve written before about our selective rage. Something will hit a headline and because it’s about a group the ‘mob’ are currently targeting the ‘internet’ goes into melt down. The kidnapping of the girls in Nigeria is a very good point in case. Social media users, celebrities and even a President’s wife were tweeting about the plight of these poor girls the hashtag #bringhomeourgirls was trending for days. As always however and despite the fact that most of the girls are still in captivity, not a word is uttered now. The reactionary cause ’mob’ moved on.


There was meltdown when ISIS was accused of issuing a fatwa that all women and girls were to be subjected to FGM. I can understand that. FGM can be a brutal practice and much like male circumcision it is an invasion of a person body most often without their consent. As it turned out, the ISIS story appears to have been a fake, thankfully. Every time the word FGM and Muslim comes up we get a similar reaction. It’s largely kneejerk. There’s a lot of ignorance about this subject but that another story.


After the preamble I’ll get to the point of this story. The situation in Gaza has polarised large parts of our global community. We have the pro-Israel ‘mobs’ the pro-Palestinian ‘mobs’ and those of us in the middle we only want to see the slaughter of innocent people stop. One of the demands of the ‘lynch mobs’ is that non-violent anti-terrorist Muslims need to speak up. Absolutely right, they do. The interesting thing is many do exactly that. However, few get credit or even acknowledgement.


I did a little test last week. I posted four articles where very influential Muslim groups over the past week had condemned terrorist groups. They also condemned the attacks on Christians in Iraq and elsewhere. In one case they called for the ‘reconstruct of contexts’ that breeds extremists group. In other words extremists who take written text and present that in such a way that is anti to the true meaning to promote their vile cause and to suppress. So who were these groups; they were senior Muslim religious leaders in Asia including Indonesia (the country with the largest Muslim population) and more importantly the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental group after the UN. It has a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. In essence, the collective voice of the Muslim world. These are not back yard Imams they are very senior Muslim leaders.


So I posted the articles on twitter with the message to those who are critical of Muslim leaders for not speaking up and condemning acts of violence that here’s ‘hot off the press’ articles that prove they do. I pondered if people would bother reading the articles and if they would help spread the message by retweeting. To be honest, I wasn’t that surprised with the result. Three people retweeted. One person suggested everyone was lying; the usual it’s taqiyya (another indication of ignorance in taking a text and twisting it to suit the agenda). So it became fairly obvious that those shouting and demanding certain actions in fact are not really interested in proof their demands are being met. It’s simply ‘the cyber lynch mob’ and their cause. They are rarely concerned with facts in fact they just ignore them.


We have every right to be concerned about threats that come from global terrorists groups, be they Muslims, Buddhists or Christians. In our country, the possibility of the threat coming from Buddhists (as happens in Burma and Sir Lanka) or Christians (as happens in CAR) is remote; our more immediate threat is from fundamentalists Muslims. We have every right to be vocal about our concerns (I would hope in a constructive manner). I also think that is all the more reason to work with and to support those Muslims who have the courage to speak up and who share the same concerns we do? We won’t win the battle on our own unless we want to turn into the ME and start killing each other regardless of whom or what they are. That is too horrific to even contemplate. And we certainly won’t win the battle in forming quick draw ‘cyber lynch mobs’. We have to be smarter and more inclusive than that.


I expect I’ll be swamped with a rush of twitter ‘unfollows’ as a result of this article. And, no doubt I’ll cop my share of attack; I can just see the ‘you are raving leftie’ (which I’m not) ‘you’re a traitor’ (I’ve already copped that one)’you’re a Muslim sympathiser’ (which I’m not). If that happens it happens.


I made a commitment to speak my truth and to endeavour to be fair. I accept in putting pen to paper I’ll be perceived as attacking ‘my kind’. It’s just that I’ve been so shocked by the viciousness over the past couple of weeks that I’ve ‘heard’ on social media from ordinary people I felt compelled to say something; to share my concern. Which brings me back to my question; when did ordinary people become so vicious. Perhaps ‘we’ always were and now ‘we’ have the forum say what we really think and remain anonymous in doing so. Maybe it's just we react first and we think about it later. Maybe it is fear. Or maybe it's just that we have to hate something to make ourselves feel better. Maybe it is after all ignorance. I'm really no clearer but I feel a lot better having committed my thoughts to paper.


Martin Luther King, Jr. once said “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality....I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

For what it is worth, I share that view.

We Are So Selective in our Condemnation and our Condoning of Atrocities

This comment was made on a popular Australian site last night, “nobody wants these dirty, filthy pieces of crap in our country no man, woman or child.”  The person who made the statement wasn’t talking about ISIS terrorists. He was talking about normal, run of the mill Muslims many who have been living in this country for years. Of course the fact that many were born here doesn’t enter the equation.

I posted the comment on social media this morning and received a reply that prompted this thinking. The comment was along the lines of, we agree but what about those who cut people’s heads off and hold them up for all to see.

Any atrocity it doesn’t matter what, should be, in fact MUST be, condemned for what it is; an atrocity. Cutting people’s heads off (be it in war zones or as a result of penalties for crimes committed) is an atrocity; it’s not acceptable by any standards of decency and humanity. And, rightly so these acts are condemned by millions daily.  But why aren’t we equally outraged by other atrocities? Is it because we aren’t aware of them? Is it because we aren’t as concerned? Is it because we measure things by degrees, if ‘he’ commits the act it’s OK but if ‘he’ commits it, it’s wrong. Is it because we excuse our own because they are our own? I wish I knew the answer.

Regardless of the atrocities that are committed we can’t condemn every Muslim for the acts some. We don’t condemn every catholic male because of the acts that have been carried out by priests for an example. We don’t condemn every white male for the appalling acts that paedophiles subject children to; many just babies. Acts by sadistic paedophiles are as bad as or not worse than acts carried out by Muslim terrorists. The difference is we are not subjected to a constant stream of news reports and images of these acts. In fact, we are not permitted to see them. Not that you would want to, however perhaps some should. Perhaps it might help them put things into perspective.

Someone said to me once that the atrocities committed by Buddhist Monk terrorists weren’t as bad as Muslim atrocities because not many people were killed by Buddhists. In the case of Burma, the same person said it was OK because the monks were only killing Muslims. I was stunned. 

I signed a petition today to stop the defiling of dogs in Turkey.  Since prostitution was banned in Turkey, men have resorted to using dogs. I’m sorry if this upsets you. It certainly upset me. What these poor animals are subjected to is horrific.  That said, despite it being an atrocity I suspect most people will ignore the call for help.  But if it said Muslims etc., etc., etc. the petition would have gone viral and social media into meltdown. The same person who made the ‘dirty, filthy’ comment would be shouting “I told you”!!!!

Dozens of children, women and the elderly are dying in Gaza as a result of the onslaught by Israel. But many just brush that off because it’s in retaliation to a few pop rockets fired by Hamas. Now, I’m not condoning Hamas’s actions. They should rightly be condemned but equally I don’t condone what Israel is doing either. It’s hardly a fair fight. But there are people all around the world attacking innocent Muslims, attacking innocent Jews because of what Hamas and the Israeli government and military are doing. By any stretch these actions are sheer madness driven by hate, intolerance and bigotry.

So what is the point of all of this? Let’s focus on the ‘crime’ and the perpetrators of the crime, let’s call out all atrocities that we become aware of and let’s not condemn every one of a certain race, religion, country etc. for the sins of some.

The Death of Standards - Jacqui Lambie

Yesterday, during a radio interview, Senator Jacqui Lambie sunk to an all-time low engaging in what can only be described as a smutty exchange with the radio hosts and a young male caller (young enough to be her son). 

Given Ms Lambie is a senator and given her history of vile comments and her thirst to seek notoriety, I like many others, was outraged by the comments. That prompted me to take to twitter with a series of comments.  Those comments varied from questioning double-standards, the inappropriateness of the comments and the slight against men which was largely condoned by the media. In one of my tweets I included a meme comparing the performances of the two Australian female politicians making headlines yesterday; FM Julie Bishop and Senator Jacqui Lambie. In that meme I referred to Ms Lambie as “Trailer Trash”.  On one hand we have Ms Bishop performing on the world stage, achieving the admiration of global leaders and working on achieving an outcome for the families of those who lost loved ones on flight MH17. Then we have Ms Lambie making smutty comments on radio. No comparison.

Back to my comment about trailer trash the definition of which is lower class white people.  I feel very strongly that Ms Lambie’s behaviour to date and her history fits very well with that description. Yes, it is a harsh comment but vile behaviour warrants harsh comment and Ms Lambie isn’t backwards in making some very harsh and deeming comments about others.

As a result of the meme in question I encountered a tweep using the handle @swbeeton.  Mr Beeton had the temerity to call me vulgar for suggesting Ms Lambie was trailer trash.  Then Mr Beeton attempted to justify it in saying that he didn’t call me vulgar just my meme. It’s much in the same thing as far as I am concerned. Mr Beeton had not made one comment about Ms Lambie and her interview so it appears that;

·       Asking a young man half her age if is he is ‘well hung’ is OK

·       Asking the same young man if is he is diseased is OK

·       Stating that a man doesn’t need to speak if he has money and is well hung is OK

·       Talking about your sons genitals is OK http://www.2gb.com/article/jacqui-lambie-said-what-about-her-son#.U878oWIaySM

Well I stand by what I said and if in the mind of Mr Beeton it makes me vulgar so be it, but I seriously think it says a lot more about him and those who condone the behaviour of this woman than me.  I will persist in my demands for decent standards of behaviour from our elected leaders and in particular women.  I will no longer accept excuses made for Ms Lambie she is 43 years old not a child.  She is an elected (if somewhat rigged) politician and her comments have made news across the world. How appalling is that.  Yet the media and others continue justify her performances with comments such as;

·       She isn’t media savvy

·       She’s learning and inexperienced

·       It’s all a bit of a joke

NOT GOOD ENOUGH.  You don’t need to be media savvy to have high standards; you don’t need to be experienced to act with grace and class and you don’t need to learn how to act in public at 43.  If you do, then you are not suitable to be a leader in this country and if Ms Lambie doesn't have the intelligence to understand that then she has two options;

1. Change her behaviour now and start acting like an elected leader
2. Or resign