It's Who I Am That Should Matter Not What I Believe

Judge me on my deeds and my actions; please don't judge me on my beliefs. 

 

Sadly, I feel as a society we have pushed deeds and actions to a secondary consideration and far too often we jump on a person’s beliefs as a signal to attack them.
 

The one thing social media has exposed is people's bias. It's scary at times. To some, every LNP voter is scum. To others, every Labor or Greens voter is a terrorist supporter or raging socialists. To some, if you condemn the killing of innocent people in Gaza, you are a Hamas sympathiser. To others, if you support Israel you are condoning genocide. To some, if you follow Catholic teaching you are part of the paedophilia cover-up. To others, if you follow Islam you must be lying in wait for the signal to slaughter the infidels; us. To some, if you voice concern about raping and polluting of the planet, you are immediately branded a raving Greenie or Climate Change champion, when in fact your only interest and concern is protecting the environment.  Having concern for the environment does not automatically mean you support the Climate Change con!!!  To some, if you were born in certain countries you are not worthy of living in this country. To some, if you follow certain religious festivals you are scum, but if you follow those they 'approve' you are must be a good egg. It just goes on and on and on.
 

The latest of course is the ISIS debate.  There is no question that this group are murderous criminals who should be rounded up, brought before the International Court to answer charges of crimes against humanity.  We, you and I, have every right to judge them and to voice our opinions based on their proven deeds and their intent which they have openly stated. But that right should be utilised in a constructive manner if in fact we want our voice to be heard. We should be rightly concerned about youths here, who have left the country to fight with these murderous so called freedom fighters. We should be equally concerned about those, who have remained here and who condone the behaviour of a group of lunatics who are slaughtering innocent people based solely on their BELIEF's or their HERITAGE.  
 

In the case of the ISIS debate, what really frightens me, living in Australia, is not the fact that ISIS sympathisers will commit an act of terror here. Although, like many I'm concerned about it, I'm not terrified as some appear to be. I trust our security personal to be on top of extremist activities. I also trust there are many others who keep our security personal apprised of activities within their communities.  

 

 

What concerns me is that innocent people are being subjected to unrelenting attack. Not every Muslim supports ISIS or other form of terrorism and not everyone who voices their concern about the unrelenting attack on a group of people based on their religion is a sympathiser.  We are just advocating balance; judge individuals by how they live their lives not their religion.  And that due to this increasing level of intolerance and the frenzied whip up by the media (which is getting out of control), people will start taking things into their own hands.  We don't want to see the emergence of far-right fascist gangs as they have in the UK and Europe either. They are as bad as many of those on the other side.
 

We've already had a recent report of one young man losing his job due to inflammatory derisive postings on his Facebook page, which he didn’t make because his page had been hacked!!! Despite his statements to that effect, the right-wing ADL swung into action. The young man in question was reported to his employer and he was fired. People in Nazi Germany did things like that.  Remember, it was only a short while ago that a member (since left) of the ADL accused Muslims of trying to shoot him.  It was all over the news and other media. Of course, when the police proved the idiot himself fired the shots; deafening silence.  But of course the damage had been done.
 

A read through the comments on any far-right wing, anti GMO, Climate Change deniers, peace advocates, pro Middle East peace sites etc. highlight the level to which we have generated as a society.  I’m deeply saddened by what I observe and I shudder in horror at times thinking that I am walking the streets with people who think like that about their fellow human beings.  If I owned up to them about being a person who wants to see the world in a healthier state; environment, human rights, religious tolerance, fairness etc. I would be condemned, verbally attacked and possibly beaten-up. That's my greatest concern. That really frightens me. 
 

We desperately need more voices of reason in this world; people who judge others by their actions not by their political or religious leaning. We should also consider that just because others don’t shoot their mouths off on social media doesn’t mean they are supporting particular actions. It simply means they have chosen to deal with it in their own way, or to stay out of it.  
 

 

"If I treat with you and others with kindness and respect, If I do you know harm. Then judge me on that not on not on what I belief."  The same should apply to others. 

 

 

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.