Carolyn sent me an email this past Saturday with more riveting thoughts which she has allowed me to reprint here:
I just read an article in the National Post this morning. It's on the front page and it's called "Reason To Live". It talks about Singapore's program of using reformed terrorists to challenge the ideology of practising terrorists. So this is a Muslim solution to a Muslim problem. The reformed terrorists "listen" to the practising terrorists and begin to challenge their ideas and their narrow interpretations of the Koran. They called this a Religious Rehabilitation Group. They put together a manual on terrorist ideology and how to confront it. This article shows the importance of challenging the core beliefs of people through a process of re-education. The extremists needed to unlearn a narrow interpretation of the Koran before they could learn to value all human life (non-Muslims). Like people in cults, extremists need to be deprogrammed from their ideology which is: hate non-Muslims, strive to create an Islamic state, engage in Jihad. Back to Canada..I think we have a dilemma..how do we address this need to educate immigrants towards a Canadian ideology when the vogue thinking of Canada is to embrace relativism? When you stand for everything you stand for nothing. In other words our tolerance tolerates the intolerable, and therefore we need to be less tolerant.
This fits in perfectly with something that I read this morning in the Post. "Deeyah, who has been dubbed the "Muslim Madonna," has been forced to hire security guards to protect her in London next month while she promotes a new single and video, according to the British newspaper The Independent."
"The 27-year-old Norwegian-born star has become the target of threats from religious extremists who are angry about the video for her song What Will It Be, which she argues is about Muslim women's rights and empowerment. The video features Irshad Manji, the Toronto-based feminist Muslim writer, ripping off a strip of tape that covers her mouth."
So here is an example of outspoken Muslim women trying to educate their own people about women's rights and so forth, but it appears that some extremists are not very pleased with Deeyah's message. According to the report, some media outlets are now backing away from promoting the video much the same way most Canadian newspapers have been reluctant to print the infamous "blasphemous" cartoons.
So back to Carolyn's point, "...our tolerance tolerates the intolerable.."
Right on. Multiculturalism has failed the very people it was designed to protect. Are we going to take a stand based on principles, or just give in all the time to the greatest pressure and threat? This is our Iraq; right here, right now.
2 comments:
Excellent and well thought out and well written articles Carolyn and Jo.
The following are my thoughts along these lines.
In the Jan. 23/06 issue of Time magazine, an article was written about the new regime in Iran entitled "Slamming it's doors on the world". The article talks about the editor of the Iranian Feminist Tribune, a website devoted to women's issues, Parvin Ardalan used to sit at her home computer each night, posting news articles on the site that the country's press would never carry. She spread the word about sit-ins and seminars. But late last year, Ardalan received a text message from a friend informing her that the site had disappeared. Along with thousands of other websites-including opposition blogs was blocked as part of a censorship campaign by Iran's new hard-line government. "We lost one of our greatest tools", Ardalan says. "It's hindered our work, which I suppose was the goal."
Now:
When I read things like this it makes me realize that the thirst for freedom runs deep in every woman. To my mind this new government cannot stamp out this desire for freedom from oppression. The women in Iran who have tasted the freedom to express themselves, if only on a web site, will not forget what they lost with this oppressive regime in power. The regime may try to stamp out and succeed for a while but you cannot take out of the human heart, a God given desire to make a free choice in whom you will follow and will love to follow. It will be the women who initiate this call to freedom!
Now it seems to me that in direct contrast, the Canadian government did not want to rock the boat so gave in to anything anybody wanted when they entered this country and in standing for anything being acceptable they have stood for nothing. We must return to the principles of people fitting into our way of life and not give away the beautiful freedom that our forefathers fought and died for.
Very well said! If we are afraid to confront a clash in values, we are resigning ourselves to a definite loss of freedom - to what degree is the question.
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