this was written in one uncorrected 'blogging' sitting.so there may be minor changes to come..
Please stop this senseless killing. Fundamentalists: I know
the West is full of hypocrisy,. But it is more so full of beautiful things. As is the Islamic State. The
West has forever and a day waged religious wars. To no effect and to what cost?
And the Muslims may say so why should we stop? But so many of your brethren
totally abhor what you do. What you stand for. Many don’t believe in ‘Western
greed’ any more than you do. Many, though, have a far better life in the
‘West’. You can’t blame them for wanting that. And that for their children and
spouses.
The ‘West’ has an absolutely appalling history of
colonialism. But were the Islamic states in reality that much different? Hasn’t
almost every nation had ‘hegemony’ as intrinsic to its agenda? The Swiss being
the exception. Except, arguably, they piggybacked an agenda (highly distasteful
to them=Nazi anti-Semitism) and made their country’s fortune on the unclaimed
Jewish wealth in their bank accounts). That is true btw and the Swiss had to
pay out eventually. But it was tiny compared to the compound interest amassed.
I believe Prime Minister Tony Blair (hindsight is a great thing PM: Genghis Khan felt he made mistakes too-methinks a C20 dinner with Genghis might be more.... ) and President Bush made
one of the biggest mistakes in C20th history by their actions after the 9/11
attacks. And I would ask Muslim fundamentalists
to think again about their actions when the innocent die for no reason. You may
argue that Americans didn’t care about Muslim interests back then. And you may
well be right. It took the body bags of innocent American sons and daughters on
their parents’ doorsteps (figuratively) for American families finally to start
asking: what war are we fighting? And the painful truth is: New Yorkers would care 'less' about dead Belgiums than they would about dead New Yorkers. Now I've said it! If that had been NY today things would have been very different. But why so? Isn't that the terrible arrogance of human existence?!
The IRA fought for a just cause against the British but was
that cause also negatively self-perpetuating? Could one ever condone the
slaughter of innocent civilians? I would argue no, but others (Gerry Adams) may
cogently argue the opposite.
The NSA (National Security Agency) believes (or cogently argues its continued
government funding) that they can defeat Fundamentalism by ‘controlling all the
communications’ of our planet whilst riding roughshod over democratic
Constitutional rights. Donald Trump may indeed cogently argue the same. And
occasionally they may prevent some catastrophe. But: as the IRA famously said (they did) after the Margaret Thatcher 1984 Brighton bombing : Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once – you will have to be lucky always.
The NSA are fighting a no-win battle against rogue humans. (I'm not sorry if that offends you. It is a statement of fact. Not support for terrorism.) So
oftentimes you will win Fundamentalist Muslims. But WHAT are you winning? WHAT?
Ask yourselves that? More dead people? People who could so easily be your
neighbor, your son, daughter, spouse, fruit vender, tourist agent? WHAT? And what are YOU winning NSA?
You may not like me invoking the Pope of all people. He cited Thomas Merton on his visit to America. The Pope championed a man who
retreated from those Western values that you so abhor. As many do. And I would
argue you could practice your own religion much as Merton did. If you feel an
outsider then one is not alone in this world. The world celebrates, for the most
part, conformity. And yet being different makes most of the money. Go figure.
Humans are really screwy! Animals seem so much more switched on. Except those
(or is just the squirrels gravitating to me) that think sofa fiber is food.
Maybe they are smart in some way and I am the stupid one. Maybe a Ramadan squirrel (who's a little...).
President Obama is a good man. He wants change. He wants to
help Muslims. But you tie his hands when you keep killing. Some say his current visit to Cuba is just
all hand shaking and flag waving. But oh my g! Did he have the balls to do it.
He’s got balls but he is, alas, only human.
And he only has so much time left in office. So you may say, so why
should we bother? Why hope for anything then? Because clearly Fundamentalists
do hope for something. But shouldn’t it be something great within yourself/
oneselves?
FUCK the world. You answer to yourself. Look at the shit Galileo had to deal with! (too many great words to quote...) (apologies for
my merde francaise…) So what possible excuse could you have to destroy it? If
it is anger then I totally hear you. Totally. But where has the world ever got
by destroying things? Nowhere. And the great thing about being human is that we
get somewhere. We make things. Some of them may be crap. A lot may not be quite perfect. But it is possible to travel to a
new plateau. And even if we just look out of the window: surely there is something worth contemplating rather than destroying. Surely!
[A documentary image from last year still haunts me. It is a cat limping delinquent in the demolished streets of Homs. Burnt to the skin, almost legless, crying in pain to the camera. You think to yourself: it is just a cat. It is just...
and then there are no more words.]
[A documentary image from last year still haunts me. It is a cat limping delinquent in the demolished streets of Homs. Burnt to the skin, almost legless, crying in pain to the camera. You think to yourself: it is just a cat. It is just...
and then there are no more words.]
