The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Jeff Wrangler:
I am currently reading the article in the August 8 issue about the mission to take out Osama bin Laden. All American taxpayers should be pleased to learn that the White House orders sandwich platters from Costco instead of from some place more expensive. ;D
On a much, MUCH more serious note, it troubles me to read the quotations indicating that the bin Laden raid was carried out "for God and Country." For "Country" by all means, but, to keep this short, the "God" part troubles me because I think every reference to the Almighty lends credence to claims by radical Islamic fundamentalists that the West is on some sort of "crusade" against Islam.
I simply won't go into what I as a Christian feel about that reference to God, but I will assure you that I'm not in favor of it.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on August 09, 2011, 01:03:32 pm ---I am currently reading the article in the August 8 issue about the mission to take out Osama bin Laden.
--- End quote ---
I've heard this is a really good piece. Looking forward to it.
--- Quote ---All American taxpayers should be pleased to learn that the White House orders sandwich platters from Costco instead of from some place more expensive. ;D
--- End quote ---
Yes, and thank goodness that meanwhile the Tea Party is preserving the right of the wealthy-American community to order their sandwiches from [insert name of restaurant so swanky that I've never even heard of it because I won't be able to afford to eat there in my lifetime].
--- Quote ---On a much, MUCH more serious note, it troubles me to read the quotations indicating that the bin Laden raid was carried out "for God and Country." For "Country" by all means, but, to keep this short, the "God" part troubles me because I think every reference to the Almighty lends credence to claims by radical Islamic fundamentalists that the West is on some sort of "crusade" against Islam.
I simply won't go into what I as a Christian feel about that reference to God, but I will assure you that I'm not in favor of it.
--- End quote ---
Excellent point. That's troubling to read as a non-Christian, too. For the reason you mention, but also because people holding the notion that there is a God who takes sides in the ridiculous wars on Earth have always disgusted me. Even when, from my POV, my own side seems clearly morally superior (the North in the Civil War; the Allies in WWII) it is disgusting to assume that God would be monitoring things from on high and have an opinion on the preferred outcome (in which case, why wouldn't God intervene on behalf of the "good" side and avoid the war entirely?).
And it's particularly repulsive in this case, because when Americans hear Islamic terrorists say they're fighting on behalf of Allah or because they expect to get 72 virgins in Heaven or whatever, Americans typically find it ridiculous. But -- and here's the repulsive part -- not because it's ridiculous for anyone to think that God's on their side exclusively, but because they think it's ridiculous to think that God is on THEIR (Islam's) side, when clearly (they think) God is on their own side. And they might not have 72 virgins in Heaven, but gosh darn it they'll have wings and a harp.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on August 09, 2011, 11:48:39 pm ---I've heard this is a really good piece. Looking forward to it.
--- End quote ---
It really is very good.
--- Quote ---And it's particularly repulsive in this case, because when Americans hear Islamic terrorists say they're fighting on behalf of Allah or because they expect to get 72 virgins in Heaven or whatever, Americans typically find it ridiculous. But -- and here's the repulsive part -- not because it's ridiculous for anyone to think that God's on their side exclusively, but because they think it's ridiculous to think that God is on THEIR (Islam's) side, when clearly (they think) God is on their own side. And they might not have 72 virgins in Heaven, but gosh darn it they'll have wings and a harp.
--- End quote ---
When "they" try to turn their fight, not to say their episodes of mass murder and atrocity, into whatever is the Islamic equivalent of a "crusade" on behalf of Allah, it can be very, VERY difficult not to respond in kind. :(
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on August 10, 2011, 08:43:20 am ---When "they" try to turn their fight, not to say their episodes of mass murder and atrocity, into whatever is the Islamic equivalent of a "crusade" on behalf of Allah, it can be very, VERY difficult not to respond in kind. :(
--- End quote ---
Perhaps. But of course the mature response is to note the flaw in the idea itself, not to indulge in it equally.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on August 10, 2011, 09:19:13 am ---Perhaps. But of course the mature response is to note the flaw in the idea itself, not to indulge in it equally.
--- End quote ---
Of course. My point is really the struggle against the knee-jerk, gut-level urge to respond likewise, to respond, in effect, "OK, you want a Holy War? We'll give you a Holy War!"
Heh. Even without indulging in the rhetoric of Holy War and Crusade, after the events of last weekend I think there is a visceral desire to bomb Afghanistan back into the Stone Age--and to wonder whether anybody other than the Afghanis, and maybe the Pakistanis, would really care? :(
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