Gratitude
Just over a year ago the US led the effort for tsunami relief in Indonesia.
Today we see this:
Muslims Target U.S. Embassy in Indonesia
Hundreds of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad tried to storm the U.S. Embassy on Sunday, smashing the windows of a guard post but failing to push through the gates. Several people were injured…A protest organizer said the West, and particularly the United States, is attacking Islam.
“They want to destroy Islam through the issue of terrorism … and all those things are engineered by the United States,” said Maksuni, who only uses one name.
“We are fighting America fiercely this time,” he said. “And we also are fighting Denmark.”
The US Government committed $950 million. American charities are estimated to have given over a billion dollars of private money – money raised by Christians, Jews, homosexuals, and others of questionable moral virtue in the eyes of Islam (the MTV effort for tsunami relief come quickest to mind).
Yet that hasn’t stopped Maksuni from believing America hates him.
Scanning my posts from around that time I am unusually quiet about the relief effort. I also can admit now that I did not donate to that effort – unlike the Katrina Effort which I supported with my hard-earned cash. I knew that many in the USA were donating because they believed that their dollars would show the Indonesians that America was generous and not their enemy, winning the battle of “hearts and minds” in the area.
However I knew deep down that wasn’t possible. The hearts and minds of Muslims in that area are so tainted by the propaganda of extremism that change cannot occur. Such a metanoia could only occur in hearts and minds open to it – and the only way I see that happening is for them to suffer the complete failure of their doctrine. Muslims have become the masters of the art of cognitive dissonance, and I don’t see any way that can break that from the outside. Such a change can only occur from a complete and total breakdown within.
So was that $2 billion wasted? It was on Maksuni and many like him. I can only hope that eventually the mythical “moderates” that exist in Islam assert themselves and deal with the likes of Maksuni – before the next tsunami comes.
Jack Snyder:
People who subscribe to extremist or fundamentalist views of any religion are beyond reason. The Muslims believe they must convert the entire world to Islam, and kill those who don’t convert. The fundamentalist Christians believe we are living in the end-times and some of them are trying to bring it about. I once told a friend back in the ‘80’s (someone you know) that fundamentalism in any form is the greatest threat to this planet. He, of course, denied it (at least for his brand of fundamentalism) and after nearly 20 years, he still denies it. Unless these extremists “wake up”, they will continue on this path until our planet is a charred cinder crawling with roaches. Like you stated; any change has to come from within. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening any time soon.
19 February 2006, 11:01 amligneus:
It’s the sheer stupidity of Muslims that gets to be a bit dis-heartening, but when anyone tells me they can’t be changed [and I admit they may well be right] I think two things, people can change, Germany and Japan were two of the most hidebound and militaristic nations around and look at them now, and the other is, ok, so what’s the alternative to working on changing them, even if it takes a hundred years? There are two possibilities, leave them alone to fester, grow, take over more countries and get nuclear weapons when the only alternative to being subjugated will be to nuke the shit out of them, and the second possibility is to nuke the shit out of them in say the next couple of years.
19 February 2006, 10:06 pmLike it says in the Bible, Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto You.
Cutting Edge Political Commentary The Razor:
[...] I’m glad I didn’t donate a dime to the effort. [...]
5 October 2007, 11:21 am