Tag Archives: fundamentalism

Pakistan getting crazier every day

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It isn’t good news that a nation with nuclear capabilities is slowly becoming a fundamentalist theocracy. Here is a disturbing article in the Guardian about how the growing intolerance of Muslims in Pakistan is having deadly consequences. A few weeks ago, I reported on a group of Christians who were attacked for allegedly defacing the Koran. Their homes were set on fire with them still inside, killing 9 in the process. Investigators believe the real motivation behind the attacks was actually a land grab, and the organizers were in fact working for an unscrupulous local businessman.

These Muslim extremists are also busy trying to fill young people with hate propaganda:

Under Zia [former dictator of Pakistan], school textbooks were purged of any positive reference to minorities or Muslim traditions considered too pagan. Students were taught that Pakistan was a global vanguard of Sunni Islam forever threatened by Hindus, Jews and western imperialists. Pakistan’s penal code was amended to make blasphemy against Islam, including desecration of the Qur’an, a crime under strict penalties including life imprisonment to death. The Hudood Ordinance left millions of victims of rape exposed to the new crime of adultery while the testimony of non-Muslims was judged to be half the value of a Muslim.

Fundamentalists are easy to control and manipulate (since their own mental framework is entirely predictable and simple), and there is no better way to entice people to violence than through religion. It’s no secret that blind faith is a powerful political tool; politicians have known about this fact for centuries (if not more). I shudder to think what’s next for Pakistan. Will it become the next Afghanistan, or the next Turkey?

The author of the article offers a glimmer of hope; religiously motivated attacks are still being condemned, but I see no reason to believe the secularists will win in the long run. When your opposition is prone to acts of violence, how can reason hope to prevail?

Taliban kidnapping boys in Pakistan to recruit suicide bombers

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How long does it take to brainwash a human being into becoming a suicide bomber? About a month, apparently. If you want to know how messed up the Taliban is, you need to head over to the Independent and learn more about how they kidnap young boys at gunpoint and indoctrinate the shit out of them in their training camps.

The boys are taught your predictable “Pakistan is a tool of Western Oppression”, and shown videos of atrocities to entice them into a fervor of hatred and disgust. Even though many of these boys were returned home, many parents describe their children as horribly twisted and corrupt, a shadow of their former selves. Part of their brainwashing techniques involved instructing them that their own parents should be killed if they get in the way of their “glorious mission”.

I guess when life is pretty shitty, it’s fairly easy to twist their pain into hatred and eventually murder. Even though the Taliban is getting crushed by the army, many residents fear this victory is short lived, and they will be back in even greater numbers.

I won’t pretend I have the right answer as to the best way to deal with these psychos, but combating indoctrination requires a lengthy process of education and empathy building, something I doubt the Pakistani government is capable of doing. The Taliban is effectively creating a sleeper army to awaken when everyone think they are defeated. They are like a virus; just when you think it’s dead, the bastard mutates and takes out your entire family.

Muslim extremist jailed for arson

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You might remember a few months ago, I wrote a story about the book, The Jewel of Medina, and the subsequent firebombing of her publisher’s home by Muslim extremists. It seems now the case has gone to trial, with Ali Beheshti  and his two accomplices sentenced to four and a half years behind bars. The judge issued this statement, which I strongly agree with:

“If you choose to live in this country, you live by its rules. There is no such thing as ‘a la carte citizenship’ and, in your case, there is no such thing as ‘a la carte obedience’ to the law”

The book that caused the conflict in the first place is a historical fiction novel centered on Muhammad’s child bride, Aisha. It’s a part of his history many Muslims like to whitewash; they don’t like the idea that their prophet was involved sexually with such a young child, and any reference to Aisha is usually met with swift violence.

For future reference, when you commit a violent crime, it’s usually a good idea not to have a bunch of pictures of you holding a gun. That tends to send a pretty clear message that you aren’t right in the head. Just saying…

Men get amputated in Somalia for stealing phones and guns

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Whenever you hear the words ‘Sharia’ and ‘Court’ uttered in the same sentence, you can bet something fucked up is about to happen. In Somalia, a radical Muslim group known as al-Shabaab has seized control over much of southern Somalia, and they have instituted Sharia Law in that region. Yesterday, 300 onlookers, mostly women and children, watched on as 4 men had their right hands and left feet amputated for stealing some phones and guns.

Somalia’s government is rapidly losing ground in the country, and al-Shabaab is poised to continue to gain more control. Their followers are dedicated and hardened combatants, all supremely dedicated to their goal of defeating the ‘enemies of Islam’; anyone, in other words, who doesn’t share their fundamentalist views.

Onlookers watched as the men screamed for help while their limbs were chopped off, and witnesses refused to comment on what happened, presumably too frightened to say anything. The accused had confessed to their crimes, but the fact they had no lawyers or representation makes me think these confessions were probably coerced. Hey, when you’ve already sharpened all your unsanitary knives in preparation for an amputation, you can’t have anyone being found not guilty, can you?

Somalians are accustomed to a much more reasonable and peaceful version of Islam, but it looks like the fundamentalist bullies are trying to turn the country into another radical state. This is the real ‘War on Terror’ here; a country’s population is being held hostage by maniacs who think cutting off a man’s hands for stealing is appropriate punishment. Things in Somalia are going to get worse before they get better.

Abortion doctor gunned down in church

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Anti-abortionists scare me. Sure, most of them are fairly harmless, but their zeal and conviction often invite violent individuals into their ranks. It’s inevitable that certain people, who feel their actions are justified by their God, will commit violent acts against doctors and nurses who provide this medical service. Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed today during church, and although the details of the investigation is sketchy, it’s clear the motivation behind the murder is Tiller’s work at his clinic.

This isn’t the first time he’s been targeted. Back in 1986 the clinic was bombed, although luckily no one was hurt. No one was ever arrested for the crime.

The anti-abortion group ‘Operation Rescue’ stated on their website that they:

worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

I don’t want to suggest that the group played a direct role in the murder since all the facts haven’t yet come to light. Consider, however, the group was previously based in California before moving to Kansas, specifically to target Tiller. Their slogan, “If you believe abortion is murder, act like it’s murder” is an invitation to violence. The organization has been working for years to dismantle, harass, and interfere with Tiller’s clinic.

What are we supposed to think when something like this happens? The organization is playing damage control and trying desperately to distance themselves from this incident, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the murderers were at least in some way affiliated with them. What else can you expect? These guys take abortion very seriously, and as far as they are concerned, it’s murder. We can’t be surprised when religiously motivated simpletons use violence to get their way. Anyone who thinks anti-abortion groups use only peaceful methods are living in a fantasy land.

Swedish kids accused of being murderous atheists

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Remember this video? I didn’t know what their message was, but now it looks like it’s actually a series of ads targeting atheists. Their latest one includes a banner accusing Swedish kids of murdering others for candy. Presumably, the fact they are atheists explains why they would so trivially kill another human. Of course, no one has ever killed another human due to their religion, so all conflicts must be the result of losing faith in a supreme being! Doesn’t that just make you want to suddenly begin believing a 2000 year old Jewish guy, who had the weird habit of cursing fig trees for not giving him fruit, was a God?

Economic fundamentalism

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I’m not one to normally write about economic issues. Although I do hold very specific and, as some would say, rather radical economic views, I have noticed a trend in economic thought which mimics the fundamentalism found in religion. I am referring to The Church of the Free Market.

I’ve recently been studying the economic trends of the past 40 years, and found it to be quite enlightening. It gave me a glimpse into the deceitful world of big time economic players (the main one being the economic guru, Milton Friedman), intent on changing the world in their vision.

I started off innocently enough: after the Second World War, the world saw economics as a major player in world politics. It was, in large part, the financial meltdown in the west (as well as the prolonged crisis in post war Germany) that allowed Fascism and Imperialism to become so dangerous. It was now understood proper guidance and monitoring would be necessary to avoid global catastrophe.

At the time, Keynesian economics ruled the day. The ‘invisible hand’ of the free market was seen as nothing more than wishful thinking, and countries began investing heavily in their own infrastructure. With the ability to use tax monies, countries were able to build huge nationalized projects that greatly increased their wealth and security. Everything was going well.

But like any system, it wasn’t perfect. Without the necessary capital, poorer countries were finding it hard to generate enough money to make any nationalized projects a reality. In the wake of their turmoil, the wizards of free market economies allied themselves with military juntas in order to drastically reform the once socialist policies of countries like Chile and Argentina, often relying on torture, kidnapping, and intimidation. The results were dramatic. Where a thriving middle class had once existed, now there were only two classes: the very rich, and the very poor.

The new found wealth of the privileged few convinced many that the world was ready for unfettered free markets again. With every financial crisis in desperate countries, cries for deregulation and privatization followed. The results were dramatic; each country that allowed this unfettered market saw the same results as in Latin America; a huge financial opportunity, all at the cost of the destruction of the middle class.

And now we turn to the bailout in the US. The very laws that used to protect the market against wild speculators were eroded, and the consequences were huge. Wall Street, without any infusion of cash, threatens to crumble under its own bloated weight. The government is offering a huge sum to buy out all bad debts and owed assets, but there is no clear stipulation on how the nearly 1 trillion dollars will be spent.

And just as this is happening, neo-cons are moving quickly to try and pull a fast one on everyone. Former House Majority leader Newt Gingrich wants to try and encourage other neo-cons to repeal the remaining protective laws in Wall Street. He would also like to see the privatization of schools and Social Security.

There is a direct corollary between free market fundamentalists and religiosity. Free market enthusiasts feel that the market is like magic: one only needs to put their trust in it and everything will be fixed. Anytime it crashes and burn, they blame only the fact there are still TOO MANY REGULATIONS and by completely obliterating them, everything will be right again. This is nothing more than unjustified faith in a economic philosophy that has shown itself to be highly flawed and imperfect. The fact that neo-cons are usually deeply religious does not surprise me. Deep denial and delusion are all part of the religious framework they operate under.

I worry this type of fundamentalist thinking is going to cause untold havoc. The same people who demand you believe in only their God want you to also only believe in their economic vision. The fact both of these ideologies cause untold misery is of no importance to them. Simply believing is enough.

Of course it shouldn’t be. We cannot allow ourselves to be continually fooled by their rhetoric. The transparent fact is the current financial crisis is a result of the destruction of laws intended on regulating it. No amount of accountability would change that very fact. The notion that individuals must take more responsibility for their actions ignores the fact it was their intense self interest that led them to this crisis in the first place. Every one of these bankers and business people probably thought they were doing well, and they operated within the confines of the law. To have a revisionist view of this negates the opportunity to learn what happens when so much trust is placed in the free market.

The money that will be paid by the taxpayers, none of whom asked to be burdened with such a cost, is another demonstration of the failure of the invisible hand. If the economic fundamentalists really have so much faith, they should let the chips fall where they may. Surely, the invisible hand will fix everything, right?