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TGIF

It is Friday. Thank goodness it’s Friday. Because if it is Friday, then that means nationwide, Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is over.

In this week, I have been challenged emotionally and intellectually. But not in a good way. Not in a way that strives to better myself, or to seriously consider the world’s problems (and the world has so many problems).

This week has been Terrorism Awareness Week at DePaul – a week full of dangerous generalizations against Muslims. I had thought the event on Monday was terrible enough, and this week could not get any worse. Unfortunately, Wednesday’s night proved me dreadfully wrong.

I stepped (albeit slightly tardy) into a movie-viewing of Obsession, an hour-long film that has the intention of educating its viewer by reinforcing what they see weekly, daily, sometimes hourly on their news screens. The discussion that followed was full of anger and dislike. People spoke out of turn, and over each other’s comments. There was no real listening, no appreciation for what others around you had to say or their emotional and intellectual reasoning for why there were there in the first place. There was not even a set of questions posed to audience to focus the conversation. This is the sort of banter that follows an offensive or derogatory comment. I couldn’t help thinking, Aren’t we too old for this?

It is really this sort of sad excuse for dialogue that is more detrimental than not having one at all. This week was, I thought, a call for solution to the problem of terrorism; at least that it what it was advertised as. It was instead a week full of scaremongering and angry shouting matches that barely touched the surface of real issues. And I have the firm belief that if we did not start the discussion with the notion that we can offend anyone we want to, or that we can say whatever we like without some sort of respect for all the members of the room, we would have made progress instead of reinforcing conversations that have already been had.

We don’t need an Awareness Week to be aware of terrorism. I see terrorism on my television set; I hear about it on the radio. When I walk through a bookstore, aisles upon aisles of books are dedicated to the topic. What we do need to be made aware of is why terrorism occurs and what is its root cause. There are people who need to understand that Islam is not the cause for violence, only the twisted justification of violence by a few men.

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**I cant speak for too long on the phone** Asma Jahangir said **military might cut it off**.
She urged the world not to turn a blind eye to violation(islamofascism) and free speech in Pakistan.

Yes,*Hunger Mentality*,*brainwashing mentality*,*women are your tilth* mentality,*islamofascism mentality/the stone age mentality* from Malaysia to Morrocco and even in Europa and USA in everywhere.

**...dangerous generalization against Muslim** (!)(?).

Correct word is this,
**Our need to change the (islamic) world**.

Posted by: halozcel | November 11, 2007 2:42 AM
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"What we do need to be made aware of is why terrorism occurs and what is its root cause. There are people who need to understand that Islam is not the cause for violence, only the twisted justification of violence by a few men."

Unfortunately, we don't have a strong grasp on what the 'root cause' of terrorism is -- and in fact, it is unlikely that there is a single root cause that is capable of explaining global terrorism.

More to the point, terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology. Thus, one can speak of Christian terrorists, Muslim terrorists, Hindu terrorists and even atheist terrorists [if one considers some of the more violent anarchist groups in human history].

Today, the a critical global issue is Islamofascism and its notable reliance on terrorism as a tactic. Given the role Islam plays as a stated justification for terrorist activities, it is reasonable to ask:

- Is the interpretation of Islam as a justification of terrorism a reasonable reading of the religious teachings?

- If terrorism is justified by a reasonable reading of Islam, what implication does that have on relations with the global Muslim community?

These are reasonable questions to ask -- though it is clear that strong emotions exist on all sides. Both questions require an understanding of Islamic teachings. Given this, it is not surprising to find Islam at the center of the debate.

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