Laurance Thomas: The West versus Radical Islam

By
Many people think that what is fueling radical Islam are justified grievances against the West—in particular, the United States, for among things, its support of Israel. Why, the U.S. is frequently referred to as the “evil empire”. Of course, there is no point in denying that the United States has committed its share of wrongs against the Arabic world. And while we are playing this particular blame game, we might also acknowledge that France has most certainly committed its share of wrongs against the Arabic world. Why is the French language so prevalent in the Arabic world? The word “colonization” comes quickly to mind.

I suspect, though, that reality is quite different. And for those of us living in the individualistic societies of the West it is really difficult to appreciate what in fact is happening. This is especially true of those for whom the word “diversity” is tantamount to some form of biblical calling.

Grievances against the United States are, I suggest, but a pretext for what is going on. I return to this in a moment.

One of the most striking things in modern times is that the Arabic world has not in unison condemned slavery and genocide; and one would have thought the practice of slavery and genocide in the Darfur region would have left the Arabic world vulnerable to unrelenting moral criticism. What has been happening in the Darfur is morally egregious. But where is the public outcry on the part of those who are opposed to black slavery and genocide? How did it happen that such behavior on the part of whites in Africa would have whites taking to the streets in the capitals of the world, but when Muslims Arabs commit such atrocities newspapers and news programs that cannot tire of criticizing President Bush, who may deserve it for all I know, say next to nothing about the moral atrocities that Arabs are committing against blacks.

He goes on to address, among other things, black Americans and Islam.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

What's in a flower?

By
Specifically hydrangea flowers. In this post I pointed out that anthocyanin (a family of plant pigments) appears blue at high pH, red at low pH and is responsible for the wide variety of colours in hydrangea flowers. Ilona pointed out that , "in hydrangeas you lower the ph for blue flowers (more acid) and raise it for pink (more alkaline)." I did a bit of checking and found that this is the case . At lower soil pH hydrangea flowers do appear blue and at higher soil pH they appear red. But soil pH is not the only thing that affects the colour of hydrangea flowers. It appears that pH inside the plant cell has an affect as well: Sepal Color Variation of Hydrangea macrophylla and Vacuolar pH Measured with a Proton-Selective Microelectrode Anthocyanin changes its color depending on pH (Goto 1987, Brouillard 1988, Goto and Kondo 1991). In strong acidic conditions it shows red, in neutral, purple and in alkaline, blue. But generally the vacuolar pH of plant cells is weakly aci
Read more

Treating autism as traumatic brain injury

By
I've been doing research into autism, dyspraxia, how the normal brain works, and how an autistic/dyspraxic brain works (or doesn't work). Traumatic injury to different parts of the brain can cause the same problems suffered by autistic and dyspraxic children. Compare this list of the functions of different parts of the brain and the problems caused by injuries to those areas with these descriptions of dyspraxia and autism. What is Developmental Dyspraxia? Developmental dyspraxia is a disorder characterized by an impairment in the ability to plan and carry out sensory and motor tasks. Generally, individuals with the disorder appear "out of sync" with their environment. Symptoms vary and may include poor balance and coordination, clumsiness, vision problems, perception difficulties, emotional and behavioral problems, difficulty with reading, writing, and speaking, poor social skills, poor posture, and poor short-term memory. Although individuals with the disorder may b
Read more

Battlestar Galactica needs more colour?

By
Here are the letters I mentioned in the previous post. The one that started it (I'm guessing these letters were written after the show's first airing at the end of 2003): Galactica Needs More Diversity The problem I had with Battlestar Galactica was there were no major and very few minor African American characters. There were no Black men in the show at all or if they were, they had virtually no screentime. In the original series, Boomer and Tigh were both played by African American actors. In this rendition of Battlestar, those characters were played by Asian and White actors. In the Caprica city, there no African American extras. On the Galactica's bridge, there was only one African American actress. Another Black actress could be found playing a religious official that swore in the new President of the colonies. This was very troubling to me. Do you not want African Americans to watch your show? Do you want to project the idea that African Americans are not part of the
Read more