The Pope Begins A Dialogue
Yes, I've been very distracted by my work, which doesn't really include blogging, until and unless I get my commercial website in order one of these days. I'm scheduled to do a photo shoot on Sunday to get some pictures for promo material and the Moda site.
But I've also been working on an essay as it seems to me that the daily news has lately been getting hotter about the war. Maybe it's just the proximity of the 9/11 anniversary or the mid-term elections, but I'm noticing it more.
The concepts held by the people who claim to be our enemies are foreign- literally, and these take some translation to comprehend. My learning another language late in life and using it on a daily basis has made me sensitive to this issue. Yesterday a guy came to the store asking if I would carry some off-color and politically incorrect Spanish language T-shirts. My staff found them to be hilarious, but even when I understood the joke, I didn't find much humor in it. It's not only the language- it's the culture.
What I will be shooting to convey in the essay is an explanation of the joke in simple terms. And as incomprehensible as it sounds, much of what we're facing is a joke at our expense. A good portion of our enemy thinks we're stupid, and therefore gullible. I'm pretty sure we're not stupid, but we are very gullible, which stems from misunderstanding.
Today brings news about Muslim anger over remarks that Pope Benedict made this week during a speech.
A statement from the Vatican has failed to quell criticism of Pope Benedict XVI from Muslim leaders, after he made a speech about the concept of holy war.
Stressing that they were not his own words, he quoted Emperor Manuel II Paleologos of the Byzantine Empire, the Orthodox Christian empire which had its capital in what is now the Turkish city of Istanbul.The emperor's words were, he said: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
Given the fact that the Muslims conquered Christian Constantinople by the sword of Jihad, one might question the fuss. It's also curious to me why the article declines to actually name the 'capital.'
If you click on the above news link your will find quotes of outrage from the Muslim Brotherhood, who exists mainly to create a worldwide caliphate- by Jihad.
The history of the Brotherhood and their affiliations, especially with Hamas, is instructive and well worth your time to get aquainted with. Use Google as well as the Wiki linked in the above paragraph. Many view them as 'moderate,' which simply means that they don't 'openly' condone terrorism, at least for Western consumption. But they do believe in Jihad, or Holy War.
The bottom line is that the Pope is dead right to jumpstart the dialogue on the concept of Jihad. It's one of those words that is greatly misunderstood in the West, and its meaning and cultural significance is purposely obscured by those who wage it, those like The Muslim Brotherhood.
We have to begin to understand Jihad, and know that it's not a joke. Once we understand what we're up against, we can begin to stop using words and phrases like 'radical Islam, 'which has the tendency to upset what we consider normal Muslims.
The Brotherhood is not one a normal Westerner would consider a normal Muslim group, but Muslims would. They have a large political organization operating in many countries, including Egypt, their birthplace and where they are officially banned- but tolerated.
We do have to be sensitive toward 'normal' Muslims, but we don't have to be sensitive toward Jihadis. Our goal needs to be to separate acceptable Muslim practices from the unacceptable, and explain that to the People of Islam. But first we have to know and understand what those practices are.
We tolerate Christian proselytizing because first, there is no gun to the head of the intended, and second there is no gun to the head of those that want to renounce. We must demand the same of Islam.
