Monday, January 26, 2009
Get 'em before they get us
How do you feel about Germans? Personally I have found those I've met to be honourable people. Yet, in WWII Germans were able to commit atrocities against millions of Jews. How could normal, good-living people bring themselves to do this? Hitler's propaganda campaigns were largely responsible for turning good German people into monsters. An example I found in Wikipedia is that "Der Stürmer, a Nazi propaganda newspaper, told Germans that Jews kidnapped small children before Passover because 'Jews need the blood of a Christian child, maybe, to mix in with their Matzah.' "
I would prefer we could forget all this and move on but sadly it is still happening today. Someone quite close to me recently forwarded an email with a story of an Imam who was alleged to have admitted that all Muslims have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of their faith and by doing so they will go to heaven.
I challenged the person who sent the email and asked if they knew any Muslims, 'Yes, two,' she answered.
'And do they believe this?'
'No, they're not that sort of person.'
But somehow the sender of the email insisted that most other Muslims —the ones she's never met—are that sort of person. I cannot understand the logic.
If we believe stuff like this, doesn't it help to justify (to some people) otherwise unjustifiable acts like the invasion of Iraq and atrocities committed by America and its allies in that invasion? Let me state my position.
The torture and killing of innocent Jews in WWII is unjustifiable.
The 9-11 attacks are unjustifiable.
The American wars against Muslim countries are unjustifiable.
And for the record, the email I got was shown to be false by snopes. Check it out for yourself.
I would prefer we could forget all this and move on but sadly it is still happening today. Someone quite close to me recently forwarded an email with a story of an Imam who was alleged to have admitted that all Muslims have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of their faith and by doing so they will go to heaven.
I challenged the person who sent the email and asked if they knew any Muslims, 'Yes, two,' she answered.
'And do they believe this?'
'No, they're not that sort of person.'
But somehow the sender of the email insisted that most other Muslims —the ones she's never met—are that sort of person. I cannot understand the logic.
If we believe stuff like this, doesn't it help to justify (to some people) otherwise unjustifiable acts like the invasion of Iraq and atrocities committed by America and its allies in that invasion? Let me state my position.
The torture and killing of innocent Jews in WWII is unjustifiable.
The 9-11 attacks are unjustifiable.
The American wars against Muslim countries are unjustifiable.
And for the record, the email I got was shown to be false by snopes. Check it out for yourself.
Labels: Islam, propaganda
