Uncomic Opera

 

There are a billion Muslims on the planet. Dunno how many of them are burning down embassies and destroying the shops of foreigners because they are upset with some political cartoons that were published in Denmark in September. Maybe they should leave. In an earlier State of the Union, The Bush Boy unveiled a plan to send people to Mars; I nominate those who are engaged in violent protest against the cartoons to be the first to climb aboard.

We’ve been heading to this religious conflict for a long time. Though it’s probably not religious. More likely it’s an age thing, as in those who live in the current age and those who are stuck in the past, a thousand years back.

It all comes down to evolution, or the failure of the designer to be intelligent in this venue. There are myriad fellow Earthlings whose brains are under-developed. Like the way the Chinese used to wrap the feet of little girls so they wouldn’t grow so as women they wouldn’t be able to go. The Muslim philosophy, when misinterpreted and misapplied, similarly produces dangerously crippled thinking.

It’s impossible to even hope that when you have generation after generation of mentally handicapped people raised in a dogmatic climate of self-destruction that there is going to be an easy way of undoing the problem, though it is important to note the two principal failures to intervene along the way.

First was in not diffusing the Arab-Israeli conflict decades ago. Hatred of the Jews has become its own world-wide religion. Second was the grotesquely stupid policy of sticking to oil rather than coming up with solar power, a shift that could have been made thirty years ago. We wouldn’t have supplicated to the Saudis or become involved in Iran or Iraq or Indonesia or Nigeria had our leaders exercised a wee bit of the vision thang. None of these brutal governments would have survived without oil revenues. Oh, and global warming would have been an academic footnote.

Instead, for macro-policy reasons like ignorance, greed and venality, the West has produced this potentially-fatal cancer on the whole world. Islam isn’t the problem, anymore than is Christianity in our country, or Hinduism in India. The horror in every religion pustulates when extremist leaders pervert reasonable tenets to sublimate the sheep and enhance their personal power.

My family, going back generations, has never been religious, but we have always adhered to the basic tenets of the Christ Consciousness...like living according to the golden rule, acting with integrity, decency, dignity, quality, humility and purpose; at least most of the time. But here in our own country we see fanatics killing doctors and people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell with hordes of mindless followers; all in the name of Christ, whose consciousness they clearly don’t understand. They can go to Mars, too, please.

Considering the corrupt incompetence of the NASA folks, I fear that the relocation effort might not get enough emigrés off the ground, so we need to look for some alternative solutions. We can’t just nuke Mecca and Jakarta, as much as that option might have appeal for those looking for a quick solution. For instance, there’s the problem of fallout spreading to places like Arkansas. Also, there would be survivors who might grow up with a sense of vengeance.

The best and only solution must come from within the Muslim community. The more Muslims who diverge from violence, the better we all will be. How might that happen? The adherents, especially the younger ones who while more fiery but are less permeated, have to be made aware of a better choice. Sitting on the right hand of Allah with seventy-three virgins might have some appeal, but it’s taken on faith. If you can actually download the latest hot songs from the Internet and play video games and pursue other opportunities, well, that’s right there and is real.

At the world leaders conference in Davos, there was a commitment to get behind the mass distribution of $100 notebook computers. They could literally be the key to world peace. We who focus on exchanging email or getting the latest stock quotes or similar activities we take for granted may not see the e-forest through our particular trees.

In fact, the Internet is putting virtually all the world’s information at the fingertips of -- soon -- virtually everyone. This means a massive leveling of the global playing field. At some point in the near future, people will be defined not by their nation or race or religion but by what information they access on the Internet and what they do with it.

There is some work to be done before we get to that point. Air-dropping laptops into Darfur would be putting the computer before the brain, but mass distribution of inexpensive Internet-accessable computers throughout Gaza and the West Bank could have significant positive effects and quickly. And it would cost considerably less than waging unwinnable war. Putting computers in the hands of ten million young Palestinians would cost less than a week’s worth of American lethality in Iraq.

A final point on this uncomic opera that is gathering furor. The U.S. State Department announced that it didn’t think it appropriate for the cartoons to run because they offended people. Perhaps they thought that this would position the United States favorably in the Muslim world. Considering the whole of our policy, it’s not likely a lot of Muslims would have rejoiced.

For sentient beings, the U.S. position was offensive on its face. Here were are tromping around the world shoving democracy down the throats of heathens so primitive they slaughter whole families for being Sunni instead of Shiite. And here we are promoting the muzzling of our once-revered freedom of free speech through a free press.

Step one if we are to save the world is to get our own house in order. We ourselves must understand why our forebears created the United States of America. We as a nation must embrace, aloud and purposefully, the principles embodied in our Constitution. Then instead of invading foreign countries with ideas that are foreign to them, we must demonstrate the power of those ideas amongst ourselves. We must show the importance of free minds and healthy hearts, of a representative government and competent leaders.

We shouldn’t -- we can’t -- dictate how others should live. We should let others see that the ideals we hold and the system we use to reach for them is one built on common sense and intellect and decency; by individuals working together for the common weal. If we are right about our beliefs, both civic and moral, then those who witness our success will probably seek to emulate us. This is a more viable option than trying to kill everyone who doesn’t agree with us.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.

 

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