Yesterday was the eleven year anniversary of the most horrific attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor. The past is gone but the memories still echo in our minds and most Americans can tell you where they were when the world stopped turning that September Day. This time is a time of solemn remembrance and peace for the American People and yesterday that peace was shattered by people who felt they had been wronged.
A satire film recanting and poking fun of the Islamist religion was spark enough to justify the overtaking of an America Embassy in two countries. This “Mohammed Movie” as I’ll call it (MM for short) is a comedy and I’ll even include the link to its preview (here: http://youtu.be/qmodVun16Q4). Sure it insults a religion, but so have plenty of other films and TV shows. After watching 8 minutes of the 13 minute video I came to the conclusion that’s it’s really just a satire much like the classic “Blazing Saddles” and its spoof of social issues. Sure some scenes occur in real life, (or did at once) but the majority sees the imagery for what it is, a self reflection wrapped in humor not intended to offend, but for the enjoyment of the masses. South Park and its weekly broadcast (daily on reruns) routinely pokes fun at Christianity and has a Jesus character voiced by Matt Stone. Yet, I don’t see the Archdiocese condoning violence against the Italian Embassy, nor do I see the Westboro church members attacking gays in Hillcrest.
Attacking a United States Embassy is equivalent to attacking the home country. The land afoot beneath the embassy is American Soil as would be the case for the Libyan Embassy on American soil. We watched yesterday as our own country was attacked and our Libyan ambassador was murdered. Today we see graphic images of his limp body purportedly being dragged to aid, but have recently learned that the body in the image may already be lifeless. The furor that’s been whipped up as a result of a movie is NOT typical of a rational human being. There can be anger yes, there can be frustration absolutely, but violence and harm are NOT appropriate responses and should not be condoned. Four private citizens and two soldiers have fallen in total so far, and 6 families have lost loved ones. While this pales in comparison to the losses on 9-11, the events occurring yesterday occurred in the shadow of 3,000 lost souls.
Christianity is not without fault as the history has shown. The Crusades and Holocaust exemplified the awfulness of faith driven extermination and for the most part Jews and Christians have put their arms against one another down. The only religion still fighting a holy war is the extremist Muslim faith that preaches tolerance for others while feigning outrage over everything deemed “against Allah”. Horror happened in the history of Christianity, but atrocities are happening now in the silhouette of Islam. Christians are being CRUCIFIED and neither gays nor women have any rights in theocratic countries that saw an “Arab Spring”; one of these 2 groups shouldn’t have the right to live per the faith. Tragedies like honor killings are routine in Muslim countries and we have groups of people within our own borders that advocate for Sharia Law to justify these monstrosities within our own country. This upsets me more than anything.
Islam has a place in history yes. The question is, what will that place be? Will it be a religion that overtakes others and strikes terror into dissidents, or will it be a religion that integrates itself into the modern world? At the moment it seems to be striving for the former, not the latter. The global climate is very cloudy, but we mustn’t allow our fear to cloud our vision… They don’t call it terrorism for nothing. We must stand firm and stand united, because together as a country, we ARE stronger than any other force on this earth.
