I remember returning to the US in 1998 after an extended visit to Europe and other parts of the world. It was like returning to an alternate or parallel universe. Other parts of the world were gripped and inundated at the time by the fractious and debilitating crises in the Balkans rife with ethnic cleansing, annihilation of innocent men, women and children by nationalism run amok.
In the US, the only news on television and cable was in the putrid scandal of the Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal and his (Clinton's) eventual impeachment. I realized then that once the US is consumed by the "news of the hour" there is other-worldly distance placed on less intriguing news, especially if they are of the international variety. Case in point would be the Casey Anthony legal spectacle that gripped this nation about a month ago. Our national obsession of this debacle was spectacularly disturbing. Recently, the Debt Ceiling debate was the most recent. The point is not in the following of these important stories, but the other major news-worthy items that we lose in the process, especially on its importance to the ordinary citizens.
One such epochal event was the massacre in Norway on July 22. This story was severely under-reported and under-analyzed in the US, especially for its far-reaching global implications.
The very fact that Norway, one of the most peaceful havens on this planet, could come under such draconian attack by what is likely to be a sole attacker is hugely disturbing on so many levels.
Ironically, the killer, Anders Behring Breivik, cited the Balkan conflict as the event that kindled his anti-Islamic bent that led to his massacre of over 90 innocent people in Norway. He rails against multiculturalists for condoning and accepting Muslims into European societies. He believes this would be the death knell to his beloved Continent if they (Muslims) are not resisted and expelled from Europe. So entrenched was he in his convictions that he staged an elaborately maniacal and diabolical exercise that has probably scarred a nation as peaceful as Norway - probably forever.
The purpose of this blog is to highlight a few of my thoughts on this matter. For starters, the fear of Islamic Fundamentalism is real. We cannot talk or analyze enough the loss of innocence America and Americans felt and continue to feel after the horrendous attack on 09/11. It changed our lives and our world in ways that we are still trying to piece together. Then the 07/07 attacks in the UK further entrenched this phenomenon by showing that any and everyone can be touched by Islamists. In the last few years, we have watched with horror as hitherto peaceful countries have felt the garish attacks of fundamentalists in Denmark, Sweden, and many regions in Africa. Who can deny the fact that the Fort Hood shooting in November 5, 2009 by a US Army Major that killed 14 people or the recently averted massacre by Private First Class Naser Jason Abdo are real threats to the fabric of our societal sanity?
It is the response to these brutal attacks that has me wondering if we are losing our "collective souls" to this deepening problem. What I mean is this: All over Europe, there seems to be an upsurge in Nationalist and a revival of Revanchist and Right Wing Movements. I remember watching the Republican Presidential debate recently in which Herman Cain was given a standing ovation for his anti-Islamic sentiments. There is a wave of anti-Mosque sentiments in which many Americans are chillingly against anything Islam in their communities - at epitomized by the debates in New York and Tennessee. There is even a catalog of fear and rumor mongering amongst our politicians on the establishment of Sharia Law as a potential replacement to the American Constitution.
The question is: What kind of people are we becoming - in the US, Europe and the rest of the world - when the solution to Islamic Fundamentalism is to fight hate with hate? Nothing good can ever come out of embracing the Breiviks of the world as they open us up to morphing into the very calluses we are trying to eradicate. Also as important is the fact that there has to be a demarcation between Islam and Islamists. My faith is Christian but I know that to paint a general brushstroke on all adherents of the Islamic religion as terrorists is not only calamitous but dangerously ignorant.
This blog is not necessarily about creating a panacea on how to defeat this growing scourge and menace to our world. But it is more of a plea on keeping our wits about and appealing to our "better angels". Breivik was so consumed by hate for the Muslim world that his only solution was to take the lives of youngsters and innocents who were looking to perform their civic duties in a camp for budding politicians and activists. There is a groundswell of support for Breivik - not necessarily for his actions - but for what many feel should be a wake-up call to the threat of Islam and Islamists.
I don't agree that we should necessarily be afraid of Muslims because of the actions of a few deviants and miscreants. We are better than this. By "We" I mean the rest of humanity who seek peace, equality and justice. If we choose to fight this problem of Islamic Fundamentalism with Islamophobia, we would destroy our innocence and create a rift in our individual countries like the Norwegians have to deal with right now. This is a country that just lost its innocence - and maybe its soul. By the act of one man filled with hate.
