In almost every type of addiction therapy whether 12 step based or not, the first thing that a recovering addict must do is admit and accept that they have a problem. Addiction and recovery have been issues for centuries and there is a good reason that treatment has evolved to begin with the simple principle of admitting a problem; nothing will ever get solved when you are mired in denial!
Human nature draws us to deny truths and things that we simply do not want to see or accept. We make excuses or look the other way when a loved one is doing something wrong. When pressed with financial challenges, we are prone to borrowing more money rather than cutting spending as needed (in both our homes and in government). We distract ourselves with television and internet games in our idle time rather than work on emotionally challenging things or thoughts. When W5 comes on TV with a sensitive expose, we change the channel to watch America’s Got Talent rather than watch something as challenging as a piece on child pornography rings and such.
Even people who try to be politically aware shy away from sensitive issues. It is much easier to discuss the merit/failure of a teacher’s stance on grading students with zeros (for zero work done) than it is to discuss the long-term sustainability of our socialized healthcare monopoly. Better to fight over the need for bike-lanes in a city than have to dwell on the abject failure of the native reserve system. None of those issues that we put in second place will ever see improvement until we accept some reality in them.
Few issues will make a political sort who dodges uncomfortable issues testes migrate into their abdomens more quickly than any sort of discussion about radical Islam.
How many more murderous riots does the world need to see? How many undemocratic, theocratic countries practicing the most gross of human rights violations do we need as examples in the world? How long will we keep looking the other way when we see practices such as female genital mutilation, stoning for adultery, being gay or any other forms of apparent blasphemy practiced in so many countries?
There is a common thread in those savage nations and it is time more people said it; these nations are all predominantly Islamic!
Yeah yeah yeah, we can go on about the Christians in the Crusades. We can name a couple abortion clinic bombers. We can point out that Hitler wasn’t Islamic. So what? I am speaking of issues today and issues that are predominant.
Is there any non-Islamic state that is at risk of coming under control of the types who bomb abortion clinics? Have there been any widespread riots in any non-Islamic states lately due to a perceived affront to their religious texts? Nigerians even murderously rioted when a beauty pageant host dared mention Mohammad.
Yes I do know that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and do not condone the sort of activities practiced in the nations that I highlighted. That does not change the outright fact that there is a direct link between violence and intolerance and Islamic nations. We are simply full of crap and in denial to say otherwise.
I am going to link to an extremely offensive and blasphemous image published a couple days ago by the parody site: The Onion.
Below the purposely offensive image is a line that says it all:
Though some members of the Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths were reportedly offended by the image, sources confirmed that upon seeing it, they simply shook their heads, rolled their eyes, and continued on with their day.
It is sad that it takes a comedic parody site to make the point to us all and we need to accept it. Despite there being many faiths in the world, only radical Islamic adherents so commonly go on murderous rampages at the slightest of provocation. We need to let ourselves point at the violent when they riot and kill rather than tie ourselves in knots trying to justify it.
I am not proposing any war on Islam, renewed Crusades or shunning of Muslim people. I do not know the solution to countries retaining stone-aged practices due to their interpretation of religious texts. I do know though, that we will never see a solution until we admit the source of the problem and start from there.
In a more sick twist of things, the world seems not to hesitate to condemn Israel for anything and everything they do. Israel is a tiny little island of democracy in an ocean of Islamic dictatorships and somehow instead of cultivating the freedoms in Israel so that they can spread and blossom in neighboring states, many in the world crap on Israel at every possible opportunity.
This is the sort of denial and cowardice that is harming us all. People recognize that the Middle-East is a mess but choose to blame the safest state that they can. One can spout whatever they like at Israel and need never fear Jews rampaging around the world burning embassies and KFCs. Israel is an easy target to blame without fear that they will slap back at you.
At the increasingly irrelevant United Nations, motions are passed condemning Israel constantly while idiotically giving Islamic theocrats a seat at the table in discussion of human rights in countries. The UN has truly become a sad joke.
So many howl indignantly when Israel ignores the garbage that comes from the UN. Those howlers usually are the same apologists who blame cartoonists for the stone-aged violence perpetuated by those offended by the cartoons.
Reality sucks, but it will only get better when we face it.
I will close this rant with a rant by Pat Condell who consistently can hit these issues right on the head.
