smeaglegolum
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Here is something for all those Conspiracy theorists, this is coming from pakistan news paper Jang
'No guns, no glory'
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Samina Wahid Perozani
And so it is
Just like you said
It would be -- Damien Rice,
"The Blower's Daughter"
As the horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai continued to play out well into the wee hours of the night this week, shock and disbelief gave way to sadness. "India's 9/11" was the common refrain being used by television channels and newspapers around the world for what is now being termed as the worst attacks of terrorism that India has witnessed to date. Who's to blame? The Deccan Mujahideen, a militant (Muslim) outfit in India that has graciously claimed full responsibility for these attacks.
There isn't much that can be written about this incident, and indeed about terrorism, that hasn't already been written before. You can't add more to this debate without sounding redundant. Still, as the mind-numbing visuals and reports on the Internet of these attacks poured in, the need to scream, to protest, to do something – anything, really – intensified. So I write about this. I write because there is absolutely nothing that can justify what was done to those people in Mumbai – not caste, not culture, and certainly not religion. You can't go around killing people simply because they're American- or British-passport-holders, even if you think they've "wronged" you. You cannot go on believing that it is perfectly all right to maim and mutilate because you want to teach a lesson – to show the world what you are made of.
Critics, who are undoubtedly on the defensive about the whole tragedy, are quick to say that this is yet another attempt at maligning Islam and its followers. That these attacks were probably not planned and executed by Muslims but by those posing to be Muslims – one of the terrorists was said to have a red sacred thread around his wrist. But in all fairness, I think it's about time we did away with the conspiracy theories. It's time we woke up and smelt the roses. There isn't some mysterious force that is out to get us. To be fair, in the grand scheme of things, we are not even that important, especially since we haven't done much to be proud of in recent years. If anything, we are our own worst enemies – the diabolical army that is determined to destroy us; the one we read about in sacred tomes.
It starts with the smallest of things, really – the age-old conditioning that makes us believe that we are superior because we were born into a certain creed. And by virtue of that we can do no wrong; our way is the only way to be. So we go through the motions with this exaggerated sense of self, telling others how to live their lives because, after all, we do know best.
This charity really does begin at home. For example, we tell our neighbours exactly what their child is doing wrong and how he/she should be raised, a friend why he/she should not be in the relationship that he/she is in (and suggest suitable partners for them), our own children why it's not "nice" to ask questions and relatives why they shouldn't make a public show of their happiness. We furrow our brows at those who don't listen and go out of our way to make them feel uncomfortable about their choices.
Soon enough, we realise that it's time to think "big." To tell others why they need to pay heed to us because we are the ones who can save them. We go to places far and wide and settle there because, even though we have the moral high ground, we don't have the opportunities just yet. Once we've got our break, we focus on what we set out to do in the first place – fix whatever we think has gone awry. We philosophise and sermonise about morality even if that means being politically incorrect. And when that doesn't work, we pull out the big guns (pun intended), because, really, how else will people listen and learn, whether they like it or not? How else will we feel like we've done our good deed? That we are heroes? Thus, bombs are set, bullets exchanged and plans are executed. Just so that we can be heroes. "Just for one day."
