Veiled
The photos accompanying the AP article, "Rebellion Brews in Beirut" (Scheherezade Farmarzi, 11/02/06), are most illuminating regarding the situation we face in the Middle East.
The top photo by Hussein Maella captures a crowd in which all are wearing western garb, replete with Levis and pointy-toed boots. Farther down, a photo by Mahmoud Tawil shows a pretty young female with manicured nails, earrings, sunglasses, and a black cloth over hear hair, or she might have been pretty, had her face not been contorted by hatred. Her allegiance to Hezbollah is clearly expressed in her vehement support of their efforts to take over the government of Lebanon.
The photos are indictments of several misconceptions endemic in U.S. policy and thought. Mainly, that liberation equates to an impulse to humanistic principles, like democratic behavior.
I plead guilty to buying into the program. While we've consistently opposed the expenditure of national treasure supporting regimes that require burkas and subjugate women, this roiling crowd is not our idea of democracy in action. They're wearing our clothes, but their not singing our tune. It seems the transition to democratic thought is short-circuited, or overridden, by deep-seated animosities; a very simple, yet ugly thought.
The American experiment in democracy was a unique and daring creation. The leaders were inspired men who insisted upon the simple presumption that all men were created equal--the bedrock of the new nation; with some later tweaking, this became so. The French would later model a similar guiding principle, "Liberty, equality, fraternity". We cannot force such an enlightened outlook upon people who are led by violent, sectarian groups and find their meaning in such exclusive alliances.
After viewing the photos, I now wonder if it's not better to keep this hatred hidden behind a veil. We support their liberation only to allow them to express their hatred better. What a Pandora's Box. Truly, a naive hope is the only thing left. The exposure of this hatred should not be funded by U. S. taxpayer dollars.
Jim and Lisa
The top photo by Hussein Maella captures a crowd in which all are wearing western garb, replete with Levis and pointy-toed boots. Farther down, a photo by Mahmoud Tawil shows a pretty young female with manicured nails, earrings, sunglasses, and a black cloth over hear hair, or she might have been pretty, had her face not been contorted by hatred. Her allegiance to Hezbollah is clearly expressed in her vehement support of their efforts to take over the government of Lebanon.
The photos are indictments of several misconceptions endemic in U.S. policy and thought. Mainly, that liberation equates to an impulse to humanistic principles, like democratic behavior.
I plead guilty to buying into the program. While we've consistently opposed the expenditure of national treasure supporting regimes that require burkas and subjugate women, this roiling crowd is not our idea of democracy in action. They're wearing our clothes, but their not singing our tune. It seems the transition to democratic thought is short-circuited, or overridden, by deep-seated animosities; a very simple, yet ugly thought.
The American experiment in democracy was a unique and daring creation. The leaders were inspired men who insisted upon the simple presumption that all men were created equal--the bedrock of the new nation; with some later tweaking, this became so. The French would later model a similar guiding principle, "Liberty, equality, fraternity". We cannot force such an enlightened outlook upon people who are led by violent, sectarian groups and find their meaning in such exclusive alliances.
After viewing the photos, I now wonder if it's not better to keep this hatred hidden behind a veil. We support their liberation only to allow them to express their hatred better. What a Pandora's Box. Truly, a naive hope is the only thing left. The exposure of this hatred should not be funded by U. S. taxpayer dollars.
Jim and Lisa
posted by rangeragainstwar at 12:13 AM
2 Comments:
No, sir, dont fall into that trap. You cant hate them for killing US forces, because what the US has been doing to Iraq these last ten years is truly horrific. 1. gulf war, 10 yers blockade causing at least 500 000 deaths (confirmed by Madeleine Albright), and then this. They have a pretty decent reason to fight you tooth and nail. The civilian slaughter is something else.
Some muslims are some of my favourite people. I have travelled to several muslim countries, very good folks. Here in Norway we have very nice interaction, right now we are worried about Denmark, where the nazis are many. Antifa! ;-)
Martin,
I have never espoused hatred. Hatred does help to win wars--it is counterproductive.
The raison d'etre of this weblog is that we should never have attacked Iraq, and that we should return their country to them to do as expeditiously as possible. I do not hate the Iraqi people, and know that they have every reason to feel as they do towards the U.S.
But this is not an Iraqi woman; she is from Beirut, Lebanon, and it is she who is expressing hatred. She is supporting Hezbollah, which has nothing to do with Iraq, except I'm sure Iraq provides sub-rosa support for Hezbollah.
This resident of cosmopolitan Beirut shows that westernization does not lessen hatreds in that region. I stand behind my article.
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