Video: Queen Rania of Jordan's Speech at the First Lady's California Women's Conference
http://www.californiawomen.org/conference_media.html
After spending this Easter weekend in Rome I have been thinking alot about religion and extremists who use religion to poetically justify their extreme ideas.
Above, I have a link to my favorite speech regarding east and west by Queen Rania, at the California Women's Conference, emphasizing a sentiment I feel we all, as Americans, need to embrace in order to battle the current trends of terrorism.
I feel our first step to truly battle terrorism from the mid-east is to eliminate the stereotypes and discrimination towards Muslims here in the west.
It is often said that the KKK is to Christianity what Islamic Extremists is to Muslims. They have almost the same correlation. So, if you are Christian hopefully by considering that it might further open your perspective to this situation. Here are some estimated facts.
There are 200 Million Christians in America.
and 5 Million KKK members in the United States (In the 1920's). Today there are a 3,500 thousand KKK members.(or Christian Extremists)
There are 1.5 Billion Muslims in the world.
and 2,000 thousand Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq.
There are 44 Million people in Colombia
16,000 thousand FARC terrorists.
Colombia has a higher ratio of terrorists in their country than Al Qaeda does in Iraq. Colombians are not as foreign to us here in the West therefore we rightfully do not make stereotypes of them. We acknowledge their beautiful community fairly and we do not identify them by the few terrorists present in their region. We feel true sentiment and anguish when we see Colombia's people suffer as a result of terrorism. I wish we could find this same sincere sentiment for Iraqis and all Arab countries half-way around the world from us who are suffering due to the mis-managed war our president began. That same great sentiment we find for our courageous troops.
As a Christian Moderate, myself I do not want those in the east to assume all Christians have the same ideals as the Christian extremists in the KKK. And I think it is our duty not to make the same assumptions about those religions foreign to us.
I often hear on some cable news station, like Fox news, careless comments such as, "THEY are terrorists over there, in Iraq" or "THOSE people." They have to be more careful with their wording if not they are just promoting prejudices. (They should rather be politically correct and refer to Al Qaeda as Religious Islamic-Based Extremists.) Comments like this are isolating billions of Muslims who are not terrorists and are just placing them in the same pool as Al Qaeda. Put, yourself in their shoes, wouldn't that make you very, very upset? If we continue making these stereotypes we will only fan the flames of Anti-Americanism in the East.
"It is not the exremists that define a religion it is the moderates." - Queen Rania
We, the moderates in the Christian and Muslim religions must build a relationship so we can unite to eliminate terrorism. There is no other solution, Americans can not do it alone. East and West needs to join forces, Muslims and Christians need to join hands as Global Citizens in the pursuit of peace in our world. So, we need to reach-out to the Arab community and prove to them that we do not identify all followers of Islam by the actions of a few. We and the Media need to stop making generalizations and let's prove to extremist leaders, like Osama bin Laden, that they're wrong and that the West is a free democracy that promotes peace and human rights worldwide. We are in a "global war of ideas" and I feel like America might just be losing after the actions of the current White House administration. That is why all americans need to desperately take positive actions like this, no matter how small, to counteract the violence we have caused in the arab region in the past decade. There is no way to "win" this war in Iraq, but there is a way to "win" this "global war of ideas" and it begins with human compassion and education on the subject.
"Let's be a global citizen, understanding that others are like you then you want for others what you want for yourself" -Queen Rania
Video by Tariq
Examples of Americans and Iraqis working together:
http://www.combatbrothers.com/
4 comments:
We have the tendency to generalize when we disagree with a few. You're right we should never voice our opinion nor make judgement when we are not well informed on a subject. For example, it really bothered me when videos of American Soldiers doing "stupid", irresponsible acts were circulated. This by no means is indicative of what our brave American Soldiers are about. The media and sometimes ourselves are responsible for causing irreparable harm to others. Sometimes is done innocently and other times intentionally but either way we must think before we make general judgement on others. Eneida Rangel
I agree with Eneida 100%. In my opinion, the media is the biggest culprit when it comes to this issue. It is our responsibility to battle ignorance regarding all that appears here. Unfortunately it is a big battle to wage, especially in the US. But if you care enough, you must spread the word! Good for you, Bianca!
Hi ,bianca
thanks for linking my video ,just wanna correct ,i'm a male and not an arab ,but a muslim !!
keep the good work up!!
Tariq.
Hi, Bianca
I wanted to thank you for your kind comments and placeing my webb address hear. You provide a lot of important information.
Thank you
Chuck Butler
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