Now that all the foofarow has died down over those 17 alleged terrorists, I'd like to put my two dollars in and maybe stir up a little foofarow of my own.
The reaction to this whole circus was soooooo predictable. The Toronto Star and CBC were taking great pains to remind us at every opportunity that a rock thrown through a mosque window was at least as horrible to contemplate as the beheading of the Prime Minister or the blowing up of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The headquarters of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was on the target list, but from the reaction at the Mother Corp, that just had to be a typo. They obviously meant the headquarters of the CPC...the Conservative Party of Canada...didn't they?
The Chief of Police in Toronto took one look at the giant elephant and elected to ignore it. He later expressed pride at his willful ignorance, bragging that "not once" did he mention the words Muslim or Islam in his speech. The media has by and large followed his lead. Those who have dared to speak out have been shushed and tsk-tsked.
This idea that acknowledging the common Wahhabi beliefs of the seventeen somehow impugnes Islam in all its forms is insulting. Does a United Church member feel threatened when somebody dares to connect pedophilia and the Catholic Church? Does a Lutheran consider herself under attack when someone speaks ill of Pentecostals? Of course not. Just as Catholicism has had issues with pedophile priests and its lax attitudes towards same, and just as there exist within the ranks of Pentecostals some who feel it perfectly okay to bomb abortion clinics, Islam currently has a problem with extremists. This is a problem it must look within to solve.
"There may be moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate. There is no difference between Islam and Islamic fundamentalism. At most there is a difference of degree but not of kind." -- Ibn Warraq, executive director of the Institute for the Secularization of Islamic Society
Here is a site that shows many versus from the Koran exhorting believers to kill unbelievers. Such verses are sprinkled literally throughout the holy text, and many are written in the imperative, as commands. I suppose it's possible to interpret these things in a mild, peaceable way, if you are some sort of linguistic contortionist.
Go ahead, tell me the Christian Bible is replete with similar verses. If you're referring to the Old Testament, you'd be correct. But there is very little call to violence in the New Testament--which is, after all, the "Christ" part of the Bible, the part every Christian pays attention to. (When's the last time you attended a live stoning? Deuteronomy's full of offenses that call for it!)
Meanwhile, did Mohammed ever command his followers to "love thy enemy"?
This is not to play "my God is better than your God"--especially since I don't believe in the God commonly inferred from the Christian Bible. But it is to say that Islam is at best a religion easily perverted, and there exist many perverters of Islam out there who mean to do us harm...we who do not believe. And there's no arguing with them: their holy text commands them.
The Toronto Seventeen, if their particulars are to be believed, were at once frighteningly ambitious and thankfully naive. Take over and/or blow up the CBC, the Toronto Stock Exchange, CSIS headquarters, and Parliament. Stand in ambush to shoot survivors. Decapitate Stephen Harper. And do all this under surveillance: according to the coverage in Macleans magazine this week, many people in the alleged cell were fully aware they were being tracked. That buggers my mind...
Why were they doing this? We'll likely never find out for sure, being as the court has slapped an entirely unncessary publication ban on its proceedings, and convicted criminals are rarely asked why they did it. But the words of convicted terrorists are telling.
In the aftermath of September 11th, you'll recall, there was a brief interlude when people worldwide sympathized with America and Americans. In France, this period lasted about a day and a half, and then they went back to their standard anti-Yankee behaviours. And yet France's oil tankers were blown up. Was this a case of mistaken identity? Apparently not, according to a spokeman for the "Islamic Army of Aden": ‘We would have preferred to hit a US frigate, but no problem because they are all infidels.’
Here's Hussein Massawi, a former leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah--a group which shares ideals with al-Qaeda--on the reason for terrorist attack: "We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you."
But all is not lost. Us infidels don't have to be slain wherever we are found. We are invited to convert to Islam--the TRUE religion, the "corrective" for Judaism and Christianity--instead. But if we don't do that, and fervently, all bets are off. We might get lucky and merely be forced to pay the jizya, a tax on unbelievers which would grant us certain rights and make us second-class citizens. Or we might be decapitated. It wouldn't even be our choice.
There has been much chatter since this particular plot was unmasked concerning what might be done to prevent future terrorist attacks. Some seem to think if we give enough money and take every care not to step on anybody's toes, we'll be safe. I'm afraid that view is naive in the extreme. Others, by contrast, talk about clamping down on our "lax" immigration and refugee policies and rethinking multiculturalism, which is one of the legs of the Canadian stool.
An emphatic YES to the first part, and don't you dare call me a racist bigot for saying so. There is nothing bigoted in making sure that any individual granted entrance to Canada does not have a criminal record, has not engaged in terrorist activities, means to make a genuine effort to succeed in Canada. Isn't that what we who were born here are expected to do? Should we demand any less of those who choose to come here?
I would, however, argue that scrapping the multiculturalist bedrock on which our society is based would be throwing out the baby with the dirty bathwater.
Multiculturalism has been, and continues to be, a great boon to Canada. Our society, by and large, "works" because we are aware of and welcome difference. Sometimes I think we focus a little too much on what makes us different as opposed to what unites us, but that's just me. The fact remains that, despite random acts of insanity, we have a functional and harmonious cultural fabric in this country.
My thanks to Mark Steyn for crystallizing my thoughts on this matter. Multiculturalism is by nature a pluralist concept. It gives us room to "be" many different things. You might be a handicapped atheist lesbian single mother of East Indian descent, and none of those things conflict with each other, with your sense of who you are, or with society's acceptance of you--ideally, anyway.
The creed of multiculturalism fails...with a resounding thud...when confronted with somebody who insists on one identity and one identity only. Fundamentalists of any persuasion despise pluralist society, because it allows, encourages, almost demands multiple facets of identity...and a fundamentalist, say, a member of the Wahhabi sect of Islam, has room for only one thing--Islam--in his world. And more importantly, the world of everyone around him.
There is no need to radically alter our approach to multiculturalism. There is every need to confront the one-track minds among us before they derail our multi-track society. The first step might be to recognize that derailment of our society is exactly what they're seeking.
8 comments:
This is a really thoughtful post. I am not sure I totally agree with your views on multi-culturalism. The irony of multi-culturalism is that as much as it is a way of allowing people to preserve cultural differences, it is also a way of keeping people isoloated from one another in separate ethnic groups. In Europe (where the intention, in part, has been to keep Muslims and other non-white immigrants separate from the mainstream culture), multiculturalism has worked very badly. While Europe Slept (book) gives an interesting account of this. The situation is different in Canada perhaps because we have so many differnet ethnic groups, but I do think that multi-culturalism needs to be challenged where it counters Canadian values (e.g. where women, for example, are not treated as equals within the ethnic group). Also -- there is a difference between being relaxed about people retaining their group identity, and having government programs that actually promote it. I am aware of people from ethnic groups (often second generation) who resent government programs which seem to be perpetually requiring them to be hypenated Canadians. Bottom line -- I don't think a formal government policy of multiculturalism works that well.
Thanks--as it so happens, I agree with much of what you're saying. Where multiculturalism conflicts with even more fundamental 'Canadian values' (to use Paul Martin's odious term), those 'Canadian values should trump.
I think the current World Cup of soccer is a perfect illustration of the perils of official multiculturalism. Even if I liked soccer, I doubt I'd be watching--not until there's a Canadian team to cheer for, anyway.
I should perhaps have mentioned that newcomers to this country should make every effort to conform to Canadian society--which is, after all, tolerant and inclusive enough so that they shouldn't have to lose their own identity in so doing.
Thanks for a thoughtful reply.
I have to say, this was a post worthy of a newspaper article!!!! You are brilliant!
There are a few things I can say about promoting multiculturalism - I think it's great that people are encouraged to keep their national identity, but as everything else, it only works if it's a) not overblown b) not forced. People should be able to leave their community without being ostracized by those inside or outside of the community. I kinda fell away from the Hungarian community here - mostly because it was church-based, and ripe with gossip, but also because I realized that trying to "fit in" with the rest of society here is actually a shameful thing within the community. I've been told many times that I've become "too Canadian" and it was meant as an insult. The reason for this was that I was unwilling to badmouth Canada and Canadians in conversations with fellow immigrants and dared to say that this country, which opened its doors to us and gave us an opportunity to start over, actually had good qualities. And so do the people. I always thought (and voiced it a few times, not often enough, I think) that if you hate it here so much, you should go back home. It's that simple.
Another thing about close-knit communities: I recently met a guy at a meeting. His English was TERRIBLE. Very heavy accent and was searching for words every other word he uttered. I felt for him - I know how hard it is to learn a new language, so after the meeting, I sat down to talk to him and welcome him. I talked to him as if he was a newcomer, and asked him how long he's been here. When he answered, I almost fell over: he's been here 16 years!!!!! Like me!!!!! and he couldn't put two words together without a minute break in between.... WOW. Now THAT's what I call not blending in... I must say, after that, I didn't feel so sympathetic... maybe it's not nice to judge, but for heaven's sake! 16 years in a country and you couldn't be bothered to learn the language... Even if you have no talent for languages, some of it should have stuck on you by accident, if nothing else!!!!!
I realize it's easy to keep within the community - there are stores, doctors, lawyers, church, people who provide services, like carpenters or renovators or whatever. But still... Wouldn't you want to venture out and meet people from a different background? Look around, get to know this country that's now your home????
Flames, I'm curious, and you can offer a great perspective here. In your view, what did/does the Hungarian community have against Canada? I wonder if other immigrant communities feel the same way?
I come down on both sides of the fence, here. I do believe that immigrants to this country should have a basic proficiency in English (or French), or at the very least should be required to learn the basics before citizenship is granted. Many people--many CABADIANS--would probably call me racist and worse for that. But it just makes sense: the country functions in two official languages...shouldn't its citizens know at least one of them?
Ken, good post. But I have to say one thing, as it has been on my mind lately. If Islam is a religion "easily perverted" why are we seeing the vast majority of Muslims being peaceful and not embracing the concepts of the jihadists? Obviously all religious text is prone to different interpretations and I just think that if Islam was such a violent religion, then my neighbour would be trying to kill me for being an unbeliever wouldn't he?
Dodos, I'm not sure what the answer to that question is. But I do know that a clear majority of Muslims in Middle Eastern countries feel that suicide bombing, for example, is a legitimate means of "defending Islam". That's according to a wide-ranging poll I found: I'll dig up the source the next time I get around to this rather depressing topic. All I can say is, thank God--or Something, anyway--that the fundycostal Christians who want to see gays and abortion docs burning in hell aren't generally willing to blow themselves up to achieve this.
Nobody, least of all me, is suggesting that all Muslims are prone to jihad. I think many Muslims read their Koran the way many Christians read their Bible: piecemeal. In other words, most people won't kill just because a book tells them to. But it must be noted that Islam's holy text does indeed make a repeated point of demanding the slaying of unbelievers, more so than any other holy text I've come across.
If you're the sort of person who takes your Scripture literally, that's one Scripture I'd just as soon you avoid. Luckily, most Muslims in the West have been secularized just enough to take the commands to slay infidels with a few blocks of salt.
Ken, to answer your question about what they think about Canada... Let me just say this first: most European immigrants come here thinking that this is the Land of Promise, everything is easy and everything is just given to you... Not sure where this comes from, but it's all over the refugee camps in Germany where we were... They say Canada is great, you don't have to work, you don't have to do much, and everything pretty much falls in your lap... now, if you are a smart person, you know that if it sounds too good to be true... but you're looking for a way out, Germany is not the friendliest country to be an immigrant in, the US is difficult to get in, Australia is far away, South Africa is unsafe, etc... and Canada sounds good. So they come here and they face the reality: yes, there is a welfare system, but it's for necessities only (and so it should be), you can't live like a king on it. Also, after Europe, the buildings, the streets, everything looks strange, kindof a mixture of old and new, but not the way European "old" and "new" is... I can't explain it very well, but it is a culture shock to see a house with brick AND siding on the same house... And siding to begin with, which is unheard of in Europe, it's brick and plaster there... People are not as fashion forward as in Europe. So the disappointment gives way to bitterness in many, and they start saying: Canadians have no culture, no architecture. Everybody is so fake with the smiles and the how are you's (as opposed to the "honest" but depressing frowns people wear in Hungary on the streets? But that's just my opinion). Canadians are lazy and have no ambition. No fashion sense, they are sloppy and careless about how they look. (actually, myself, I kinda like the option of dressing up when I want to and wear my jeans or stretchy pants when I feel like it, but then again, I guess that's why I was accused of being "too Canadian"). A few "friends" of mine believed that the entire country is run by the Jews and they find all kinds of evidence to support this conspiracy theory - it's amusing to listen to for about 5 minutes but then it gets tired. Also, when I left my first husband (the one who used to slap me around and fix cars for cases of beer), or rather, when I refused to take him back after he left me and came back again, the entire Hungarian community shunned me for being immoral, but alas, it's ok for people to have affairs, as they often do, as long as "appearances" are kept up.... It was actually my new Canadian friends, women who worked at the bakery and who only known me for a few months, who encouraged and supported me and didn't judge me... The banking system is a great source of bickering as well, many new immigrants get burned with credit cards, "no payments for a year" sales, rent-to-own things, etc., mostly because they don't understand enough English to read the fine print... In that, I do agree, I have no love for banks and high interest rates myself, but it's not exactly a Canadian invention.... Well, this is the main things I heard in my community, but I'm sure there are other points of view as well, depending on where the people are from, what they are used to. I think what is really important is people's capacity to be happy. Some people will not be happy, no matter what and find fault in everything to justify their unhappiness. Others try to see the better side of life, or just more accepting of the things that are not so great and try to make the best of it. I'm not saying you should be complacent and accept everything bad that happens around you, but you know, pick your fights. I'm reminded of the Serenity prayer I heard at Overeaters Anonymous: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Now I'm not a religious person, but this makes sense to me, although I would change it somewhat by leaving God out of it and making it into an affirmative statement: I HAVE the serenity to accept...
Flames, thanks for that comment, the reply to which really deserves a post all its own. I'll work on that once events of this weekend are over.
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