"I don't think that witchcraft is a religion. I wish the military would rethink this decision."*"God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."
"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
"This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while."
*Comment about Wiccans in the military
I think that when most people would read the title of an article called "The American Taliban," they would be thinking of John Walker Lindh. But what occurs to me now is just how far we've gone the way of Pogo: "I have met the enemy, and he is us!" The beauty of the Bill of Rights, and the checks and balances of the United States Constitution is in the way it protects the rights of the minorities. The word to use here is 'pluralism.'
I have come across a chilling collection of quotes by Americans, called Quotes from the American Taliban. These people know quite well the meaning of pluralism, and unashamedly want to kill it. Sure, there are quotes from a lot of well-known right-wing nutjobs, but plenty of the quotes are from people who have access to the highest levels of power in this country.
These people are just like the Taliban, and feel they know what God wants people to do. But most of the time in history, these people are just control freaks who use people's hunger for spiritual truth as a tool against their own freedom. Jesus would definitely not condone what these Americans say and do any more than Muhammed would approve of what the Taliban did in Afghanistan.
The idea of the American Taliban is so obvious, once you see it, a quick web search will turn up more articles along the same line. Here's another one.
I hope that the country will not be harmed too much before the 2006 Congressional elections, which I hope will return some balance of power to the people. But...I also fear that these wacko phony Christians know 2006 is coming too, and will try to do something traumatic to the country to turn people's attention away from the real issues. I am hopeful, but concerned.
3 comments:
Plauralism yes! That goes double for me.
I find it difficult to comment on these issues, but appreciate you writing about them. It's good brain exercise for me to form a response.
It's interesting that some of the Christian rightees I know can be kind and generous on some levels and support savage military exploits at the same time.
The enemy is us, or at least all around us. And they have kids and soccer and guitar lessons and bible study. And they're all scrambling and scheming for the dollars that'll keep their homes on the hill safe from the uncertainty that a different voice might raise.
Dark days in the reign of Bush II. May he and his soon return to the ranch.
What's particularly chilling is that this President (and his regime) was actually elected by the "us" who are "the enemy." WE need to get THEM to see how this whole thing looks to US. We need to turn this around before our REAL enemies - those we're making with our so-called foreign policy - do it for us.
As long as people blindly follow a doctrine out of fear without thought we are all doomed.
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