Globalism of another colour

I found the author Dan Simmons site via a brief comment Holly Lisle posted on her own site.

And yes, I've apparently come late to the party. The, er... piece that Dan wrote was posted back in April and the following letter makes some, um, statements of a most informative and perhaps inflammatory nature; certainly, it makes for interesting and disturbing reading. The vision of the future is at once depressing and outrageous, but how far from the truth is it?

What caught my attention was this: “How, we wonder in my time,” he said softly, “can you ignore the better part of a billion people who say aloud that they are willing to kill your children... or condone and celebrate the killing of them?" and this: ...with your love of your own exalted sensibilities and your willingness to enter into a global war for civilizational survival even while you are too timid, too fearful... too decent... to match the ruthlessness of your enemies.

Everyone, deep in their hearts, have a fear of another world war, and yet it seems we have been fighting one for some time. The only difference is that the media has become more focused on it - and are reporting from the wrong angle.

The outrage of kidnapped Israeli soldiers by known terrorist groups; the shock of over two hundred Indians dead in the train bombings; the twisting anger as more and more troops are killed by 'Improvised Explosive Devices' rather than direct fire; the disgust at the murder of innocent Iraqis simply because they don't worship Mohammad the way another group does, the list goes on and on; And then there are the anniversaries of terror: London, Madrid and New York.

Obviously, the violence is escalating with no resolution in sight. The West continues to apply western philosophy to an Middle-Eastern problem, the United Nations continues to descend into ineffectualism and fundamental radicals are becoming more fanatic in their gleeful efforts to destroy western interests.

The problem is, and has always been, religion. Ever since the first man said to his neighbour, "my God is more powerful than yours and I'll prove it by killing in his name", the world has seen more deaths to worship than anything else put together. The Crusades, the Inquisitions, the Burning Times, World War II, the Cold War, the eras of persecutions of Jews, Christians, Indigenous populations, and the list goes on throughout history.

What they all have in common is ruthlessness and the ideology that 'God is on my side, so I must be right'. What the perpetrators fail to see is that it is really, "I am right and if you disagree I will kill you." God, of whatever flavour, has nothing to do with it.

Worse, in all the pre-eminent religions of the world, are the lies perpetrated to maintain or create the myth of rectitude. The Bible has been rewritten many times to reflect current desires, and it was translated from ancient texts; who knows what the original said? Especially in light of the Book of Judas being found and disregarded, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, of which parts have been translated and suppressed by the church as blasphemous.

The Koran too has been twisted to suit modern needs. A Jihad, for example, could only be called by all the Imams and only to protect the Holy city. Now, that term has been hijacked to serve the purposes of any Imam who's pride has been offended.

The sad fact is that no one can criticise another's religion without the wrath of fundamental belief falling upon them by the 'righteous'.

All organised religion is, these days, is an interpretation of sacred texts designed to protect and legitimise those in power. Nothing more, except that 'grass roots' soldiers are willing to die to protect those assholes because that's what they've been taught. 'Holy Father'? 'Inshallah'?

We need to relearn the lesson that appeasement doesn't work, nor does moral outrage, or United Nations hand-wringing. Statements like various Governments condemning the bombing, the violence, the murder, the kidnapping... do nothing. They are merely words without force, without effect and without hope. They are lipservice to soothe the masses whose only job is to smugly portray themselves as fine, upstanding, moral and civilised global citizens, pooh-poohing their aggressive heathen neighbours.

Does anyone look at their religion and question it any more? See what is wrong with it and argue? It doesn't look like it and the tragedy is that lack of interest is going to kill millions because we failed to learn from history.