| | We often view ourselves as the bringers of freedom, and we do that.
But, behind us lies religious thought, whether overt, or not. Our values were framed by western thought. They were framed, primarily, by Christians.
I will not go into the abomination of what is Christianity on some of our fronts; that internal battle is being done elsewhere.
Often, I have heard this term used in debate: "Why are you suprised that..."
I ask this back to you. Does it occur to us that there is a polarization of religious thought, that lies behind both the U.S., and the Middle East?
Let me be specific: Maybe they don't want "it". What "it" currently consists of isn't all that tasty, even to those of us within the West who are accustomed to our own stylings.
In Iraq, it appears to me that, on best case, there will be a modified form of democracy. Meaning, while religious leaders might not have legislative authority, they will remain such that they do not need to have it, because they will remain a stong influencer on the ground. This seems what these folks want. And, it's not that different from what we have. Think about it: polarization. Polarization within the Christian and Islamic cultures. They both are showing strong activity, pointers, if you will, to Fundamentalism.
Our Fundamentalism simply looks a little different, on the jump, than theirs does. Both sides are prey to Fundamentalism. Fundamentalism doesn't care what clothes it wears; a shit sandwich is a shit sandwich. Women particularly suffer, still. I won't go on about other flavors of free humanity.
It has always been pointed out (yes, including by mystics) that there will be a great global confrontation between Islam and Christianity. I see this occurring.
We are not keeping our own house clean enough. The answers are not so simple, anymore.
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