Fact of the matter is, Islam is a system of worship that has over the years taken a wrong turn. It fell prey to bad guidance and appalling leadership, an unfortunate vision, rendering itself unable to veer away from the outdated paradigm from which it was born (just like Christianity and Judaism before it, monotheistic religions that have undergone much-needed reform over the centuries, which Islam is in desperate need of).
So, there it is, the plain truth about Islam, laid out in practical fact; not de jure, but de facto, and annoying as hell for those unwilling to face it: Islam, as expressed through the countries where it’s the dominant religion, is an antisocial, anger-ridden, righteous child that wants everything its way, period.
Clearly, some people prefer to live in their own little fairytale and deny this fact. They call it a ‘gross generalization,’ or ‘Islamophobia,’ and in the name of political correctness rush to brand the messenger a bigot, while at the same time absolving the atrocities Islam commits in the name of God, all on account of a misplaced sense of justice.
Talk about zealotry, and missing the bigger picture. Here come the insecure uber-liberals, serving their god blindly. In the name of Liberalism they defend Islam’s right to persecute women, homosexuals and infidels.
I find it paradoxical, disgusting, and ironic.
Fact: freedom of religion can’t apply to religions that oppress one half of the earth’s population, can it?
Time For An Intervention?
As things stand, Islam is a system of worship that has over the years taken a wrong turn. It fell prey to bad guidance and appalling leadership, rendering itself unable to veer away from the outdated paradigm from which it was born. Like its kindred monotheistic religions, Christianity and Judaism, it needs to grow up, taken aside, talked to, and reformed as soon as possible, before it gets worse.
Let me put it another way. Like a problem child with anger issues, this troublesome little Kevin has to be dealt with before it does any more damage.
Islam Is not Being Pigeonholed… It’s Being Diagnosed!
For those of you who took offence at the last statement, let me back it up with a couple of facts – make that a couple of realizations.
See, if you’re Muslim, you and your friends may not have a problem with the rest of the world. You may tolerate, like, or even embrace non-Muslims. You may not be a strict adherent of sharia law. You may not associate yourselves with people who believe that the West is Satan incarnate.
But the fact remains: Islam is host to some of the most brutal regimes in the world. It has spawned and sustained theocracies that exemplify hell on earth by any standard. Not to mention the dictatorships that have been propped up to gel the volatile tribal mix of which the Muslim world consists. Whichever way you look at it, Islam is the home of some of the most restrictive cultures in the world, the intransigence of which stems from their religious background.
Tracing The Problem
You may insist that this is not fair, that I’m being too harsh, or too blunt.
You’re right. I am, because the case necessitates it. Softer words could never encapsulate the current state of Islam.
‘More harsh words!’ you say. ‘Outrageous! By the same token, we should call democracy evil because it has given rise to some of the worst calamities in history.’
And you are right again! Democracy can be – and has been – extremely and unreservedly evil when in a state of disorganization and chaos. We know that. We’ve been scathingly critical of it when and where necessary, pointing it out for all to see.
In fact, we’ve been doing this for a while, speaking against the perils of wanton debate and endless bickering, not to mention the lack of direction democracy breeds. We’ve criticized it just as harshly and openly as we criticize rampant science, which has, at its worst, reduced the human condition to a dry, faithless, meaningless set of ‘cause and effect.’ We caution against science because it causes great damage when left unchecked, when its assumptions are left unchallenged, when its MO runs amok.
Take consumerism, a major factor in today’s world. Most of us are consumers, it’s a way of life, a religion in many ways. The approach, for what it’s worth, has rendered entire societies fat and sedentary, greedy and mean. We examine and criticize this way of life, write rants and diatribes about it, exposing the system’s lunacies, while at the same time striving to make things better, adding quality to our troubled lives.
Why should Islam be an exception? All the above systems, and more, are subject to intense scrutiny and criticism, including harsh words that cover vast swaths of the system, where such are merited. Islam, like any belief system/woldview/way-of-life, like any organized construct, should be scrutinized and criticized without fear of retribution.
Finding The Root
There are many interesting things one can say when looking at general tendencies and common denominators behind people. There are certain phenomena one can observe, which, when identified and dissected, reveal how a country, a culture, or any group and organization, come (or came) to such and such a position.
For example, one could talk about the circumstances that helped Hitler rise to power: the ruthless disciplinarianism inherent in Germanic culture, for example, which, given the wrong conditions at a certain point in time, enabled the creation of the Second Reich (before Hitler), leading up to the Third Reich.
One could talk about the vastness of Russia, which, combined with its strict, Orthodox religion, rendered the land impossible to monitor, which in turn facilitated undemocratic, oligarchic rule, as has been the case from the time of the Czars to the rise of the Bolsheviks, and to the Soviets after that, all the way to our current-day, all-too-familiar Russian kleptocracy.
One could focus on the opportunistic, kill-throat competitiveness inherent in the pioneer-driven, gun-toting lands of the United States of America where a feverish frontier mentality, combined with the fervor of revolution, created a society of hubris and excess, triumph and tragedy.
One could talk about the tendency of islands such as Sicily and Corsica to be insular and mistrustful of strangers, and very tightly interwoven, leading to codes of ethic such as Vendetta and Omerta.
Similarly, one can talk about religious people in ways that encapsulate their nature. One can talk about Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, or the people of any religion whatsoever. As long as facts are used, it’s fair game, and necessary.
In The Name Of God
Let’s go back to the Islamic theocracies and briefly analyze them in the same way we analyzed Germany, Russia and America above. People in these theocracies, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, run the state, be it a kingdom, or a republic, like their personal religious playground. The law of the land is derived from a few ‘holy’ books, which they interpret as they see fit, devising rules by which others must live or die.
This presents a grave problem: institutionalized oppression and abuse that is borne of the religious dogma itself. This is not a case of leaders gone wild with power. This is an institutionalized tyranny, inspired and enabled by outdated, inflexible scripture.
In The Name Of Keeping God At Bay (Sort Of)
On the other hand, you have Muslim secular tyranny. Another crazy paradox. (A consequence of the unruliness of Muslim culture?) these dictatorships counteract the chaos and irrationality of the dominant culture/religion by suppressing every human right conceivable.
In other words, secular tyrants tend to rise to power and entrench themselves in Muslim countries because they keep the dysfunctional theocrats at bay. (See Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Libya, Turkmenistan.)
Ever go to a school where whatever you do ends up in ruin, all because of poor education, bad attitude and self-righteous upbringing? Schools where the only way forward came through an overhaul?
Islamophobic? I beg to differ. I’ve called all kinds of systems ‘deadly brats’ – or something similar – when calling them out. If they speak like they came straight out of God’s ball sack, they get singled out, pointed at, and held accountable.
Islam is no exception. So long as it keeps acting up, it deserves the criticism, just like Christianity did (still does in many places), just like other religions do.
Islam doesn’t get a free pass, not in this day and age.
Islam Has Fundamental Problems And Needs Help
Whichever way you look at it and however badly you want to rationalize it, the fact remains. Islam is both directly and indirectly conducive to a way of life that fuels unruliness, chaos and inflexibility, leading to a grossly dysfunctional or authoritarian state of affairs, as observed in most Muslim countries. It encourages intransigence and hard-headedness, promotes discrimination against non-Muslims, makes it hard to argue with and rejects anything that challenges it. One of its founding principles is that of submitting ourselves to the will of God (typical monotheistic stuff), a terrible cornerstone, to say the least, most disrespectful to other points of view, if not dangerous. Unlike other monotheisms, it has yet to water down this principle and be more accepting of those who don’t subscribe to it. It rejects the rest of the world by deeming itself God’s seed on earth.
So the rest of the world rejects it – and should reject it, as a whole – in turn.
Until that changes – until Islam’s most representative leaders and the countries they lead, meaning the vast majority of Muslims round the world, change tack, shifting their sociopolitical agenda in a way that fits with the ideas of today and tomorrow – Islam will remain at bay. Just like Christianity and Judaism before it, it remains a savage-noble dogma, preaching peace with one hand while hacking away at dissidents with the other. Reform is imperative. It has to water down its dogma, become more compassionate in real terms, not in theory but across the countries that comprise it, its representatives adopting a softer approach. Lay off politics altogether, and join Christianity and Judaism on the path of reformation to claim a respected position among the world’s systems.