zodiac31 Aug 2004

Everyone, including myself my first weeks here, kind of expects Islams to be some kind of monomaniacal robots. The first times we all saw Islams drinking liquors or associating with women or some other vaguely or specifically haram thing, we all screamed bloody murder at them. Then we realized Islam in most of the Middle East is pretty much just like Christianity in America with two important exceptions:

1) they occassionally blow themselves up, and
2) they pray about 5 times a day.

Anyway, the short of it is that these two things - which incidentally, nearly every Islam doesn't do - are so anathema to Western thinking that we have to assume anyone who would consider doing them is an android or some freakishly orthodox fundamentalist. They're not. Really. If you must know, it's insanely easy to contemplate blowing yourself up, for political as well as financial reasons, and then give it some thin coating of religion. Especially here, where pretty much everyone just sits around contemplating all kinds of illogical actions and theories in ridiculously angry-sounding voices (hint: it's the language!) anyway. And the majority of people who blow themselves up don't know the Qu'ran from my ass, seriously. So anyway, talking about the Iraqi resistance or Al Quaeda as anything really connected to Islam is kind of bunk. It's probably, in fact, as much bunk as talking about the Crusades in terms of Christianity. And just look at the number of mostly-Christian Westerners who've self-righteously marched to their deaths in Iraq this year. Or nonbelievers, for that matter. Oh God, I'm afraid I've gotten you frightfully confused now.....