Bastion of Free Speech

Monday, November 5, 2001
Where is the Outrage?
Chandy

Imagine yourself to be staying with a family as a paying guest. One day, their daughter comes home after being gang-raped by 19 thugs. The father is seething with rage. Would you consider asking the following questions?

  • "You know, your daughter was not dressed appropriately and she was flirting a lot with those guys. Don't you think she invited this?"

  • "When I told you about my friend's daughter getting raped, I didn't see any rage in you? How come you didn't care that much when it happened to my friend? "

  • "Last week, when she came and told you that these boys were teasing her, why didn't you take care of the issue? Shouldn't you have seen this coming?"

  • "I believe your great uncle was a rapist himself. I guess this serves you right. "

On September 11th, the United States was raped. While self-introspection is appropriate to make sure events like this don't happen again, we need to understand the severity of what just happened before pointing fingers at ourselves. We need to give some time for grieving and healing. If you have any outrage, at this point it should be directed against the perpetrators of the crime and not against the victims. Once the dust settles, let us do some introspection, but not just for America. Let's also do it for Arabs and people like us who have chosen to make this land our homeland.

America

Is it worth installing Governments or helping people stay in power in other countries who are not desired by their own people, just so it will help us get what we want?

Is it worth feeding one thug to take revenge on another thug?

The conflict between Israel and Palestinians has been going on since Israel was created. Shouldn't that be a number one priority to resolve? Shouldn't we make an effort to clearly understand the problems faced by both countries, rather than taking Israel's side by default?

Is it worth believing that oil is going to be there for ever, at least for the foreseeable future, so there is no urgency in developing effective alternate sources of energy, especially since the oil industry plays such a big role in elections?

Have we learnt any lessons from our mistakes in Vietnam?

Arab Countries
Is there a limit to the atrocities and crimes that we commit in the name of religion?

Do we really understand the purpose of religion?

Should we primarily govern the country based on religious beliefs? Shouldn't economy be a factor in helping the country grow?

Shouldn't we let our women live like human beings? Shouldn't we allow them to show their own faces or choose their own professions?

Why are we leading a barbaric life? Why can't we become civilized countries? What is making us so ruthless?

People like us who have made US the homeland
Why is our anger misdirected against America, which we have made our homeland on our own choice?

When someone robs us or attacks our daughter, we have so much anger against the person who committed the crime. When people who have very little value for their own life commit horrendous crimes, why do we calmly analyze and look for reasons that prompted them to do what they did? Why do we believe that there is always a good reason why some people are bad?

When someone like McVeigh commits a crime of hate, we think he is sick, but when 19 thugs exploit the open society that America promotes and kill thousands of innocent people on purpose, why do we even try to look at it from their perspective?

We have visited our children's schools and have seen the posters on the walls of every classroom, which educate the kids to treat others the way we would like to be treated ourselves. Life skills such as Integrity, honesty, courtesy, respect are taught at a very young age. Most of the American friends we have are really wonderful people - friendly, cheerful and helpful. If we are electing people from this kind of environment, how do we believe that our Government consists of ruthless people who will not hesitate killing millions of other people to protect their own interests?

When Iraq invades Kuwait and threatens to attack Saudi Arabia, why do we think America should look the other way? When America enforces sanctions against a country that committed a crime, and its leader, supported by its people stays on power, while hundreds of thousands of children die due to lack of necessary amenities, why do we blame only America and not Iraq's leader for not stepping down, or its people for not revolting against their own leader?

Some of us have stated that the real innocent people are those who live in countries like Iraq, since they do not get to elect their leaders? Why do we think that Democracy is an accident and it just happens? Why don't we understand that civilized people have civilized forms of Government and barbaric people have barbaric leaders?

Conclusion
While America is not perfect, it is as close as it comes to being perfect, because it respects the rights of every individual. It is a civilized country that is being attacked by fanatics, who have no value for life. Unfortunately, Islam as a religion has not evolved. Try looking at the faces of their women (you can't - they're veiled), and you will know what I am trying to communicate. Their beliefs are so outdated, they need to do some major self introspection. In the name of religion and tradition, they are literally getting away with murder, and powerful writers such as Mani Shankar Aiyar, Arundhati Roy and others even on these pages have shown hardly any outrage against these criminals. Let us direct our outrage against the evil that is trying to prevail, after which we can help educate our people on our own mistakes.


[Chandy is the pseudonym of a well-known Indian civic leader settled in the US.]




Copyright(c) chandy, 2001. All rights reserved.