I've recently been gone from AT for a while because I went to travel. I ended up going to Sudan for a period of time. I thought I was going to go as a tourist, but I really just ended up living with the people there...I was far removed from being a tourist...unless you want to count people staring at me because I look totally out of place (although I've gotten very dark since I left).
Anyways, in our media we often see these cases of Muslims running around killing others, and we tend to blame everything on Islam ~ the sad events in India is, to some people, just further 'proof' that Muslims want to run around killing others. I've seen many people even try to connect problems in Sudan as being tied directly to religion. Well, Sudan is pretty much majority Muslim country. Automobiles everywhere have stickers that say 'God is the Greatest' 'There is no God but God' 'Mashallah' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masha%27Allah among other things. I can hear the Quran everywhere, and when meeting people they constantly refer to God, the Mosques anounce prayer five times a day, etc. etc.
And I can clearly, without hesitation say, that these people do not hate us in the way that it is constantly portrayed. They do not even hate us PERIOD. There is no significant portion that can even be considered terrorists, as many people are influenced these days to thinking that many Muslims are ready to grind their axes and kill 'westerners' or 'non muslims' at a moments notice. Most people there were poor, humble people just trying to get along and live their own lives without problems. Their greatest day to day problems relate to material concerns --> almost exclusively pertaining to money. Many people have almost nothing and barely eek by according to Sudanese standards (which is not very high at all...our poor live like kings in comparison) and others have just enough to squeeze by and make basic improvements to their lives (especially when it comes to their houses). Very very very few are part of the select elite making $$$$$$$ and living like we do ( i can't comment on them further than that because I never interacted with any of them). They don't go around plotting our demise at all, They don't go around wishing death to us, they very much are not that concerned with our lives. They just try to raise their children, marry them off, see their grand kids, and hope that their lives can be simple. Going to watch a movie, or out to a cafe with friends is enough to keep them thrilled for a week. They derive a lot of their pleasure from visiting family and friends,talking to them, and just having fun. They are still generous to one another and even the poor will try to help the less fortunate when they are in a position to do so (although there is quite a bit of begging that goes on that gets ignored...but you'd ignore it too if it happens 24/7). Many are also hard working because jobs are so hard to come by that they don't want to lose what they have.
I went to the Mosque to check up what they spoke about, and the 'great satan' came out a total of Zero times. Instead they focused on topics such as raising your children right, being ready to stand in front of your God and accept a judgment based on your actions (ie: thus, making sure that your actions were always right, etc).
I'm not saying everything was perfect there, but it is VERY VERY VERY clear that this idea of Muslims as being part of a global conspiracy to subject non Muslims to violence is just bunk. If anything it annoys them when we label them as terrorists or evil doers because they think, "What the FUCK...I'm just trying to raise my family quietly and you guys run around calling me the enemy and lobbing rockets where I live?!?!" I felt VERY VERY comfortable expressing I was an American, and I got CONSTANTLY invited for a cup of tea (although this is just a Sudanese thing in general, not necessarily exclusive to me) ; the truth is that most of those people would have LOVED to go to the USA because the opportunities are so much more. Of course, it is virtually impossible to get a visa to go the USA because the process is ridiculous and automatically eliminate anyone who is poor.
I did meet SOME idiots (2 people...total? And one was an old lady who didn't seem to fully be there) who had to damn America (ironically her son came to the wedding party absolutely wasted), but these people acted like massive hippocrities and I couldn't help but feel that much of it was just rhetoric without any actions. The other person presented a hilarious juxtaposition: on one hand he felt Bin Laden is a true Warrior representing the poor against the evils of the West for all the atrocities they commited against the Muslim World, but on the other hand will NOT tolerate ANY disruption to his weekly 'WWF/WWE' time and is absolutely in love with it that he even has stickers of his favorite wrestlers.
The trip was great, except for the really annoying part at the end where I got 'randomly selected' on my way out, and the customs agent asked me why I went to Saudi Arabia (note: I didn't go there...at all...). Talk about a douchebag making assumptions (oh and I totally gave him shit for that)
A lot of this is simply anecdotal experience, but I don't doubt that this holds true across the board. This idea of Muslims out to kill people, or plotting daily terror attacks with the same frequency that people play monopoly is simply not true. Most are just poor people getting along in life dealing with their concerns...
Even if they did have free time, they wouldn't plot against us because they are too busy with soccer:with TEN DAILY NEWSPAPERS dedicated to just soccer, and well over 20 channels dedicated to soccer 24/7 (a few of the channels are part of the 'sports series'...but they might as well get rid of the word 'sport' and replace it with soccer because that is all that is shown anyways!), any free time is sucked away by this sport lol.
Cliffs:
- The Muslim Boogeyman isn't out to get you
to the innocents in Mumbai
Anyways, in our media we often see these cases of Muslims running around killing others, and we tend to blame everything on Islam ~ the sad events in India is, to some people, just further 'proof' that Muslims want to run around killing others. I've seen many people even try to connect problems in Sudan as being tied directly to religion. Well, Sudan is pretty much majority Muslim country. Automobiles everywhere have stickers that say 'God is the Greatest' 'There is no God but God' 'Mashallah' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masha%27Allah among other things. I can hear the Quran everywhere, and when meeting people they constantly refer to God, the Mosques anounce prayer five times a day, etc. etc.
And I can clearly, without hesitation say, that these people do not hate us in the way that it is constantly portrayed. They do not even hate us PERIOD. There is no significant portion that can even be considered terrorists, as many people are influenced these days to thinking that many Muslims are ready to grind their axes and kill 'westerners' or 'non muslims' at a moments notice. Most people there were poor, humble people just trying to get along and live their own lives without problems. Their greatest day to day problems relate to material concerns --> almost exclusively pertaining to money. Many people have almost nothing and barely eek by according to Sudanese standards (which is not very high at all...our poor live like kings in comparison) and others have just enough to squeeze by and make basic improvements to their lives (especially when it comes to their houses). Very very very few are part of the select elite making $$$$$$$ and living like we do ( i can't comment on them further than that because I never interacted with any of them). They don't go around plotting our demise at all, They don't go around wishing death to us, they very much are not that concerned with our lives. They just try to raise their children, marry them off, see their grand kids, and hope that their lives can be simple. Going to watch a movie, or out to a cafe with friends is enough to keep them thrilled for a week. They derive a lot of their pleasure from visiting family and friends,talking to them, and just having fun. They are still generous to one another and even the poor will try to help the less fortunate when they are in a position to do so (although there is quite a bit of begging that goes on that gets ignored...but you'd ignore it too if it happens 24/7). Many are also hard working because jobs are so hard to come by that they don't want to lose what they have.
I went to the Mosque to check up what they spoke about, and the 'great satan' came out a total of Zero times. Instead they focused on topics such as raising your children right, being ready to stand in front of your God and accept a judgment based on your actions (ie: thus, making sure that your actions were always right, etc).
I'm not saying everything was perfect there, but it is VERY VERY VERY clear that this idea of Muslims as being part of a global conspiracy to subject non Muslims to violence is just bunk. If anything it annoys them when we label them as terrorists or evil doers because they think, "What the FUCK...I'm just trying to raise my family quietly and you guys run around calling me the enemy and lobbing rockets where I live?!?!" I felt VERY VERY comfortable expressing I was an American, and I got CONSTANTLY invited for a cup of tea (although this is just a Sudanese thing in general, not necessarily exclusive to me) ; the truth is that most of those people would have LOVED to go to the USA because the opportunities are so much more. Of course, it is virtually impossible to get a visa to go the USA because the process is ridiculous and automatically eliminate anyone who is poor.
I did meet SOME idiots (2 people...total? And one was an old lady who didn't seem to fully be there) who had to damn America (ironically her son came to the wedding party absolutely wasted), but these people acted like massive hippocrities and I couldn't help but feel that much of it was just rhetoric without any actions. The other person presented a hilarious juxtaposition: on one hand he felt Bin Laden is a true Warrior representing the poor against the evils of the West for all the atrocities they commited against the Muslim World, but on the other hand will NOT tolerate ANY disruption to his weekly 'WWF/WWE' time and is absolutely in love with it that he even has stickers of his favorite wrestlers.
The trip was great, except for the really annoying part at the end where I got 'randomly selected' on my way out, and the customs agent asked me why I went to Saudi Arabia (note: I didn't go there...at all...). Talk about a douchebag making assumptions (oh and I totally gave him shit for that)
A lot of this is simply anecdotal experience, but I don't doubt that this holds true across the board. This idea of Muslims out to kill people, or plotting daily terror attacks with the same frequency that people play monopoly is simply not true. Most are just poor people getting along in life dealing with their concerns...
Even if they did have free time, they wouldn't plot against us because they are too busy with soccer:with TEN DAILY NEWSPAPERS dedicated to just soccer, and well over 20 channels dedicated to soccer 24/7 (a few of the channels are part of the 'sports series'...but they might as well get rid of the word 'sport' and replace it with soccer because that is all that is shown anyways!), any free time is sucked away by this sport lol.
Cliffs:
- The Muslim Boogeyman isn't out to get you
Facebook
Twitter