FUNDAMENTAL ISTS
"Watch out for those Christian Fundamentalists on the flight!", popped up the warning message on my screen hour before I was to embark on my winter break to Dubai. "Don't worry, I can spot them a mile off" I tapped, "they're the ones with the pink clean-shaven faces, muttering lines from the Bible", I japed – quietly concerned at the potential damage the corner of a bible could do.
My break from Iran has coincided with a short break from adding words here. Although nothing seems to have changed since I last wrote about my political exercise, I've noticed many changes outside of these borders – one less important change being an arbitrary alteration in a calendar. More interestingly though the British government have decided to abandoned the use of the the term 'War On Terror', yet more interesting still I've noticed a near universal adoption of the term 'Islamist' from the media corporations. This term I've rarely heard before yet by some remarkable coincidence the sources I click through seemed to have employed the usage near simultaneously. I spent my Christmas day spotting Islamists and was surprised to even find a couple in the car radio – in some way I guess they are destroying our way of life.
'Islamic Fundamentalist' without the fundamental part I gathered, meaning maybe all muslims are fundamental or a new art movement is sweeping the world. As I am currently a citizen in an Islamic Republic I guess they also mean me, and as the country I've arrived from will soon have Islam as the dominant religion I guess they also mean a certain majority of their future selves.
My prior concern for the damage one might afflict from the corner of a book, I guess, is shared by few, yet for varying reasons an increasing amount of us seem more concerned with other parts of these books altogether. Although I've browsed through a few of them I'm not too happy about an imminent suffix that is sure to misrepresent me.
My break from Iran has coincided with a short break from adding words here. Although nothing seems to have changed since I last wrote about my political exercise, I've noticed many changes outside of these borders – one less important change being an arbitrary alteration in a calendar. More interestingly though the British government have decided to abandoned the use of the the term 'War On Terror', yet more interesting still I've noticed a near universal adoption of the term 'Islamist' from the media corporations. This term I've rarely heard before yet by some remarkable coincidence the sources I click through seemed to have employed the usage near simultaneously. I spent my Christmas day spotting Islamists and was surprised to even find a couple in the car radio – in some way I guess they are destroying our way of life.
'Islamic Fundamentalist' without the fundamental part I gathered, meaning maybe all muslims are fundamental or a new art movement is sweeping the world. As I am currently a citizen in an Islamic Republic I guess they also mean me, and as the country I've arrived from will soon have Islam as the dominant religion I guess they also mean a certain majority of their future selves.
7-new members of an average age of around 3-years had enlisted before my eyes
Another change was noticed in my absence, for the first time a Quo'ran was used to swear-in a Democratist – a successfully imbedded Islamists maybe? I'd managed to embed myself also, I'd evaded the racial profiling as I walked down the alter on Christmas day joining the Christianist side of my family for what turned out to be a torturous couple of hours. Their leader seemed a little unstable, imbibed I assumed from what I'd witnessed during the recruitment procedure they called "Christening". 7-new members of an average age of around 3-years had enlisted before my eyes, surely they know not what they are doing I pondered in concern.My prior concern for the damage one might afflict from the corner of a book, I guess, is shared by few, yet for varying reasons an increasing amount of us seem more concerned with other parts of these books altogether. Although I've browsed through a few of them I'm not too happy about an imminent suffix that is sure to misrepresent me.
Labels: Christmas, Dubai, family, Fundamentalist, holiday, Iran, Islamist, politics
Posted by ddmmyyyy at
12:42 am
4 Comments:
a cool blog. so its surprising you choose to be disingenous by equating violent political islam aka 'islamists' with normal people celebrating christmas (aka 'christianists'). your blog is satirising the pigeonholing of muslims, so why fall into the same trap vis a vis christians?
no one would suggest that, on the basis of your blog, that you are an 'islamist'.
"'Islamic Fundamentalist' without the fundamental part I gathered, meaning maybe all muslims are fundamental... As I am currently a citizen in an Islamic Republic I guess they also mean me"
The reason you have "noticed a near universal adoption of the term 'Islamist' from the media corporations" is that there are urgent problems with islamic fundamentalism.
By
Anonymous, at 11:47 pm
"Islamist" is a term seemingly applied to the downtrodden, the ones who elect a government and are scorned for making the wrong choice, the people who have their land occupied in contravention to UN resolution, the people who would like to receive a fair price for the use of their resources, the people who are picked up, taken away to a foreign land, locked away indefinitely without charge. Yes, there are urgent problems and in the absense of an abilty to do much about it (through respected routes), a few take a different course – coincidentally these few are muslims.
These 'obsticles' were previously framed as communists, and before that... call me a cynic – but I rather fear this is preparation work.
Regarding the trap you think I'm befalling – I think maybe you're missing the point and might return the compliment.
Historic Amnesia they say.
By
ddmmyyyy, at 1:38 am
It is indeed a fantastic trick. Where once they needed elaborate misrepresentations and lies, they can now demonize Muslims with three little letters.
The judicious use of inverted commas and the word "allegedly" goes a long way too.
By
Anonymous, at 4:17 am
I think what's funny is that no one seems to really understand what the term "Islamist" means. An "Islamist" is simply a Muslim who believes that Sharia law can and should be applied as general law within a nation. Islamists go about achieving this in many different ways, some, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, use the current political system in place within their country (Egypt) by running candidates and hoping enough get elected to make a difference in the laws. I don't mean to imply the Brotherhood has used these methods throughout their history, but this is their current method which is legal and obviously non-violent. Others, like the Deobandi movement in India, take a "Jehovah's Witness" sort of stance (forgive the comparison) and seek to change individual minds one by one with pamphlets and such and feel that once enough people believe that they will take it upon themselves to demand a change in the political system.. also legal and without violence. The minority of Islamists, such as those in al-Qaida, believe that violence will achieve their goals.
Fundamentalism is a word that has been skewed by the media, fundamentalism simply means getting back to the "fundamentals" of something, usually religion. There are not "urgent problems with islamic fundamentalism," I think perhaps what you mean to say is that there is an urgent problem with violent extremists who believe the only way to achieve their goals is through violence. What people seem to forget is that there are many many groups and even governments that fall into this category, it is not limited to violent Islamic groups.
By
Anonymous, at 7:28 pm
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