Culture change
Mukhtaran Bibi (photo: NYT)
World leaders occasionally sing the praises of “regime change” (generally in the months between deciding to do it, and doing it).
Strange; the history of such efforts doesn’t seem too encouraging: the Vietnam War, Pinochet in Chile, and a government said to be so nasty that Iranians were relieved to see it replaced by the ayatollahs (well, briefly relieved at least).
Granted, there may be (and probably are) instances of good, successful “regime changes” that I just haven’t heard about because news generally don’t cover stuff that works out ok. But there’s another change that strikes me as more challenging, more slowgoing, and thus ultimately more praiseworthy (and less newsworthy, which is why governments don’t attempt it much): how about culture change?
And, despite my respect for different cultures and a multifarious international scene and relativism and yada yada; despite all that, here’s what triggered this blog entry: an example of a culture that needs changing. (Note: nytimes.com requires you to sign up to read their stuff, but it’s free and they don’t send you junk mail for it; at least not so far).
My finger, whoever might pay any attention to it, is absolutely not pointing at Islam here. That would be like looking at Jimmy Swaggart and saying we need to abolish Christianity and TV.
No, I’m pointing the finger squarely at that dynamic duo: religious fervor (whether Islamic or Christian or otherwise) and ineducation, the muck in which brutal “cultures” thrive. Religious fervor suspends individual morality, enabling people to do just anything with the blind conviction that some higher authority sanctions or demands it. Ineducation enables them to have no idea what the rest of the world will think of it. And ineducation and religious fervor feed each other.
Change that, if you can.
[Update] A US university professor offers his balanced view on the matter. Now that’s the kind of common-sense, stand-up, good-Christian, “we will burn your mosques” approach we need in educating the young folks of the world for a brighter, more harmonious tomorrow. Yee-haa.