In The Name Of Religion

It was a fairly chilly Wednesday on that fateful day in April back in 1995. The date was the 19th. I remember this because it was the same year I began keeping a diary. Many interesting things take place when you're 21 years of age, and some require their own space in history.

Between random entries titled "She'll call, I know she will" and ""Hot Dang It's On Like Donkey Kong" was one which stood out in bold capital letters:

"Fuck Me! What Have They Done Now?!"

A bomb had gone off in America, and since this was pre-24hour CNN in South Africa, it was pretty much on all the radio stations and on the breaking news on crappy government TV. All the fingers were being pointed in the direction of Muslim terrorists, and this annoyed me for no reason other than the fact that I had just started dating a Christian girl. Neither my hormones nor my testosterone would condone this bombing, and the first telephone call I had with Amy was rather terse. I found myself suddenly anti-muslim in the hope that this would win favor with her.
It didn't.
She agreed with her dad that my religion was one of violence and intolerance.
In light of what had just transpired in America, how could I argue with either of them?

While the dust was settling and the investigations were beginning, I found an interesting awakening taking place within myself and those of the Muslim faith around me. There was a level of introspection taking place which I had never witnessed before. Questions were being asked amongst us all. A microscope had just been focused on every single one of us, and what we were seeing left much to be desired.
There was almost this sense of blindness to what was happening in the rest of the world.
A sense that we were living in a cocoon, totally unaware to how the religion we loved was being tarnished by extremists, and the media was only too happy to oblige and play conductor to the orchestra of terror being played out in the name of Islam.

                                   
Timothy McVeigh was finally convicted and given the death sentence for the Oklahoma Bombing which killed 168 men, women and children. Then and now, very little mention was ever made of his faith. His biography on Wikipedia makes no mention of his Christian beliefs. Ironically it does mention the initial suspects being Islamic Terrorists.

So you can imagine my surprise when I called upon Amy at her home a few weeks later, feeling absolved of any sense of responsibility for the atrocious bombing that had gripped the world.... absolved because it was clear that this madman was not a member of my clan, but rather hers... a skip in my step because I would now be able to tell her dad "Ha! He's one of yours!" ... as I said, imagine my surprise when she responded with "No but he's not a Christian, we don't do stuff like that!"

So it was OK to assume that this was done by an Islamic Terrorist...
and then assume that all muslims are terrorists, hence I too must be one...
But when it transpires that he is in fact not a Muslim but rather a Christian, we shall declare him persona non grata and wash our hands of laying blame on religion?

It was this single response that made me become so much more aware of social and religious injustices which I was completely naive and blind to previously.This was my true awakening.

Fast-forward 16 years and we find ourselves in a similar position.
Norway, Oslo. 94 Men, women and children killed.

Fox News and other media outlets had us believe this was an act of terror carried out by an Islamic organization. They had a vile bucketful of 'experts' spewing their opinion, and one group kept coming up as the most likely suspects : Islamic Terrorists.
When a blue-eyed blonde Christian was eventually arrested, suddenly his religious beliefs were no longer worth a mention.
For more on how the media contorted the facts, read this.

Now I had this discussion with a friend of mine, and him and I regularly debate matters of race, religion and politics. He happened to mention an oft-repeated lie which the western media first propagated. This being that Islam is the most violent religion in the world, and has killed more people than any other religion or country.
Hhmm... really?
Let's have a look at the breakdown of wars in the last 150 years, shall we.

First, the worlds religions as per 2005.

Wars in last 150 years

1860-65: American civil war (360,000)

1886-1908: Belgium-Congo Free State (3 million)

1899-02: British-Boer war (100,000)

1904: Germany Vs Namibia (65,000)

1904-05: Japan Vs Russia (150,000)

1910-20: Mexican revolution (250,000)

1911: Chinese Revolution (2.4 million)

1911-12: Italian-Ottoman war (20,000)

1912-13: Balkan wars (150,000)

1915: the Ottoman empire slaughters Armenians (1.2 million)

1914-18: World War I (8 million)

1917-21: Soviet revolution (5 million)

1928-37: Chinese civil war (2 million)

1931: Japanese Manchurian War (1.1 million)

1934: Mao's Long March (170,000)

1936: Italy's invasion of Ethiopia (200,000)

1936-37: Stalin's purges (13 million)

1936-39: Spanish civil war (600,000)

1939-45: World War II (55 million) including holocaust and Chinese revolution

1946-49: Chinese civil war (1.2 million)

1946-49: Greek civil war (50,000)

1947: Partition of India and Pakistan (1 million)

1948-1973: Arab-Israeli wars (70,000)

1948-: Kashmir's civil war (40,000)

1949-: Indian Muslims Vs Hindus (20,000)

1950-53: Korean war (4 million)

1954-62: French-Algerian war (1 million)

1958-61: Mao's "Great Leap Forward" (30 million)

1960-90: South Africa Vs Africa National Congress (?)

1961-2003: Kurds Vs Iraq (180,000)

1962-75: Mozambique Frelimo Vs Portugal (?)

1964-73: USA-Vietnam war (3 million)

1965: second India-Pakistan war over Kashmir

1965-66: Indonesian civil war (200,000)

1966-69: Mao's "Cultural Revolution" (11 million)

1966-: Colombia's civil war (31,000)

1967-70: Nigeria-Biafra civil war (800,000)

1968-80: Rhodesia's civil war (?)

1969-79: Idi Amin, Uganda (300,000)

1969-02: IRA - Northern Ireland's civil war (2,000)

1969-79: Francisco Macias Nguema, Equatorial Guinea (50,000)

1971: Pakistan-Bangladesh civil war (500,000)

1972-: Philippines Vs Muslim separatists (120,000)

1972: Burundi's civil war (300,000)

1972-79: Rhodesia/Zimbabwe's civil war (30,000)

1974-91: Ethiopian civil war (1,000,000)

1975-78: Menghitsu, Ethiopia (1.5 million)

1975-79: Khmer Rouge, Cambodia (1.7 million)

1975-89: Boat people, Vietnam (250,000)

1975-90: civil war in Lebanon (40,000)

1975-87: Laos' civil war (184,000)

1975-2002: Angolan civil war (500,000)

1976-83: Argentina's military regime (20,000

1976-93: Mozambique's civil war (900,000)

1976-98: Indonesia-East Timor civil war (600,000)

1976-: Indonesia-Aceh (GAM) civil war (12,000)

1979: Vietnam-China war (30,000)

1979-88: the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan (1.3 million)

1980-88: Iraq-Iran war (1 million)

1980-92: Sendero Luminoso - Peru's civil war (69,000)

1980-92: El Salvador's civil war (100,000)

1980-99: Kurds Vs Turkey (35,000)

1982-90: Hussein Habre, Chad (40,000)

1983-2002: Sri Lanka's civil war (64,000)

1983-2002: Sudanese civil war (2 million)

1987-: Palestinian Intifada (4,500)

1988-2001: Afghanistan civil war (400,000)

1988-2004: Somalia's civil war (550,000)

1989-: Liberian civil war (220,000)

1989-: Uganda Vs Lord's Resistance Army (30,000)

1991: Gulf War - large coalition against Iraq to liberate Kuwait (85,000)

1991-97: Congo's civil war (800,000)

1991-2000: Sierra Leone's civil war (200,000)

1991-: Russia-Chechnya civil war (200,000)

1991-94: Armenia-Azerbaijan war (35,000)

1992-96: Tajikstan's civil war war (50,000)

1992-96: Yugoslavia's civil war (200,000)

1992-99: Algerian civil war (150,000)

1993-97: Congo Brazzaville's civil war (100,000)

1993-: Burundi's civil war (200,000)

1994: Rwanda's civil war (900,000)

1995-: Pakistani Sunnis Vs Shiites (1,300)

1995-: Maoist rebellion in Nepal (10,000)

1998-: Congo/Zaire's war - Rwanda and Uganda Vs Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia (3.8 million)

1998-2000: Ethiopia-Eritrea war (75,000)

1999: Kosovo's liberation war - NATO Vs Serbia (2,000)

2001: Afghanistan's liberation war - USA & UK Vs Taliban (25,000)

2002-: Cote d'Ivoire's civil war (1,000)

2003: Iraq's liberation war - USA, UK and Australia Vs Saddam Hussein (14,000)

2003-: Sudan Vs Darfur (70,000)

2003-: Iraq's civil war (100,000)

Notice anything interesting?

Out of the total number of around 160 million dead, more than 135 million have been killed in or by countries that are now the five big powers of the world, namely China, the US, the UK, France and Russia. The killings by or in Muslim countries form a very small percentage of the total killings, despite the fact that Muslims form about one fifth of the world population.

For more on the stats listed above, read this interesting blog.

If these facts and figures prove anything, it proves that religion can be used as a vehicle to carry out evil just as easily as it can be used to carry out good.
If we removed religion from our interaction with each other, I'm of the belief that this world would be a better and safer place. I'm not saying religion has no place in our daily lives. What I am saying is that it need not be an aspect of our lives which we need to force-feed on those who believe differently.

Every religion has it's fair share of extremists. Every religion.
What we need to do is accept that those extremists are not spokespeople for nor an indication of the rest of those who believe in peace, love and tolerance for all.

That's why I like what this guy says in his letter to the editor of an online newspaper. It's plain, it's simple, and it's honest.

Nkandla And It's Message To The Youth

Nkandla in the background, the Presidents neighbors in the foreground

Moeletsi Mbeki in a recent interview spoke about the sense of entitlement within the ANC leadership when he said  “The leaders think that the South African people owe them and can therefore delve into their budgets”. While this sense of entitlement may be true of the ANC and it’s current leadership, what does it really say to our youth, and what message does it portray to tomorrow’s leaders?

It’s only when we step away from the media and start connecting with what’s happening on the ground at a grassroots level that we get to see the smoke from the mirrors, and are able to pigeon-hole electioneering from reality. Political parties are on a massive roadshow to wax lyrical about their achievements and the progress they have made to better the lives of their constituencies. It’s the old “Rabbit From The Hat” magic trick, where they get the public to focus on what they want us to see, while the essence of what we really should be looking at is being hidden. It’s the same promises every four years, but craftily repackaged to make it seem as though every item on their political manifesto is suddenly a new challenge never before undertaken.

It is with this view that I had the opportunity to engage with a job candidate recently to see what the world looked like through the eyes of an unemployed ‘born-free’; a strapping and well-spoken bespectacled 20 year old who for all intents and purposes never got to live under any other leadership in South Africa other than the ANC.

Our conversation covered all the usual check-points (Crime, Poverty, Unemployment, Service Delivery, Healthcare, Elections, Hope and even Nkandla) and his answers for the most part where as I had expected them to be.
While he was disappointed at certain shortcomings and constant media reports on corruption and wasteful expenditure by government, there was a real sense of hope and optimism in the future. I say “There was” because it turns out he was willing to forgive all these shortcomings and place them in a box labelled ‘Teething Problems’ even though we are now 20 years into our new democracy, if only the Nkandla saga never happened.

I asked him to elaborate and this is what he said.
“As a young South African, I had to understand the forces at play within our political arena before subscribing to certain notions and beliefs. If I spent my day watching the news and reading the papers, I would easily be influenced to believe that my country was destined for failure and that nothing positive ever happened within our borders. I would be forced to believe that there has been no progress made in many spheres of our lives, and that my people are no better off today than they were before 1994.
I know this is not the reality because the sky hasn’t fallen and people who left our shores in droves for greener pastures are in fact coming back home, slowly but surely; for this is home. I believed President Zuma when he said he had a good story to tell. Put in context, opposition parties have a duty to only highlight the negative and as we all know, sometimes the ANC makes this quite an easy task for the DA and others. I know full well that the levels of corruption within government are unacceptably high but I’d like to think that these are matters being exposed and attended to by the relevant authorities. I’m willing to forgive all the shortcomings by the very same liberation movement and political party which won us our freedom. All in the name of ‘Teething Problems’.

Then along comes Nkandla.
R250 million for security upgrades and my President say’s he wasn’t aware of what was happening at his private residence? A report published by the Public Protector confirming that there was mismanagement and in some cases downright fraud of public money, and yet the ANC wants to refute this and protect the wrong-doers? Suddenly the corruption that I was willing to forgive seems like a mountain. The endless reports of mismanagement and fraud by municipalities and party members start painting a new picture, one where the sunshine and wheat-fields are replaced by the grim reality of pigs at a trough. So I have to ask myself for how much longer am I expected to be thankful for 1994 and what price do I have to continue paying for my freedom and liberties?”

I prefer not debating religion and politics as a personal choice but at this point I was too invested in his views and opinions to simply end the conversation.
We’ve witnessed a sense of entitlement across a broad spectrum of society and I wondered how this affects the youth. How does the ANC and President Zuma’s handling of Nkandla shape public opinion and perception especially in the demographic that is currently moulding tomorrows leaders? If the message from the First Citizen is that he hadn’t done anything wrong by accepting the spending of R250 million of public money that was destined for other government projects is to be believed, that one can safely assume he expects us the people to simply smile and move on. Clearly nothing to see here.

I asked this question and got this response:
“If ANC leaders think nothing of stealing from state coffers to enrich their own lives at the expense of those who need it most, than those who need it most will steal from those who have. You can’t teach a child not to steal, while spending your day shoplifting. Right now we as the youth are the children of the current leadership. As our political fathers and grandfathers they are telling us not to steal, while justifying their corruption with fancy phrases like “Unaware of the scope” and “Not involved in the process.” I haven’t had a job in 7 months. I haven’t paid rent in 4 months. My family hasn’t had a decent meal in 2 weeks. Maybe my family and I should start stealing to survive, and if we get caught, I will tell the police that my President say’s it’s fine. It’s no big deal. Maybe my story will make the newspaper. Maybe I will be regarded as a common thief. Maybe they will put me in jail… but what happens if everybody in my situation decides to do the same thing all at once? Will they jail hundreds of thousands of people across the country just because they wanted to put food on their tables? We don’t want or care about security upgrades and kraals and chicken-runs and swimming pools. We care about jobs and food.”

The youth have spoken, and I listened.
Julius Malema was bred and educated in the ANC Youth League. As a child of the parent, we as a nation saw first hand what a sense of entitlement can lead to. We observed how difficult and challenging it was for the parent to discipline the child. Today he has chartered a course through the stages of youth to emerge as a political leader himself. He has surrounded himself with politicians and academics guiding his political party through the potholed landscape of South African politics.
There are hundreds of thousands of Julius Malema’s out there who are the children and grandchildren of this great liberation movement, the ANC. They don’t have access to politicians and academics who will guide them. They are watching keenly how their President and their leadership handle Nkandla.
Nkandla is the litmus test to their sense of entitlement.
My hope is that the leadership of our country sit up and listen before it is too late.
My hope is that President Zuma and the ANC address Nkandla before Nkandla becomes the war-cry of Josiah and every other unemployed youth of South Africa.
My hope is that the candle of hope never gets extinguished in the people of this beautiful country.

The Great Divide

If today proved anything, anything at all, it's that we live in a country divided between Intellectuals and Morons.

I'm always eager to debate; always. I've loved debating ever since I could first argue a point and convince my fellow man, and oftentimes I find myself being the one convinced by an opposing opinion.
It's a great expression of freedom, and healthy open debate is the truest sign of a prosperous democracy.

Hence my utter disbelief that we continue to live among those who are so narrow minded, so embalmed in bigotry, so steeped in intolerance that they cannot fathom an opinion to exist outside of their own.
I've had the displeasure of encountering some of those people today, and it's honestly a place I never want to visit again.

More people have died in the name of religion than for any other cause known to man.
This is fact, not fiction.
Google it, Wikipedia it, Britannica it. The result will always be the same.
Conversely, more people could have survived senseless killings in the name of religion if only they allowed themselves to be more accepting of others; of our fellow man; of the belief system of total strangers.
You don't have to embrace or accept it. You simply have to respect their right to an opposing view.
Just be tolerant. That's all it really takes.

I engaged a guy in debate today who felt I was being racist for the comment I made in my previous blog post.
"Indians have been in South Africa for 150 years already, yet some still speak like they just stepped off the ship."
He found this comment racist.
Ok, let's have an intellectual debate about it then.
I'm an Indian myself. That tends to dilute his argument of racism somewhat.
I clearly said "... yet some still speak like they just stepped off the ship."
That removes his argument abut it being a generalisation.
Then I find out that his favourite tweet is a joke about the Muslim faith and the turbans some men wear.
Ironic, maybe. Contradictory, possibly. Hypocritical, absolutely!

As I said earlier, i'm willing to debate anybody on any topic provided it's kept intellectual.
As the old saying goes, "Don't argue with a fool. People may not be able to tell the difference."

I got asked the question today "Where do you draw the line?"
Quite honestly, if you start off with the premise that we should respect and tolerate, you never really need to draw a line. The problem most people have is understanding that one could respect and tolerate whilst maintaining a sense of humour.
We listen freely to Black jokes and Jewish jokes and Muslim jokes and Irish jokes and Fat jokes and Homosexual jokes and Lesbian jokes. We laugh heartily at all of the above and a thousand other genres.
Suddenly when we're presented with an opportunity to reflect upon ourselves and laugh at ourselves, we choose the cowards option and run for the race card, or the culture card, or any other card that allows us to cower beneath the banner of Bigotry.
As far as i'm concerned, this is our single biggest downfall as a nation toward letting go of the shackles of our past.

We need to chill more, and be more chilled.
We need to stop assuming that every person who does not look like we do, does not believe in the God we do, does not have the same complexion as we do, is the enemy!
What total hogwash!
I shudder at the thought that my daughter or any member of my family for that matter, is part of a society that is no enshrouded in bigotry!
Unbelievably narrow-minded!

Right.
Thats my rant for tonight.
Be an intellectual. Step away from the shadow of the Moron.
And for Gods sake stop sounding and acting like you just stepped off the ship!

The Institution Of Religion

My blogger friend Azra, whom i've never met but writes captivating posts and is never afraid to push the envelope, recently wrote about religion and fanaticism. Her post can be found here.
http://azras-adventures.blogspot.com/2010/08/living-islam-some-moderation-please.html

This inspired me to share my own personal opinion on religion, in as brief a manner as I can.
While intelligent debate is healthy and whole-heartedly welcome, please note that my blog is a Bigot-&-Fanatic Free Zone.
I know zealots who know zealots who could hunt you down and stone you to death if you try that shit on my blog!

As mentioned in a previous blog post, i've been fortunate to have an upbringing smothered between a deeply religious Christian grandmother, and an equally religious Muslim grandfather.
My mom is an amazing woman who walked us through this religious maze, showing us kid's that it was a thing of beauty, of love and of tolerance; not something to be feared or be dogmatic about.
Much like the poppy field, it could be admired for it's beauty just as easily as it could be frowned upon for it's narcotic effect.
Religion in my opinion is a thing of beauty.
Something to be treated with the respect it deserves.
And therein lays the challenge.

I learnt at an early age to respect all religions, just as I would expect others to respect mine.
How then was I to agree with some of these religious zealots who only preach hate and fear and detest for anyone who's belief system differed from their own?
Had they not heard of tolerance?
What kind of religion would promote hatred over love, fear over respect, and segregation over unification?

How easy it is to judge and criticize that which we don't understand?
I was seven or eight when I first fully understood being in a Masjid.
I was eight or nine when I first fully understood being in a Church.
The message in both was exactly the same.
Looking beyond the names and labels, and taking out only the lessons to be learnt in the preachings, I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the Masjid and the Church.

So when a guy I knew from the neighbourhood saw me leaving Church one Sunday, and recalled seeing me in the Masjid the Friday before, he called me a traitor. At ten I didn't fully understand what a traitor was, but the venomous way he spat it out when he said it made me instinctively realise it couldn't be a good thing.
True story. It would be eight years later before I saw him again, in a club, with his girlfriend.
I think her name was Thirusha.
Farouk just smiled at me, took his beer and his girlfriend and scuttled off.
Did I mention this was a true story?

A few years ago my mom opened a franchised fast-food outlet.
A popular chicken franchise actually.
Needless to say, the topic of being certified "halaal" needed to be addressed.
She was advised to go with a certain "Halaal Certifying Authority" as they were very prominent in the Muslim community and it would be good for her business.
Good for her business?
Anyways, I 'd rather not mention their name except to say that it rhymes with "BANHA".
About two years later she was in the process of changing her bank, and subsequently needed to change all her debit order details.
"BANHA" hadn't been updated in time and the debit order for that particular month bounced.
Next thing she knew, her store "could no longer be certified halaal".
Really?
They based that on a bounced debit-order instead of a site inspection?

Ever since that day, I make it my duty to listen to public announcements of what "BANHA" in their infinite wisdom have deeemed haraam, as the list is updated on a daily basis depending on who's debit order has bounced, and then I go out and buy all those "haraam" products and have a huge illicit feast.
It's my way of saying "Up yours BANHA."

*ok you can start the fatwa and send your henchmen at this point, you religious zealots you!*

I mentioned on Azra's blog, an incident that happened to me whilst still a student a good many years back.
I'm too lazy to re-type so here's the cut-&-paste.

As a student travelling by bus I once came across a fanatic who I befriended with a view to trying to understand him better.
One hot Friday afternoon, with the bus filled to capacity, a pregnant black lady boarded and headed toward the back where we were sitting. There was easily enough space for her between us, but he simply pretended like he never saw her and left his satchel on the seat.
I offered her my seat which she graciously accepted, and when she disembarked few stops later, I asked him why he was such an ass.

His response, and my recollection of it more than 15 years later, still infuriates me!
He said she was an infidel, and he felt no pity on her as she was bringing another infidel into this world!

The gall of those who deem themselves holier than the moderates has forever made me steer clear of their words, their preachings and their company.

I guess what i'm trying to say really, is that we spend so much time arguing over who's right and who's wrong, who's going to heaven and who's going to hell, who's a saint and who's a sinner, that we totally forget to just live and let live.
If there's one lesson i'd honestly love to have my daughter Sabreen learn from me as regards religion, it's that it's more important to be good than it is to be holy; more important to be respectful and tolerant than it is to be pious and religious.

Parrot-Troopers

I have a sneaky suspicion that this post may ruffle a few feathers.
I certainly hope it does, or else the entire purpose of this blog has been futile.

I was at a friends place this weekend, and he had all these little prayers stuck on his walls and doors and windows and plastered all over his kids room. Little prayers (or 'duas' as we call them in Arabic) for almost anything and everything... before eating, after eating, while washing hands, before going into the loo, on leaving the loo, on entering the house, on leaving the house, before sleeping, on waking up, while doing nothing. You name it and there was a corresponding prayer to go with it.

I thought this was great. I'm all for closeness to God and teaching kids about religion.
His boy is 6 and his little girl is 8.
Needless to say, they knew every single one of these prayers by heart, in Arabic. It rolled off their tongues as easily as you and I might sing a Michael Jackson song. Maybe even easier.

As a Dad he must have been so proud. I think he was actually. I was too busy being impressed to be anything else.
The little boy bonded with me like I was Santa Clause bearing candy. Finally at 9pm he asked if I'd put him to bed. His mom nodded her approval and off I went with this kid in tow. I tucked him in and before I could ask if he wanted me to read him a story, he started on his prayer before going to bed. The Arabic words bouncing off his tongue like the sweet sounds of a nightingale. When he was done, I asked him what it all meant. Of course I knew what it meant, since I was taught in very much the same way but for one exception: We were told to recite the English translation as well. I noticed that neither of these kids did that when reciting their prayers.

He looked at me incredulously and completely perplexed. It's always fascinating when a kid looks at you in words they cannot even spell, let alone understand.
So I asked him again if he could tell me what the prayer he had just read in Arabic, actually meant.
Finally, with a look of exasperation, he shrugged his shoulders and said simply "No, I don't."
It's at this point that I stopped being so impressed with his memory skills, or that of his sister for that matter.

Like I said earlier, I'm all for religion and closeness to God.
But if kids are being brought up like parrots, taught to recite prayers in the language of the Holy Book without fully understanding what it is that they are reciting, or made to understand why they should be reciting a prayer for each of those instances, then I am afraid we are doing them and the religion a disservice.

I was taught the Lords Prayer at an early age, but I was first taught the reason why the Lords Prayer is recited. Made to understand it's purpose. At age 6 I started attending Islamic School or Madressah as we call it. At night I was grilled on what we had learned, and here's where these teachings between Islam and Christianity began to take on a beauty of their own. My evenings would be spent in discussion about the similarities between the religions, and I was forced to expand my thinking and understanding of the things I had been taught. Yes, I was forced to hone and polish that scarcely used human attribute that was so prevalent in years gone by: I was forced to use common sense.

This post is not and should not only be relevant to religion. It should be relevant to everyday life, and in everything we do. If we just applied some common sense and removed the blinkers society and our upbringing has placed on us, we would need less governance from elders and teachers and ultimately, governments.

If somebody sat down with those nutters from Al-Qaeda and the Talibaan and Al-Shabaab and The Lords Resistance Army and Hitler and half the Spanish and English Kings and the Israelis and every terrorist from every faction fighting whatever cause they believe is worthy of an innocents death... if somebody just got them to start using common sense in their ideologies, I promise this world would be a better place.
I watched a show last night wherein a guy was talking about how we've lost our ability to think, and how we've left it up to a higher authority to do our thinking for us.
Here's the example he gave : 20 years ago, if you were walking down the road and saw an open manhole, you'd use your brain and walk around it. Why? Because your common sense would have told you to.
Today, people see an open manhole, ask themselves "I wonder what would happen if I jumped into it?" then proceed to jump into said manhole. Next thing you know, they're sueing the government or municipality for not having put up signs saying "Don't be a moron and jump into this manhole!"

I shudder at the thought of how little of our intellect and common sense we will exercise 20 years from now. Will we need a higher authority to give us permission to get out of bed in the morning and take a pee? What happens if that order only comes around lunchtime? Will we be a nation of bedwetters because nobody told us to use common sense?

It's when we as parents start bringing up robots with no idea of how to challenge their minds and further their intellect that we do ourselves, our kids and society at large a huge disservice.

If there's one thing I hope to instill in Sabreen at the tender age of 5, it would be the confidence to question. To continuosly ask "Why?". To question everything, not in the pursuit of being pedantic, but rather to gain an understanding of why we do the things we do.
I watched with interest in my early years as our religious teachers and even those at school heaped on us kids a barrage of Do's and Dont's. We were always told never to question, just to accept. The very first time I did question, I was ridiculed. It was 30 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.
A teacher at Islamic School (or Moulana at Madressah as we would refer to it) said that God had a reason for every single thing that he did and everything that he had created.
I never doubted that, but that didn't stop me from being curious. So I asked said Moulana "Why do men have nipples?"
I was 6 at the time. Firstly, I wasn't supposed to know what nipples were, let alone use them in a sentence.
I got taken to the Principles office for being rude, and he was quite obstinate that my question was a sign of rudeness.

When my parents were called in, they defended me by saying "How is anyone supposed to learn without asking questions?"
I've never stopped asking questions since.
It's also the reason why I'm not afraid to push the envelope and test the barriers, as can be seen on this very blog or if you follow me on Twitter.

I'm expecting some of my more ardent religious readers and fans to begin lambasting me for my views.
I don't mean to offend. I'm simply voicing an opinion and letting the world know that I for one am taking a slightly different approach.
Less dogmatic, more pragmatic.

Not The Learning Channel

So my friend Azra chose me to partake in the 7 Links project by Tripbase and dare I say it got me thinking about the contents of my blog, the things I say, the reason why people have been visiting since I first started blogging, and mostly it got me thinking about what appeal my random thoughts and ramblings could possibly have.

Sure I realized early on that there are a small group or sect of people that my writing appeals to, but in any society there will always be the fringe groups. That's my niche market. Most 'normal' people who stumble upon this page are merely collateral damage.
So if you're reading this right now, you're either a nutjob looking for a home, or you haven't set your internet surfing filters or 'NetNanny' software quite high enough.

So how does the 7 Links project work? In the words of it's author, quite simply :
The idea is simple: bloggers publish 7 links from their blog to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again. Without further ado, herewith my 7 Links as best as I can recall.

1) My Most Beautiful Post
A Tale Of Two Friends
Still one of the most heartfelt and honest posts I have ever written. Strangely it required no drafts, not that my posts usually do. But I find that I write a piece and then tweak it and buff it up a bit before hitting "Publish".
Not so with this post. It came from the heart, and I still find myself reading it every so often.

2) My Most Popular Post
Beauty Is Only Mullet Deep
I'm not entirely sure why this is the most popular post on my blog, but it is.
I know I have a large number of visitors from America. I'm guessing that's the reason; but it's purely a guess and yours is as good as mine.

3) My Most Controversial Post
The Silence Of The Ham
I'd have to say my take on the whole halaal issue, and my opinion that all these certifying bodies dictating to us gullible South Africans is nothing more than a money-making scheme was the most controversial post I had written. Not ever. But certainly in a long while.
My all-time most controversial writing would probably be the open-letter I wrote to my school principle back when open-letters were unheard of. I still have the scars of his response :)

4) My Most Helpful Post
My Open Letter To Nestle'
This was my first attempt at an open-letter from the blog. Interestingly it got me a huge response from people who have had their fair share of consumer-related issues, and most found my idea of an open-letter rather refreshing. Well, maybe it was the letter itself that they found refreshing. I even had people mail me and ask if I would write letters to companies on their behalf!
I'm guessing there's a business idea there somewhere.
Read it and let me know what you think :)

5) A Post Whose Success Surprised Me
Passion.... That's The Secret
Sometimes all you really need to be inspired or achieve or get the job done is a good dose of Passion.
Imagine how amazing it would be if there was this massive central database were people could simply log into and swop jobs with someone who didn't really have the love for what they were doing.
For example, a Dentist who really wanted to be a Tour Guide could simply look for that position on the database, and be that which he loves and become a Tour Guide, and likewise a Circus Clown who really had a passion to be a dentist could simply..... wait, on second thought I can see where this could get ugly.

6) A Post I Feel Didn't Get The Attention It Deserved
For The Love Of Writing
There's always that one post that's bound to get lost when you've written just under 400 blog posts in just over a year. Well technically that's not correct, because I copied many of my old posts from my previous blog and had them reposted here... but yes, one is always bound to get lost amongst the noise.
I think this is that post.

7) The Post That I Am Most Proud Of
In The Name Of Religion
Only because this post pretty much sums up my writing style.
I'll push those barriers. I'll test peoples thinking. I'll challenge an idea or opinion I don't agree with.
Most importantly, I'll do all of this and still be able to sit across visitors to my blog and share a cup of coffee and some milk-tart.

Ok, so now I get to choose fellow bloggers to do their own versions of 7 Links and join in the project.
 In no particular order, these are the bloggers who's posts and answers I'm most looking forward to:


Akona Ndungane at Mosaic
Paige Nick at A Million Miles From Normal
Saaleha at Afrocentric Muslimah
Che at IndieBerries
Amith at The Bucket

I could think of a few more blogger's who should be nominated, but I realize that blogging is hard work and not everybody can do it with enough consistency to captivate an audience. That's a compliment to the amazing blogger's I've listed above who seem to be able to write with such ease on a weekly basis.


Anyways, compiling this list was no easy task and choosing from so many of my past posts made the challenge daunting. As with most things, once you get started it really tends to flow with ease until before you realize it, you're done and still have so much left to say.

This is where I stop writing, and look forward to your responses.

Who Are The Real Terrorists In America?

I first got wind of this video a week ago when a friend sent me the link and asked what I thought about it. My immediate reaction was to say that Ashton Kutcher is now punking politicians and social groups. Of course by the end of the video you soon realize that this is no prank, and the protesters vile insults to those attending a meeting regarding the homeless and social programs was very real indeed.

So real were the insults and verbal attacks in fact, that the protesters even had the backing of their local councilwoman and a Republican Congressman. These two idiots used the opportunity to rile the protesters and make personal and public attacks on a religious group that was in fact having a meeting to discuss social upliftment programs.

Now I'll be the first to admit that more wars have been fought and more lives have been lost in the name of religion, but surely when you have a group of American protesters shouting "Go back home!" to fellow Americans who happen to be of a different faith, it indicates the level of fear , racism and intolerance so prevalent in America today.

If you're going to go around the world trying to beat democracy into every nation you stumble upon, and kick Western ideology into the skull of every Eastern and Middle-Eastern culture, maybe you should consider first educating your own people on whats right and whats not. If you're going to preach to the world, preach to your own flock about tolerance, racism, civil liberties, rights and morals first. Lead by example.
Until you do this, the world will continue to regard the American people as a bunch of hillbilly morons who know absolutely nothing about the people outside their borders. I for one will continue to regard the average American as a racist retard.

Here's the original article about this despicable protest, as published in the local Orange County newspaper:
Orange County Register

To understand whats wrong with America today, look no further than this.

Things That Make Me Go AAARRGGHH!!

If I really put my mind to it, this note could turn into a novel.
So i'll keep it brief.
Being a Monday, and seeing that the beginning of the week always leaves me with plenty to vent about, im not even going to mention the usual suspects: Telkom, Licencing Departments and Metro Police.

When your day starts with a 6am call from some moronic tele-sales retard telling you that you've just been randomly selected from 68 million people in the country to win a shiny new Porsche, while she casually flips through a mountain of every copy of Telkom telephone directories ever printed, you know you're off to a blistering start. I especially love how peppy they sound at that ungodly hour!
Oh to be chosen from 68 million people!
How lucky can one guy still wearing his snoopy pyjama's, whilst contemplating having cocoa pops with water coz the milk is finished, really get?
So I get out of bed, put my mobile on speaker phone, and proceed to brush my teeth and go through the rest of my very audible morning routine, all while said moronic telewaawaa drones on and on about the tiny little details they require from me before I can realise my luck and they can deliver my win.
So halfway through a gargle and flush cycle, I interrupt her to ask "Ok.. lemme get this straight. I get a shiny new Porsche, and all I have to do is buy some crappy timeshare I wouldnt send my neighbours dog to, and some non-stick stainless steel pots I could get for a quarter of the price at Makro?"
Sounds like a fair deal to me.
Of course by this point im now fully awake, and already sipping on my first of many Rooibos tea's for the day.
Im alert.
Sharp as a tack.
All brain cells fired up and revving to go.
Ready to take on the slickest of salespeople, and still walk away with my wallet intact.
So I slam the phone down.
Of course she phones back, thinking we got cut off.
She's a moron, remember.

You ever hear a voice so annoying, it makes you want to punch the lil kids crossing the road dragging their Superman and Spiderman schoolbags behind them?
No?
Me neither.
Moving on.

So it turns out they got my name from a "survey" I had taken, unknown to me, some months back.
I asked where the survey was taken.
She says at a shopping mall.
I say my religion doesnt allow me to go to shopping malls. (tsk tsk.. i always love the pause after i give them this line)
She says she's not sure where exactly it was.
I say my previous girlfriend worked for a company that did surveys, and committed suicide from the stress. Hence, I dont take part in surveys, out of respect for the dearly departed.
She waits nervously for me to giggle. I dont.
She apologises for my loss, and stammers something about the Porsche.
Finally I tell her that im surprised to have won a car, especially after my licence was revoked for drunk driving and joy riding with the wonderful kids from Bible-Study that fateful Sunday afternoon, and im not even Christian! "Imagine that!", I tell her.
Her long silence told me that her training had'nt prepared her well enough for Fareed Kaloo.
It's when I asked for her private number that the phone line went dead.
Im still not sure if we just got cut off, or if she slammed the phone down on me?

I arrive at my building site (being a contractor, for those that did'nt know) at around 9am.
The scene is straight out of "National Geographic MegaStructures".
Tons of rubble to the left.
Zinc toolsheds and structures to the right.
Behind me, my clients constructive declaration to the world that he's not impotent; 12 foot water-feature and all!
Grinding its way around the only bend, on the only road, on the only side of the lake where any construction in any form is taking place, on the only Golf Estate in the town, is a 6 ton truck heading my way with an already overdue delivery of bricks.
Moron-school must be on summer break, and all its learners must think im giving out free ice-cream today!
Mr Driver pulls up next to me, rolls down his window, and asks "Are these bricks for you?", as he wipes his sweaty forehead onto an already filthy shirt sleeve.
"No. Didnt your office call you? I changed my mind. We're using cardboard instead."
At least his passenger had a sense of humour.

At 1pm my team broke for lunch, and I headed to the nearest KFC to buy them lunch.
I pulled up at the drive-thru window, thinking it would be infinitely quicker and less painful an experience.
"15 Burger Meals, all with cokes please."
"To go?" she asks?
"No, I always take the drive-thru when I intend sitting inside. Must be the scenery that helps me work up an appetite." Some days, I hold back on the barbed rhetoric. Other days, its just too easy.

At 5pm I begin my solitary journey home.
This is "me" time.
Man, Machine, and 5fm with DJ Fresh for company.
It's kick back time and I while away the minutes until I get home to Princess Sabreen with "The Afternoon Drive"... my highlight being the callers phoning in with whatevers on their minds.
Like the guy who called in today to say how blessed he must be, for not getting caught canoodling with his girlfriends best friend on the weekend.
So he got away with it.
And he feels supremely lucky (and blessed too!)..
And what better way to rejoice in his stroke of luck...
Than to announce it on national radio?
Do these morons really believe that nobody could make out their voices on radio?
And even if his girlfriend were'nt listening, surey at least one friend of hers is?

Sometimes I wonder if people really are that dumb, or is it just an act?
Like George Bush.
Ok, bad example.

Well im home now, and it's a comforting thought to know that come the morning, todays morons will seem like tomorrows geniuses.
There's always something to make me laugh; always a reason to unleash my acidic sarcasm; and always the memories of the day to reflect on and make me go AARRGHH all over again.