I haven’t really read the news for the last few days, party because I’ve been travelling and partly because I’m just really annoyed at the way the administration is doing things. I know, I know . . . that’s not news. However, the issue for me has progressed beyond general annoyance and crystallized around two central issues – power and trust. We live in the free world and President Bush seems to have made freedom his mantra, but his behavior seems to more closely resemble an “elected” dictatorship. I know this is naive, but aren’t there any mainstream politicians who behave in a manner that shows that they understand that their power has been entrusted to them? How have they turned the privacy model of the free world on its head? How do you fight for freedom by closing opposition newspapers? How do you promote freedom by labelling dissenters as terrorists? And how do you sleep at night when you’re being so hypocritical? The one benefit that I thought might be able to be derived from rulership that relies on God is accountability to a higher power. I guess some people don’t fear the accountability of the day of judgment the same way that I do.
Related Posts
Muhammad Horton Indeed
Check out this commentary on Bush’s new campaign ad. It’s from The New Republic. Race and fear. Race and fear. The frightening thing is that Bush will probably still get a fair amount of votes from South Asians and Muslims. Link via TPM.
So You Say You Want a Revolution…
So the hypocrites have spoken. The mullahs of Iran have said the people have spoken, with only 33% of the electorate voting. Explain to me how discouraging people from voting, eliminating people from the ballot as being poor Muslims after they have declared the shahada, declaring yourselves the true spokesmen of Islam is in keeping with Khomeini’s vision, let alone the vision of Islam as embodied by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Wall Street Journal Coverage of America to Zanzibar
Here is a Wall Street Journal article on the exhibit America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far, at The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, for which I was the lead academic advisor. Alas, the piece is behind a paywall. The show is the fourth in the Upper West Side museum's Global Cultural Exhibition Series, intended — as the name suggests — to create global citizens. And I can attest, from both observation and ancient personal experience, that the best way to broaden horizons isn't by lecturing kids about being better people but by letting them climb into, over and through things.…
3 thoughts on “Power and Trust (or lack thereof)”
Comments are closed.
Sam, I feel the same way. The whole thing–what’s happening ‘over there,’ what’s happening right here, is so bad, so upsetting, that it’s actually giving me nightmares (and daymares). It’s so bad that it’s surreal. Unfortunately, it is all too real.
As far as accountability to divine judgment–that’s a big part of the problem. The Suits in DC really believe that “God is on their side.” They think they’re on some kind of divinely-ordained mission. Have you viewed the clip of Ashcroft singing that song in Charlotte, a song that he wrote himself? (“Let the Eagle fly”). I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or scream. Jake (my husband) has a link on it on his blog from last week or the week before. The song has all the hallmarks of a hymn to a new crusade.
I feel like I’m a character in a dystopian B-movie. And it’s not even a very good B-movie.
Thanks Demi, I had not heard about the song. And now, I’m sorry to say that I have. It’s definitely worthy of note. For those of you who haven’t heard it. It seems that it’s not being that well received by his staff. There seems to be a musical tribute of sorts to Ashcroft’s influence on the web as well. I liked that site much more than his singing.
I’m not sure what to say to that. While it does have some Christian undertones, it’s not as blatant as I would have expected from Ashcroft. I don’t know if you can write a patriotic song in this day and age with specific religious references, and perhaps that’s why he’s left out some of the imagery. However, the song is just uninspiring. As much as I disliked “The Angry American,” it was emotive. This song just leaves me feeling empty.
On the post: It does seem that power is entrusted to people, and that is quickly forgotten. This viewpoint sits well with the Muslim notion of amaana, or the Divine trust humanity was given to care for. Different commentators view the meaning of this trust differently, for example the earth as trust, or intellect as trust. We suffer because we have forgotten that that trust Divine, and it is our ignorance that is our downfall.