Reflection

Been having some information overload on what’s going on with Islam and Jihad. Yes, I think war is imminent. Yes, I think we should fight Islamofascism with every fiber of our being and with every strength we have. Yet there is something I read somewhere, on some remote blog, perhaps, that has stuck in my mind.

That something came as a result of reading two Muslim youths’ comments in response to someone’s angry post towards Islamic terrorism and encroachment. Both wrote asking why they should accept Western values and traditions when the West has been producing so many disturbing trends and products. Glorification of sex, adultery, drugs, lurid music and film, women who have no modesty in their dress, pornography, homosexual marriage, disturbing images in art, amoral trends in science… they both criticized these things, and an amazing thing happened: I found myself agreeing with them.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not want to live under Sharia. I don’t want some imam or mufti (such a deceptively innocent sounding word, “mufti”) telling me what I can and cannot read or watch or say. Yet I can’t help but contemplate about us. About the West. To look at ourselves with some scrutiny, a “gimlet eye“…

We do put out a lot of crap. Sheer garbage. Just look at the nearest multiplex cinema and see what’s playing:

Jackass Number Two. The Black Dahlia. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Anything with Rob Schneider in it. It’s rather embarrassing.

And what about the filth on television? Desperate Housewives, Sex and the City… hardly wholesome.

If you stand in line at the supermarket you will see dozens of magazines dedicated to extending one‘s life, how to get and keep a man, how to look young and sexy, and other mindless hedonistic drivel. It’s not impressive.

Abortion, cloning, euthanasia - the use of science without ethical or moral considerations - dominates our public debate heatedly. Why? Because there is disturbance of conscience there.

It’s true. There is a lot in American society and culture which warrants self reflection and improvement. If we cannot enforce a ban or censure what we create, then we ought to stop supporting it. I have friends who go to movies regularly. If there is junk playing they go see it. Occasionally they see good films too. That that kind of habit breeds a mindless lack of discrimination. Soon one becomes inured to offensive or lowbrow entertainment and it becomes part of everyday life. It’s like junk food.

If we all stopped buying that Cosmo magazine or stopped watching soap operas they will go away. That’s one of the beautiful things about capitalism.

Those two Muslim fellows were right. There are seriously objectionable things about the West’s lifestyle and it would do us well to take an internal look at ourselves while we battle with the enemy. If only they could do the same…