About a year ago, I decided that I had enough of reading opinions and propaganda outlets, so I started a blog of my own and posted on it. It wasn't until I realized that what I wrote and saw and had feedback on had more of an effect on my outlook on things than what I read that I began to obtain a clearer state of mind that saw things for what they were and not for what I wished them to be. Apparently, I'd have lived in more of a bubble if I read more than I blogged. I guess it was because blogging itself made me actively read, as opposed to passively read, all materials and pieces of information out there that existed on the net and elsewhere, and thus it helped me process this information more and more as I actually engaged in producing feedback to what I read and came across. Perspectives do change over time, and that's guaranteed, but I never expected mine to change so drastically over a course of 365 days. Allow me, then, to reflect on how my perspectives have changed over the past few years.
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just taking a look at my archives reveals how partisan my outlook was regarding this very sensitive issue... at first. Of course, things changed over time as I realized that the solution to the conflict was not a partisan one, nor was it one that required intervention from certain external partisan parties (Hizbullah, U.S. government, et al.). Ever since the Israel-Lebanon conflict, I realized that if the Middle East is to avoid another conflagration like that, the solution can't lie militarily nor with partisan demands that expend or exploit "the other" (a term which I have come to loathe from the bottom of my heart). Instead of promulgating the conflict, I seek to end it via means of peaceful solutions that will benefit both sides of the conflict. Whether it be a two-state or a one-state solution, this is something that I will try to explore over the coming few years if not months.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, a farcical war rages on as the Coalition enters its 4th year and, hopefully not, counting. The hopes of a people are dashed as they witness their country being torn apart by a civil war that was sparked by the puppet government in power, along with the help of the Coalition, of whom George Bush Jr. and Tony Blair are at the helm. While my opposition to the war continues, I also oppose the rampant acts of Al Qaeda and the likes of the crooked Ministry of Interior, both of whom further conflagrate tensions and conflict in the region. All this for what? Oil? Democracy? Freedom? Iran (with their nutcase leader next door making a fuss out of the Zionist enemy and nuclear technology)? Please, let's just shove it aside and seek a solution to the conflict that is ripping Iraq apart, and find a way to prevent it from reaching other nations in the Middle East.
Then again, Iraq isn't the only region in trouble. We have Somalia, which has fell victim to a string of interventionist policies over the past year, particularly from neighborly nations Ethiopia and its main backer, the U.S. government. There's also Sri Lanka, which suffers from a civil war between two ethnic groups that have co-existed for centuries until political differences split them apart. We also have Sudan (Darfur, anyone?) and Indonesia, along with Egypt and many other nations in the world that continue to suffer from internal strife and external intervention (i.e. conflict). The moment I realized that there is much more to the world than the Middle East, I blurred my culture-centric boundaries to look at the outside world a bit more, with a sense of both openness and understanding, as these issues affect us all whether we know it or not. They're people issues, and are issues that could well have been avoided should we disembark from the political ship that continues to travel in stormy waters.
The political scope of things also became meaningless over time. Politics itself is a field full of corruption, greed and selfish agendas ready to be carried out by blind partisans everywhere. This is why I grow more distrustful of government and more loathesome of politics, and why my views shifted from moderate libertarian to radical libertarian (my economic views, however, remain centrist). The way government works to suppress the individual comes in many ways, using abberrant theories in Biology, Psychology and Sociology. We understand an individual by looking first at his state of health and genetic composition; from there, we infer his psyche; only after that do we take a look at how society shaped the individual and how the individual can control or shape society. Government only seeks to use racist, denigratory, stratifying, and manipulative theories to justify its agendas and state of power. Limiting government and releasing the individual so he may express himself/herself to the fullest legitimate capacity is only hopeful should a bright future be assured for the world over.
Let's take a look at one final topic that I have covered over the course of this year: religion, particularly Islam. Granted, my faith was blind, but if it was, it isn't so blind now as it is questioning. My stray from fanaticism taught me that if I love my religion, I should be able to question it and seek more knowledge about it. That way, I have more control over my actions and my rites in worship or wherever. I refuse, now, to follow a certain rite without questioning its significance or its use to us Muslims. While my questionings did indeed turn out for the better (i.e. towards Islam's favor and not further skepticism), I will not turn into a blind fanatic. And speaking of which, it took me long to realize that I am indeed not God to judge people (nor is the government), and that I have no power over people or what they believe in (see previous parantheses), because as a Muslim, I should respect other people's beliefs even if they don't agree with mine, and even then, there is, I have found, a degree of truth in all religions. I only chose Islam because, to me, it is a good way of life.
Well, that's all I have to reflect on. I can't promise to be a more dedicated blogger, as I have a life to live for, but I will continue to blog and bring to you my opinion. It will be a less politically charged, more spiritual, more open, and hopefully a more sensible one than what you might have seen way earlier on this year.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go celebrate this blog's first anniversary :)
Salaam, from Saracen
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just taking a look at my archives reveals how partisan my outlook was regarding this very sensitive issue... at first. Of course, things changed over time as I realized that the solution to the conflict was not a partisan one, nor was it one that required intervention from certain external partisan parties (Hizbullah, U.S. government, et al.). Ever since the Israel-Lebanon conflict, I realized that if the Middle East is to avoid another conflagration like that, the solution can't lie militarily nor with partisan demands that expend or exploit "the other" (a term which I have come to loathe from the bottom of my heart). Instead of promulgating the conflict, I seek to end it via means of peaceful solutions that will benefit both sides of the conflict. Whether it be a two-state or a one-state solution, this is something that I will try to explore over the coming few years if not months.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, a farcical war rages on as the Coalition enters its 4th year and, hopefully not, counting. The hopes of a people are dashed as they witness their country being torn apart by a civil war that was sparked by the puppet government in power, along with the help of the Coalition, of whom George Bush Jr. and Tony Blair are at the helm. While my opposition to the war continues, I also oppose the rampant acts of Al Qaeda and the likes of the crooked Ministry of Interior, both of whom further conflagrate tensions and conflict in the region. All this for what? Oil? Democracy? Freedom? Iran (with their nutcase leader next door making a fuss out of the Zionist enemy and nuclear technology)? Please, let's just shove it aside and seek a solution to the conflict that is ripping Iraq apart, and find a way to prevent it from reaching other nations in the Middle East.
Then again, Iraq isn't the only region in trouble. We have Somalia, which has fell victim to a string of interventionist policies over the past year, particularly from neighborly nations Ethiopia and its main backer, the U.S. government. There's also Sri Lanka, which suffers from a civil war between two ethnic groups that have co-existed for centuries until political differences split them apart. We also have Sudan (Darfur, anyone?) and Indonesia, along with Egypt and many other nations in the world that continue to suffer from internal strife and external intervention (i.e. conflict). The moment I realized that there is much more to the world than the Middle East, I blurred my culture-centric boundaries to look at the outside world a bit more, with a sense of both openness and understanding, as these issues affect us all whether we know it or not. They're people issues, and are issues that could well have been avoided should we disembark from the political ship that continues to travel in stormy waters.
The political scope of things also became meaningless over time. Politics itself is a field full of corruption, greed and selfish agendas ready to be carried out by blind partisans everywhere. This is why I grow more distrustful of government and more loathesome of politics, and why my views shifted from moderate libertarian to radical libertarian (my economic views, however, remain centrist). The way government works to suppress the individual comes in many ways, using abberrant theories in Biology, Psychology and Sociology. We understand an individual by looking first at his state of health and genetic composition; from there, we infer his psyche; only after that do we take a look at how society shaped the individual and how the individual can control or shape society. Government only seeks to use racist, denigratory, stratifying, and manipulative theories to justify its agendas and state of power. Limiting government and releasing the individual so he may express himself/herself to the fullest legitimate capacity is only hopeful should a bright future be assured for the world over.
Let's take a look at one final topic that I have covered over the course of this year: religion, particularly Islam. Granted, my faith was blind, but if it was, it isn't so blind now as it is questioning. My stray from fanaticism taught me that if I love my religion, I should be able to question it and seek more knowledge about it. That way, I have more control over my actions and my rites in worship or wherever. I refuse, now, to follow a certain rite without questioning its significance or its use to us Muslims. While my questionings did indeed turn out for the better (i.e. towards Islam's favor and not further skepticism), I will not turn into a blind fanatic. And speaking of which, it took me long to realize that I am indeed not God to judge people (nor is the government), and that I have no power over people or what they believe in (see previous parantheses), because as a Muslim, I should respect other people's beliefs even if they don't agree with mine, and even then, there is, I have found, a degree of truth in all religions. I only chose Islam because, to me, it is a good way of life.
Well, that's all I have to reflect on. I can't promise to be a more dedicated blogger, as I have a life to live for, but I will continue to blog and bring to you my opinion. It will be a less politically charged, more spiritual, more open, and hopefully a more sensible one than what you might have seen way earlier on this year.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go celebrate this blog's first anniversary :)
Salaam, from Saracen
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