Friday, November 28, 2008
Terrorist attacks
Usually I don't care much to discuss politics on my blog. I have enough of it in my life, and I discuss politics elsewhere, so I don't see any real purpose in filling up this space with political drivel. That being said, I feel compelled to discuss the latest attacks in Mumbai.
Now, I have plenty of relatives in Mumbai; infact, most of my relatives live there. Even in Reuben's case, it's similar except that he has friends there as well. I didn't think too much of it at first, but it's not even the fact that I have relatives there that bothers me. What bothers me is that it's usually some important (either economically, or historically) landmark that's being targeted and somehow foreigners are always involved.
This time around, the terrorists were also Muslim. What bugs me is not that they're Muslim, but the fact that these cowardly attacks are probably movitated by religion. Religion in the sense that it's used primarily to indoctrinate these people and grant them ever-flowing reason to carry out these tasks. I don't think anyone would be prepared to die just to ruin the economy of a rival nation. They need more; they need solace and hope. It's this very reason that bothers me.
The terrorists were supposedly from Pakistan and I could conjecture a few reasons why they might've done it, so I will. Pakistan's situation currently is unstable at best. Their sports franchises suffer and people don't want to visit a place in turmoil. When it comes to this specific attack, why target these specific areas (the Taj Mahal hotel; the Taj Colaba; Nariman's house)?
It's insulting how when they targeted one of the hotels, in one room with 5 hostages, they came across a Turkish couple and told them they wouldn't be harmed because they were muslim. Then they took the 3 other hostages from that very same room somewhere else and killed them off because they were white. They clearly had plans to target foreigners and target places where many foreigners are constantly visiting.
I think it's primarily to show that if Pakistan isn't safe, then neither is India. Ofcourse, this is mostly conjecture. I don't even know if I can trust the plethora of news sources that are blaming Pakistan for this. Apparently a cellphone from one of the terrorists was found and the last 8 calls (5 prior and 3 subsequent to the very first attack) were made to karachi (Pakistan's largest city).
I think it's rather convenient for something like this to just "happen", so I'll keep an open mind until I hear more about it. But chances are, it's likely to be true.
I just thought I'd voice my concern for this because it's becoming more annoying as each day passes. It's been nearly 48 hours since the first attacks and it's unlikely to end shortly.
Now, I have plenty of relatives in Mumbai; infact, most of my relatives live there. Even in Reuben's case, it's similar except that he has friends there as well. I didn't think too much of it at first, but it's not even the fact that I have relatives there that bothers me. What bothers me is that it's usually some important (either economically, or historically) landmark that's being targeted and somehow foreigners are always involved.
This time around, the terrorists were also Muslim. What bugs me is not that they're Muslim, but the fact that these cowardly attacks are probably movitated by religion. Religion in the sense that it's used primarily to indoctrinate these people and grant them ever-flowing reason to carry out these tasks. I don't think anyone would be prepared to die just to ruin the economy of a rival nation. They need more; they need solace and hope. It's this very reason that bothers me.
The terrorists were supposedly from Pakistan and I could conjecture a few reasons why they might've done it, so I will. Pakistan's situation currently is unstable at best. Their sports franchises suffer and people don't want to visit a place in turmoil. When it comes to this specific attack, why target these specific areas (the Taj Mahal hotel; the Taj Colaba; Nariman's house)?
It's insulting how when they targeted one of the hotels, in one room with 5 hostages, they came across a Turkish couple and told them they wouldn't be harmed because they were muslim. Then they took the 3 other hostages from that very same room somewhere else and killed them off because they were white. They clearly had plans to target foreigners and target places where many foreigners are constantly visiting.
I think it's primarily to show that if Pakistan isn't safe, then neither is India. Ofcourse, this is mostly conjecture. I don't even know if I can trust the plethora of news sources that are blaming Pakistan for this. Apparently a cellphone from one of the terrorists was found and the last 8 calls (5 prior and 3 subsequent to the very first attack) were made to karachi (Pakistan's largest city).
I think it's rather convenient for something like this to just "happen", so I'll keep an open mind until I hear more about it. But chances are, it's likely to be true.
I just thought I'd voice my concern for this because it's becoming more annoying as each day passes. It's been nearly 48 hours since the first attacks and it's unlikely to end shortly.
Comments:
Apparently, the Terrorists in question claimed to be part of a terrorist group not heard of before. They also wanted muslim terrorist prisoners released (Mujahadeen?) from Indian jails.
It's just fucking disgusting in all. You know what, I don't know where Religion ends and power-hungriness begins. Religion is a common ruse when it comes to these things. It's easy to use religion to disguise your true intentions and manipulate people. A lot of people do it, not just the Muslims. Hell, the Christians in the US still do it.
And you're right when you say, "If Pakistan isn't safe, then neither is India." If you're a pissed of Muslim, who better to take it out on than those Hindus that pissed you off.
It's just fucking disgusting in all. You know what, I don't know where Religion ends and power-hungriness begins. Religion is a common ruse when it comes to these things. It's easy to use religion to disguise your true intentions and manipulate people. A lot of people do it, not just the Muslims. Hell, the Christians in the US still do it.
And you're right when you say, "If Pakistan isn't safe, then neither is India." If you're a pissed of Muslim, who better to take it out on than those Hindus that pissed you off.
It's essentially killing two birds with one stone - by targeting (mostly) foreigners, they are sending a message of terror to the British and Americans, and by doing so, they make sure India's tourism industry suffers for years to come. (Not to mention the Indians who were also killed during the attacks, of course.) It's sick, really. As if life isn't shitty enough as it is.
Don't really have much to say here, but it's man's insatiable thirst for power, and not Religion itself, that causes the most grief in this world. It's like how love of money is bad, but money itself is not...
Anyone know Mohsin/Irfan's view of all this? Interested to here what they have to say about all this.
Anyone know Mohsin/Irfan's view of all this? Interested to here what they have to say about all this.
I am not at at all itnerested in what Mohsin has to say about it because I already know what it will be:
"oh yeah, well what about when all those hindus destroyed that mosque because they wanted to...*insert further irrelevant bullshit to placate ego*"
As far as religion is concerned, I understand your stance on religion itself not being evil, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been used for evil since its conception. The problem is, it's really the only thing one can use to manipulate these so-called martyrs. Even though on lower-scales religion is probably used for the good more often than not; on the political scale, it's almost ALWAYS used for bad and unfortunately this is a prime example of that.
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"oh yeah, well what about when all those hindus destroyed that mosque because they wanted to...*insert further irrelevant bullshit to placate ego*"
As far as religion is concerned, I understand your stance on religion itself not being evil, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been used for evil since its conception. The problem is, it's really the only thing one can use to manipulate these so-called martyrs. Even though on lower-scales religion is probably used for the good more often than not; on the political scale, it's almost ALWAYS used for bad and unfortunately this is a prime example of that.
