My Name is Khan
All Americans should watch this movie. Really. I saw it this weekend and loved it. Shahrukh Khan plays a character that has Asberger's Sydrome who falls in love with a single mom, Mandira. Their love is unconventional, but very sweet. The focus is the love story, but there is the back-drop of 9/11 which happens in the middle of the film and changes their lives forever. Many of us have never considered that innocent Muslims who live in America were also victims of 9/11.
Watching this movie has made me more sensitive to some unpleasant things that are going on currently. Two stand out to me: (I already had these thoughts before seeing the movie--it just made me think more about them.)
1. People are freaking out and trying to prevent a mosque from being built down the street from the ground zero. Not AT ground zero, mind you; but down the street. (Also, there is another mosque that already exists that is even closer to the site which nobody mentions.)
2. Right-wing media idiots are trying to organize "parties" where people burn copies of the Qur'an.
Reasons why we should not prevent a mosque from being built at that site in NY:
1. It's not AT Ground zero. It's down the street.
2. It will not be for "the enemy". This mosque will be built for AMERICANS who have the misfortune of having the same religion as some very bad men.
3. This idea that Islam is synonymous with terrorism is dangerous thinking and just isn't true. I have heard people say that Islam is a violent religion and it's something in the religion that promotes bombings, etc. Well, what about the Northern Irish terrorists who bombed London all those years? We never said "ooh. Let's prevent a church from being built anywhere near any of the bomb sites", did we? Also, Timothy McVeigh was Christian. Did we knock down churches in the area? What about all the Catholic priests who molest boys? Is there something in Catholicism that promotes that? Of course not! There are bad people in the world, and they can be of any religion. Also, no matter what the religion, there are people who will use the ideology to justify bad behavior. Let's not condemn whole religions here. Especially in the land that was founded on freedom of religion!
4. Let us not forget that there were innocent Muslims who died in the Twin Towers along with everyone else.
5. Yes, the Muslims have "jihad". Well, Christians have "crusades". Isn't that pretty much the same thing? Killing people who don't conform to your beliefs? The crusades were really bloody, horrible battles. All done by Christians in a far away land. The people of that land still associate the word "crusade" with some awful, awful events.
6. I know Christians today who think it's okay to break the "thou shalt not kill" commandment to go abroad and kill Muslims. We can go over an kill them, yet they cannot have a peaceful place of worship? Doesn't this strike you as insane?
7. Whatever happened to "turn the other cheek" and "love thine enemy"?
Reasons why we should not have mass public burnings of the Qur'an:
1. First of all, what would it accomplish? Really!
2. We didn't burn bibles everytime an IRA bombing occured in London; nor did we burn bibles when over the Oklahoma City bombing. Why start burning books now? I think this whole thing is racism in disguise.
3. It's only going to make the bad guys hate us even more. (and by "bad guys" I mean Islamic terrorists. Not ALL muslims!)
All Americans should watch this movie. Really. I saw it this weekend and loved it. Shahrukh Khan plays a character that has Asberger's Sydrome who falls in love with a single mom, Mandira. Their love is unconventional, but very sweet. The focus is the love story, but there is the back-drop of 9/11 which happens in the middle of the film and changes their lives forever. Many of us have never considered that innocent Muslims who live in America were also victims of 9/11.
Watching this movie has made me more sensitive to some unpleasant things that are going on currently. Two stand out to me: (I already had these thoughts before seeing the movie--it just made me think more about them.)
1. People are freaking out and trying to prevent a mosque from being built down the street from the ground zero. Not AT ground zero, mind you; but down the street. (Also, there is another mosque that already exists that is even closer to the site which nobody mentions.)
2. Right-wing media idiots are trying to organize "parties" where people burn copies of the Qur'an.
Reasons why we should not prevent a mosque from being built at that site in NY:
1. It's not AT Ground zero. It's down the street.
2. It will not be for "the enemy". This mosque will be built for AMERICANS who have the misfortune of having the same religion as some very bad men.
3. This idea that Islam is synonymous with terrorism is dangerous thinking and just isn't true. I have heard people say that Islam is a violent religion and it's something in the religion that promotes bombings, etc. Well, what about the Northern Irish terrorists who bombed London all those years? We never said "ooh. Let's prevent a church from being built anywhere near any of the bomb sites", did we? Also, Timothy McVeigh was Christian. Did we knock down churches in the area? What about all the Catholic priests who molest boys? Is there something in Catholicism that promotes that? Of course not! There are bad people in the world, and they can be of any religion. Also, no matter what the religion, there are people who will use the ideology to justify bad behavior. Let's not condemn whole religions here. Especially in the land that was founded on freedom of religion!
4. Let us not forget that there were innocent Muslims who died in the Twin Towers along with everyone else.
5. Yes, the Muslims have "jihad". Well, Christians have "crusades". Isn't that pretty much the same thing? Killing people who don't conform to your beliefs? The crusades were really bloody, horrible battles. All done by Christians in a far away land. The people of that land still associate the word "crusade" with some awful, awful events.
6. I know Christians today who think it's okay to break the "thou shalt not kill" commandment to go abroad and kill Muslims. We can go over an kill them, yet they cannot have a peaceful place of worship? Doesn't this strike you as insane?
7. Whatever happened to "turn the other cheek" and "love thine enemy"?
Reasons why we should not have mass public burnings of the Qur'an:
1. First of all, what would it accomplish? Really!
2. We didn't burn bibles everytime an IRA bombing occured in London; nor did we burn bibles when over the Oklahoma City bombing. Why start burning books now? I think this whole thing is racism in disguise.
3. It's only going to make the bad guys hate us even more. (and by "bad guys" I mean Islamic terrorists. Not ALL muslims!)
