Skip to main content

Fight Ignorance, not Islam

Here we go again. Killing Mali tribesmen to prevent them creating safe-havens for Al Qaeda - all dressed up as defending villagers from the imposition of Sharia law - as if we cared. Easy to get involved, difficult to withdraw - and leaving what? Countless fathers and brothers grateful to you for killing their sons and relatives? Genius chum-making tactics. Let's get rid of a hornets' nest by kicking it. They'll be ever-so grateful - especially the bit where we say "Right, we've got rid of all the baddies, so we're off. Now here's a piece of paper for something called voting which means you'll get them back shortly when you can't find a bunch of blokes prepared to abandon their tribal demands and work out how to build a country not driven by corruption, greed and ignorance. Cheerio then, and thanks for the oil."

So assuming it is a good idea to stop fanatics becoming jihadists, but that shooting them is not such a good idea, what should we be doing to a) prevent them wanting to hurt us or at least harbour people who want to do that, and b) improve their lives so they don't turn in desperation to their religious leaders for solutions to problems caused by poverty and ignorance.

Instead of killing a bunch of guys (and anyone standing near them when the drones strike) whose minds are crammed with fairytale bollocks which they're prepared to die for, and which were in turn rammed in there by equally bollocks-crammed mullahs who believe they're defending the word of their prophet/god, why don't we give them something they will value more than their guns and irrational trust in fairy tales? How about a future for their children? So lets use the money we would have spent in killing them, to educate their kids. The cunning plan is to pop things into their heads which will encourage them to think: "Wait a minute. Mr Mullah says this is the right answer. But Mr Einstein has worked out he might be wrong.... Hmm. Is it remotely possible that books written hundreds of years ago by people who thought they knew the answers to life's mysteries, would be different if written today? And is Mr Mullah right about not letting my sister go to school? And what's wrong with music anyway? Miserable beardie. I'm going to think for myself in future. Why should I die for what he believes. I'd rather live for what I now believe. Perhaps being an infidel is not the evil that our self-protecting beardies demand we believe."

But simply saying here's a book about biology or here's a YouTube video that will explain Higgs Bosons is clearly not the way to start the process. They have had generations of parents and tribal 'elders' spouting on about what's 'true' and what's therefore not. How do we open up their minds to the possibility that perhaps those authorities - the only ones they've ever had ... ever - just maybe don't know very much about how the world works? How can we do this without infuriating them and claiming that we're destroying their culture while trying to impose our own? How do we encourage them to re-assess many of their values in the light of scientific evidence that previously simply didn't exist?

The answer is step by step. Build trust with their parents by paying for teachers in their madrassas. By honestly teaching sciences, albeit in the context of brainwashing religious schools, we can at least provide children with sparks of rational thinking that we can only hope will light fires of enquiry and questioning as well as a passion for learning how to think for themselves and not grope for answers in antiquated anachronistic texts served up by brainwashed beardies.

So if you agree that educating their children is the most valuable ambition we can have. Then shouldn't we be beating swords into internet terminals (so they can learn how to make their own ploughshares?!) and teachers? In other words spend less on bombs and drones etc, and more on educating Jonny foreigner's kids. Not only will we slowly wean them off the teat of ignorance, we'll also be building friendly relationships for generations to come. Beats trying to bludgeon deep-rooted ideas into submission, and in the process cementing them in place.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Phillips screws - yes I'm angry about them too

Don't get me wrong. They're a brilliant invention to assist automation and prevent screwdrivers from slipping off screw heads - damaging furniture, paintwork and fingers in the process. Interestingly they weren't invented by Mr Phillips at all, but by a John P Thompson who sold Mr P the idea after failing to commercialise it. Mr P, on the otherhand, quickly succeeded where Mr T had failed. Incredible isn't it. You don't just need a good idea, you need a great salesman and, more importantly, perfect timing to make a success out of something new. Actually, it would seem, he did two clever things (apart from buying the rights). He gave the invention to GM to trial. No-brainer #1. After it was adopted by the great GM, instead of trying to become their sole supplier of Phillips screws, he sold licenses to every other screw manufacturer in the world. A little of a lot is worth a great deal more than a lot of a little + vulnerability (watch out Apple!). My gromble is abo

Introducing Product Relationship Management - it's what customers want.

Most businesses these days have Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems which store and process vasts amounts of information about us. They use this information to generate communications, amongst other things, which target us to buy their products and services. CRM is all about how a business relates to its customers: Past (keeping them loyal through aftersales and service), Present (helping them buy through bricks and clicks channels) and Future (prospecting). Most businesses will at some stage have declared themselves 'customer-centric'. They will probably have drawn diagrams on whiteboards that look something like these: But there's a problem with this whole approach of keeping the customer at the centre of your world and the focal point for everything you do. Is it what the customer wants ? Of course companies who ignore their customers eventually go out of business. And those who treat their customers well, tend to thrive. But is it really in the best inte

The Secrets of Hacker Golf

Social media is awash with professional golfers selling video training courses to help you perfect your swing, gain 50 yards on your drive and cut your handicap. They might help a few desperate souls, but the rest of us hackers already know everything we need to complete a round of golf without worrying the handicap committee or appearing on a competition winner's list. What those pros don't realise is that for us hacking golfers who very occasionally hit shots that if you hadn't seen how they were hit, end up where the pros might have put them, we already know everything we need to know - and more. Unlike pros who know how to time the perfect swing in order to caress a ball 350 yards down the centre of a fairway, we hackers need to assemble a far wider set of skills and know-how to complete 18 holes, about which pros have no comprehension, need, or desire to learn. Here are some of them: Never select your shot until after you've hit it. A variation on this is to alway