Mosque on 2010 political campaigns

After the ‘’Ground Zero Mosque’’ controversy emerged, it seems as if politicians care less about their people and more about winning. As a citizen, I would expect my representative to at least promise to address some of the most prominent issues.  Instead, some are coming forward with absurd campaign ads that say nothing about them and just launch ungrounded accusations toward their opponents. 

                In the case of Renee Ellmers, Republican fighting for a seat in the House of Representatives for North Carolina-2, her campaign ad focuses solely on the Ground Zero Mosque.  The advertisement techniques are very impressive.  Starting with the audio, the buzz words ‘’victory mosques’’ create a false conception of the mosque in New York as a mosque the terrorists will build as physical proof of their conquest of America.   The ad fails to provide convincing evidence that terrorists, and not peaceful Muslims, are behind the construction of the mosque. 

Second, the images in the ad are also quiet interesting.  When speaking of the Muslims’ conquests, paintings illustrating warfare come up.  There is one that caught my attention, the one showing buildings on fire, very reminiscent of the airplane crash on the Twin Towers.  Also, the ad depicts monumental Mosques, nothing like what the mosque inside the community center will be. 

The ad concludes with Ellmers saying ‘’There will never be a mosque at Ground Zero.’’  This is probably the most accurate statement in the ad, because the Mosque wouldn’t be at Ground Zero, but two blocks away from it.  According to an article from Britannica, Ellmers seemed to be far behind her opponent, Democrat Bob Etheridge, which forced her to play her nastier card.

The National GOP Trust PAC launched its own ad, calling on Americans to join them in the effort of ‘’killing the Ground Zero Mosque.’’  This is a very graphic ad, and once again, it doesn’t bother to make a distinction between Muslims and terrorists, it actually implies that the Muslims behind the project are terrorists. It portrays the mosque as ‘’a monument of their victory and an invitation for war.’’  It points fingers to the ultimate Democratic leader, President Obama, for not doing anything to stop it. 

It is evident that politicians are taking advantage of the national attention the mosque near Ground Zero has gotten.  There are numerous issues at local and federal levels that could be address, yet somehow the upcoming elections have made a NY issue the center of many political campaign ads. Politicians conveniently turn to this issue in an attempt to distract voters from personal faults or incompetency.

A slap in the Face

               

                If the net neutrality that we enjoy today is replaced with a Tier system by the internet providers, the essence of this information medium would be lost.  The internet became globally adopted and grew so rapidly because of the infinite variety of content.  It provides space for everything, from the smallest localized things, to the largest worldwide concepts, such as music.  The internet’s success can also be attributed to the convenience it provides.  For example, it outperforms libraries with its ability to make information available much faster.  Perhaps the most important thing is that the internet has become a standard tool and having access to it has gone from a commodity to a necessity.

                College students can’t live without the internet.  Not only do we use it for entertainment, to lay back after all the stress, but also to do our research and meet our obligations.  Some of us use it to access online classes or class material.  So far, this has been quiet convenient for a lot students who work and/or have children.  Therefore, any changes to the internet would affect us tremendously.

                An article from The New York Times mentions that some envision a public Internet and  a  “private one with faster lanes and expensive tolls.”  The first thing that comes to my mind, as a student who has taken an online class before, is how would that affect my classes?  I wonder whether online classes would become more expensive since UH would need to pay a fee to keep getting its content downloaded at a high speed.  I would still have the option to take a hybrid class instead. But what about those students whose only method of getting an education is via online classes?  We all know tuition is very expensive and a lot of students barely manage to cover the costs. 

                Tuition is a very sensitive issue for many students.  My guess is that it would eventually increase for everyone.  Universities provide internet services to their students, which are included in the tuition fees.  If their internet service becomes more expensive, they will pass those extra expenses to us.  

Money is not the only issue, nor the most important one.  To me the most important thing is the free flow of information.  We already have a filtered medium of information, the TV.  Even cable is filtered and has limited content and thus limited points of view.  The internet has no limits, and abandoning net neutrality would impose them for the first time.  As an article from PBS points out, if providers are going to start regulating content, not only would the speed be jeopardized, but its accessibility at all.

Changing the internet looks like a profitable idea for the Internet providers.  For the public, it looks like a slap in the face.  The internet as we have been enjoying it, would no longer be free, nor cheap, nor convenient, and perhaps not even as valuable.

               

               

What you won't hear about Sharia

A  misconception on Sharia law has been developed.  The recent debate over a community center that will have a mosque, near ground zero, has opened the space for all kind of ideas and lies. The public has been bombarded with radical examples. Opponents, who either don’t understand Sharia law  or benefit from arousing fear in the public, have been cherry picking and generalizing implementations of  Sharia law.  Some even assert that  there is a secret Muslim plan to impose Sharia law in America.  This idea is plausible to those who haven’t taken the moral responsibilty of learning about Islam, and yet prejudice their use of Sahria law.

  Religions are complex and I do not attempt to expose a thorough research on Sharia or Islam, but rather bring forth elements of Sharia law that have been marginalized by politicians, the media, and the public.  I am open to corrections.

Sharia law is an enforced guide for Muslims.  It indicates how a Muslim should carry out all aspects of his/her life, from the spiritual to the political.  It is derived from the Qur’an and the Sunna, which is a compilation of the prophet Muhammad’s life, his teachings, and his verdicts.  All Muslims abide it, however its interpretention,and consequently, its implementation varies.

While at first glance it seems as if Islam is the most united religion,a deeper look indicates that schools of Islam come to play the role of denominations, giving it a sense of disunity.  Some sources of reference, such as Wikipedia, classify schools of Islam as denominations, but scholars usually stick to the title of schools within Islam.  This might be because each school accepts the validity of the others.  One specific example is found in the article “Islam and the United States: Streams of Convergence, Strands of Divergence” by Ali A. Mazrui.  In it he makes a broad classification of Islam into three main schools, the Orthodox, Modernist, and Liberal.

Orthodox Islam is the most literal in its interpretation of the Qur’an and the most traditionalistic in general matters.  This means that in most cases those who most frequently practice the stoning of adulters and mutilation of thieves as forms of punishment, usually belong to this school. In the article its philosophy is cleverly summed up by stating that their emphasis is on a “God of Justice”(pg.810).

Modernist Islam focuses on the convergence of Islam and modern science; and rationalism.  Most theorists of the Islamisation of Knowledege are Modernist Muslims, according to the article. To them, God is a “God of Enlightment.”(pg.810)

Liberal Islam focuses on the ethical aspects of Islam.  This school consideres that Islam should be updated so that its interpretation of Sharia law fits our time.  The most extreme hudud, or physical punishments established by Sharia, should be left in the past, or reformed to be more humane.  This school also advocates for equality among the genders.  To them, “God is a God of Compassion” (pg.810)

More information on Islam and Sharia law can be found in this article from BBC News.  It is a sympathetic view of Sharia and features a British Muslim’s perspective on it, including discussion on the most controversial aspects of the law.

Even if one disagrees on any or all aspects of the religion or Sharia law, and especially if one embraces American values, respect is owed to Islam and Muslims.   A lot of people are confusing respect with approval and feel that unless hostility is used against Muslims, Sharia law will soon be implemented upon us.   Endless argumens can be made against this crazy theory some politicians deliberately disseminate.  If Muslims have a secret plan to take over the U.S. and implement Sharia law upon Americans, why are the terrorists at war with us? Why do they spend years planning their attacks, and invest  millions of dollars in their missions, when they are quietly and effortlessly already conquering the United States?!  The answer is because they are not. 

Muslims are not conquering the U.S., and they are not trying to.  Radical groups are our enemies, and the ones we should be focusing on.  Disunity within the nation makes us more vulnerable to attacks.  Ifsome  politicians and some of the media are willing to compromise the security of the nation over their respective gains, the public should refute such attitudes and come together as a nation to fight terrorism.

Iindividuals whose image of Islam is that of a barbarous entity headed by terrorists, should make a genuine effort to educate themselves on Islam and the religion’s values and purpose.