Green Energy
Anyone who’s read my blog knows I’m a mad Simpsons fan. An episode from last year looked into the future when Bart and Lisa are in high school. Bart works at the Kwik-e Mart.
That joke came to mind when I heard about Muriel Degauque, “Europe’s First Woman Suicide Bomber” and to my knowledge the “First Ethnic-European Suicide Bomber”. Two dubious achievements for a twice married 38 year-old Belgian.
Muriel may have been the first Western, ethnically European Muslim convert suicide bomber but she will not be the last. In a few years this will have become so common we will no longer keep count.
We were all shocked by the filmed beheading of Daniel Pearl 4 years ago. Now beheading videos don't even make headlines. Who among us even knows how many Westerners have been beheaded by jihadists? What was once stunning and noteworthy passes into routine. Evil becomes cliché.
I fear this pattern of taboo-once-broken-becomes-commonplace will continue. Today an unspeakable horror is front page news. Next year that same horror is mundane, a paragraph on page A12 next to a truck ad.
What shocks you (nerve gas? mass rape? child terrorists? cannibalism?) Imagine something so terrible it could never become 'standard', could never become an expected event. Now try to prepare yourself psychologically for its occurrence and re-occurrence. Again and again, each atrocity blurring into the next until they are simply features of the world. Like traffic. Or bad weather. Or eternal midnight.
- The Glory Of Service To Allah: Taliban Commanders Gang Rape Suicide Bomber Before Sending Him On His Mission
From Khaama: National Directorate of Security (NDS) – Afghanistan’s intelligence agency – has arrested a would-be suicide bomber who says he was gang-raped by Taliban commanders before sending him out for a suicide attack. A statement issued...
- Monty Python's Michael Palin Scared To Make Fun Of Islam
Comedians in the free world will make fun of anything, right? Well, not quite. The following was originally published on Answering Muslims: Trey Parker and Matt Stone received death threats after announcing that Muhammad would be appearing on an episode...
- I Find This Hard To Believe
Recently, Iran announced they were banning the Simpsons as unacceptable western culture under their sharia-based policies. Strangely, the same article says: According to Shargh, an independent newspaper, the Simpsons were banned to avoid the promotion...
- Why Eurppean Women Are Converting To Islam
From the Christian Science Monitor: When Mary Fallot converted, her surprised co-workers asked if she had a Muslim boyfriend. Actually, she explained, she was drawn to Islam by the answers it provided. PARIS – Mary Fallot looks as unlike a terrorist...
- Cartoon Virgins - Those Were The Days!
Well, things certainly have changed since this post first came out in early December of 2005. We were all innocent Cartoon Virgins back then! But just like Madonna, there is no going back now!! ;) Can you believe this has only been going on for 3 months?...
Green Energy
Ordinary Everyday Atrocities
Anyone who’s read my blog knows I’m a mad Simpsons fan. An episode from last year looked into the future when Bart and Lisa are in high school. Bart works at the Kwik-e Mart.
Apu: "I need you to make a delivery to an elderly shut in but to get there you must go through the Forbidden Zone!" [He waves his fingers in a “scary” motion.]The joke is that something frightening and horrible, the Forbidden Zone, has become so ordinary that not only are there several different Forbidden Zones but Bart is unsurprised, unimpressed, and unafraid. Indeed, life has gone on as before. What were once horrors have become mere inconveniences, like potholes.
Bart: "Yeah yeah, which one: radioactive, smallpox, eternal midnight?"
That joke came to mind when I heard about Muriel Degauque, “Europe’s First Woman Suicide Bomber” and to my knowledge the “First Ethnic-European Suicide Bomber”. Two dubious achievements for a twice married 38 year-old Belgian.
Muriel may have been the first Western, ethnically European Muslim convert suicide bomber but she will not be the last. In a few years this will have become so common we will no longer keep count.
We were all shocked by the filmed beheading of Daniel Pearl 4 years ago. Now beheading videos don't even make headlines. Who among us even knows how many Westerners have been beheaded by jihadists? What was once stunning and noteworthy passes into routine. Evil becomes cliché.
I fear this pattern of taboo-once-broken-becomes-commonplace will continue. Today an unspeakable horror is front page news. Next year that same horror is mundane, a paragraph on page A12 next to a truck ad.
What shocks you (nerve gas? mass rape? child terrorists? cannibalism?) Imagine something so terrible it could never become 'standard', could never become an expected event. Now try to prepare yourself psychologically for its occurrence and re-occurrence. Again and again, each atrocity blurring into the next until they are simply features of the world. Like traffic. Or bad weather. Or eternal midnight.
- The Glory Of Service To Allah: Taliban Commanders Gang Rape Suicide Bomber Before Sending Him On His Mission
From Khaama: National Directorate of Security (NDS) – Afghanistan’s intelligence agency – has arrested a would-be suicide bomber who says he was gang-raped by Taliban commanders before sending him out for a suicide attack. A statement issued...
- Monty Python's Michael Palin Scared To Make Fun Of Islam
Comedians in the free world will make fun of anything, right? Well, not quite. The following was originally published on Answering Muslims: Trey Parker and Matt Stone received death threats after announcing that Muhammad would be appearing on an episode...
- I Find This Hard To Believe
Recently, Iran announced they were banning the Simpsons as unacceptable western culture under their sharia-based policies. Strangely, the same article says: According to Shargh, an independent newspaper, the Simpsons were banned to avoid the promotion...
- Why Eurppean Women Are Converting To Islam
From the Christian Science Monitor: When Mary Fallot converted, her surprised co-workers asked if she had a Muslim boyfriend. Actually, she explained, she was drawn to Islam by the answers it provided. PARIS – Mary Fallot looks as unlike a terrorist...
- Cartoon Virgins - Those Were The Days!
Well, things certainly have changed since this post first came out in early December of 2005. We were all innocent Cartoon Virgins back then! But just like Madonna, there is no going back now!! ;) Can you believe this has only been going on for 3 months?...