Village of the Damned

Fear

The Only Thing to Fear, Is Fear Itself

One of the differences in mentality between liberals and conservatives I see all the time is that liberals operate out of fear, while conservatives operate out of conviction. Liberals are always worried that someone won't like us, so they want to avoid offending people. This includes the bad guys, like terrorists. They don't want to offend them. They don't want to make them angry. Who knows what they would do to us if they got upset?

One of the problems with this basic stance of theirs is that, while it is morally wrong, it is often correct in terms of reality. What I mean by this is that people do really hate us when we stand up for ourselves.



The same goes for Israel. This, in my opinion, should never stop us nor Israel from doing the right things, but it does add fuel to the fires that liberals create with their propaganda.

Case in point: I found this very interesting article in the BBC News about a village of Saddam Hussein's.

He's Everywhere, He's Everywhere

India's 'Saddam Hussein' village: By Amarnath Tewary, BBC News, Lakhanow village, Bihar.

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It is a typical nondescript village - like many others - in the northern Indian state of Bihar.

It consists of unplastered brick houses, dusty lanes, thatched structures and dirt-laden children with no shoes and running noses.

There appears to be little running water or other infrastructure.

But there is one thing about the village of Lakhanow - and other settlements in the area - that makes them strikingly different.

Sunni Muslims

Ejaj Alam - a small-time civil contractor in his mid-30s - provides the answer: he has decided to re-name his three-year-old son. Instead of being called Majhar Alam, Mr. Alam has opted to call the boy Saddam Hussein in honour of the former Iraqi leader who was executed on 30 December.

"God willing, one day our village will be full of Saddam Hussein's," says Ejaj Alam.

Stalin's and Lenin's in India

What is more, the child will not be the only Saddam Hussein in the neighborhood. There are more than 20 other Saddam Hussein's in Lakhanow alone. Local people say there are more than 100 Saddam Hussein's in 27 adjoining villages dominated by mostly Sunni Muslims. There is even a family with one son called Saddam Hussein and a younger sibling called Osama Bin Laden.

And, now after the recent high profile and much photographed execution of the Iraqi leader, the villagers of Lakhanow have decided to name all the newborn baby boys after him.

"George Bush can hang one Saddam Hussein but we will create an army of Saddam Hussein's. Let him come to our village and see how Saddam Hussein can never be executed," local leader Ayub Khan said.

There is no talk here of the former Iraqi leader's appalling human rights record, no mention of the people he murdered and no references to his numerous "miscalculations". All that is brushed aside by the Saddam Hussein personality cult.

Close to the village is the only private school, Dini Academy, where almost 100 Saddam Hussein's come to read, write and know more about the former Iraqi leader.

"It was during the Gulf War we came to know about the bravery and valour of the Iraqi president who mustered courage to defy American diktats," Mr Nizamuddin said.

On the day of the execution, all the Saddam Hussein's of the area congregated in the village mosque to pray for his soul.

Then they staged a procession and burnt effigies of George Bush.

But there is one problem in having so many Saddam Hussein's, says villager Mohammed Hassan Abbas.

"In the playground we have Saddam Hussein running after Saddam Hussein, behind Saddam Hussein who is ahead of Saddam Hussein but too far from Saddam Hussein... it can all get a little confusing," he said.

Clash of Civilizations

This is an example of the fact that we are truly engaged in a clash of civilizations. The mentality in some parts of the world is so alien to our Western civilization as to seem like it comes from Mars or Pluto, or from a not-so-parallel universe.

One thing that stands out is that they, as opposed to Western countries, are heavily into groupthink. They dress, act, and talk alike; believe en masse in the same things; and speak with one voice about such things as hatred for America. When they get in a group, they chant in unison and display universal hatred for the demons of the West.

Dealing with Other Cultures

I despise cultures like this, as they seem so inhuman to me, and as I admire the individuality of the Western persona.

Still, these kinds of cultures abound, and I, and we, must deal with them. Hatred, I know, is not the answer. Neither, though, is fear. I don't think it is moral or courageous for us to be afraid of them, and so avoid doing what we must do in the world. Regardless of whose feelings get hurt, we must defeat the Saddam Hussein's of the world.

On the other hand, I think we in the West do make a mistake when we don't at least try to understand these cultures.

Cultural Naiveté

One of our problems in countries like Iraq is that we are culturally naïve. We don't understand their system of tribal leadership and so on. So any war effort is doomed to fail, because we don't really have a feel for how things work there. It seems like we did a better job with this in Afghanistan.

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We Must Reach Out

One of the liberal fears is that we are creating more terrorists than we are killing. I say, so what? As long as we are doing the right things, I don't care.

I do care, though, that we, in addition to waging our just war, reach out to these other cultures and try and make friends. We need, in my opinion, to talk to them, create a dialogue with their leaders, and, without kowtowing to their demands, show them respect as human beings.

I don't think we can prevent villages of Saddam Hussein's from sprouting up here and there. I do think, though, that we can do like the terrorists do to gain favor. Like the PLO, Hamas, and Hezbollah do—we can extend the hand of friendship; we can build roads and schools; donate medicines and foods; and provide schoolbooks, with text that doesn't proclaim George Bush and America as the Great Satans.

Rock

(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)


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