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October 16,
2001
A Patriotic Jihad Against Ignorance
By Moji Agha
Hostile actions against the Taliban's
"sacred" terror are unfolding. I dedicate these words
of reflection to true patriotism, to true peace.
I pray to sacredness that all
hostile actions on our tiny globe bring about conditions that
prevent hatred and violence in the first place. May terror and
violence, in all forms, disappear.
The other day I checked my
mail. One envelope was addressed to "Mo Jiagha." Used
to seeing my "foreign" name mangled, I smiled. After
all, the contents of my heart are more important.
But, after Sept. 11, 2001,
as a "Middle Eastern-looking" man, I will forever be
suspected, in the "civilized" world, as a "carefully
blended sleeper," who at any moment may "awaken"
to terrorize "civilization."
Who cares anymore about the
idea that "all men are created equal" and that everyone
is "presumed innocent until proved guilty."
With my involuntary transformation
into "Mo Jiagha," "Mo" makes me a more sinister
"sleeper!"
On Sept. 11, I was doubly victimized
by terror. I carry the ordinary human fear of terror and the
burden of ignorant "nativist" hatred. Who is our enemy,
the terrorists or ignorance?
Vicious stereotypes of Middle
Easterners aside, I am both merciful and pragmatic. My full name:
Mojtaba Aghamohammadi.
In America, I have integrated
my native practicality with my American pragmatism.
So, like countless prior immigrants,
I, too, have compromised my identity, shortening my name to Moji
Agha, when I became a U.S. citizen in 1989.
You see, I had mercy on the
poor souls who would encounter Mojtaba Aghamohammadi in English.
Also, my pragmatic side was
tired of finding my name mangled constantly, but I had chalked
it up to the world famous American "island mentality."
But patriotism calls for asking
hard questions now: Did not the horrific unjustifiable crimes
of Sept. 11 afflict our country because we have long been "sleepers,"
in our "invulnerable" personal islands of insularity?
Who is our real enemy?
I say ignorance is our enemy.
To those "patriotic" Americans who seek to "restore"
their "innocence" and "invulnerability" by
vengeful attempts at "isolating" the evils of the world
in "Middle Eastern-looking sleepers," I say that such
blind scapegoating and projection of internal shadows will only
rob yourselves of true peace.
As the Israelis under Ariel
Sharon have found in the past 12 months, security cannot be built
on the back of tribalistic oppression.
Real security, real justice
and real liberty are deeply interwoven.
Look deeply: The Taliban-like
"patriotism" that killed the Sikh man in Mesa not long
ago also resulted in the tragedy of Sept. 11.
These are different forms of
"patriotism" with a common essence: profound ignorance
and profound suffering, two sides of the same destructive coin
on our fragile globe.
There is no foundational difference
between the Taliban ignorance of the likes of Osama bin Laden
and the ignorance of those Americans who still cannot find Afghanistan
on a map, but now consider people who look like me to be dangerous.
We humans, regardless of citizenship,
need to look for our enemy no further than the dark cave in our
own selfish hearts.
Our "evil, uncivilized
enemy" does not live in some cave in Afghanistan.
Our enemy is here; it's called
indifferent ignorance.
Today, 2 billion to 3 billion
people live on less than $2 a day. Our planet cannot afford to
continue "living" with one-fifth of its human inhabitants
rich, two-fifths in abject poverty and another two-fifths struggling
hard for a tolerable life.
This is the kind of cage that
inevitably breeds terrorists.
I ask my fellow "civilized"
citizens to stop attacking your Middle Eastern-looking neighbor
with your stares, thoughts, emotions, words, hands, guns, etc.
Cherish such neighbors. They are not evil, enemy sleepers.
Overcome your ignorance, and
they will provide you with opportunities to practice true American
patriotism.
Show respectful interest in
their experience of the American foreign policy in the past century.
Be not arrogant.
When appropriate, apologize
to them for neglecting, through your ignorance, to check the
power that you naively entrusted to your leaders because much
wrong was done in the world on your behalf. Be patriotic: caring,
humble.
Stop filling your head with
Jerry Springer and other trash. Consume only what you need. It
is not "patriotic" to "boost your country's economy"
by consuming what you do not need.
Kill your real enemy. Pay attention
to what is really important. Stop politicizing, desecrating your
noble flag, wrap yourself in it not.
Educate yourself, then teach
your Middle Eastern-looking neighbor the profound wisdom of the
American Constitution - the blessed gift of your young civilization
to humanity.
Most likely, this "sleeper"
is a patriotic soul, placed in your path to awaken you from your
Earth-destructive "island mentality."
Buy a map. Thank him or her
for making your civilization even more unique by bringing you
the enriching gems of diversity.
Celebrate your common humanity
with him or her, in the fragile bosom of your common mother,
the planet. Take care of her--she is quite ill. CP
Moji Agha is an Iranian-American visiting scholar
at the University of Arizona Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
A teacher/practitioner of cross-cultural communication and conflict
resolution, he is a member of faculty at the University of Phoenix.
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