What's in a name?

Submitted by Mark (Australia), May 2, 2007 at 00:38

In the end, who cares what we all believe the word Jihad means or what the true definition is? The argument of whether the word is being correctly used has concealed the true issue - and that's the whole point of it, to hide behind a name, created to justify a potentially unjust cause. Whether its justified or not depends on the actions, not the label. What's the actual problem here?

We have a problem because these people are threatening our security. Well I personally think we threatened their security a bit when we bombed them in the name of finding osama, to get rid of weapons we never found, to steal some oil, etc. The war on terror, another word used to conceal an unjustified act.

We have a problem because these people killed many innocent civilians on September 11, and it could happen again - well I'm pretty sure the tally we've racked up in the Middle East is far, far greater than the number killed on 9-11.

We have a problem because their reasons are unjustified but ours aren't. Okay, well personally, I'm pretty sure the goverments run out of excuses that educated people can believe - I think we all know by now its about power... and money. I know its extremely hard to justify an act which involves your own people being hurt, but I think the age old concept of 'putting ourselves in their shoes' could help.

If for years we were under the power of a superpower who could at any point come into our country and kill our neighbours, without anyone in the world showing any signs of protest... we would feel like we want to change this. we'ld start by rallying, by writing letters, by peaceful methods... once we'ld exhausted this and realised that our people are dying and no one really cares because its almost the norm in the middle east... we'ld probably form a group to try to stop it... Which is not okay, as innocent people will die, but neither is what America is doing.

I'm not saying they are all innocent victims - but neither are we. This is a war, and they're both as bad as eachother. One party tries to justify their actions by calling it a struggle, or jihad and one calls it the 'war on terror' - both are just ways of making the killing of innocents seem justified, when really, it's not.

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