There are very few articles written or words said that truly upset me. I may not like some of the references made by some prominent politicians and/or journalists, however I usually take them with a grain of salt. The below is not one of those.

History is made by people who seize the moments that circumstances offer and bend them to their purposes. When the conditions are adverse, they nurse their purposes, their dreams of freedom, dignity and power, so that when their moment arrives, they are ready to seize it, even at the cost of their lives.

On April 19, 1775, 700 British troops reached Concord, Massachusetts, to disarm the American colonists who were preparing to start an insurrection. When the British ordered them to disperse, the colonists fired back at the British soldiers. This “shot heard ‘round the world” heralded the start of an insurrection against Britain, the greatest Western power of its time. And when it ended, victorious, in 1783, the colonists had gained their objective. They had established a sovereign but slave-holding republic, the United States of America.

The colonists broke away because this was economically advantageous to their commercial and landed classes. As colonists, they were ruled by a parliament in which they were not represented, and which did not represent their interests. The colonies were not free to protect and develop their own commerce and industries. Their bid for independence was made all the more attractive because it was pressed under the banner of liberty. The colonial elites had imbibed well the lessons of the Enlightenment, and here in the new world, they had an opportunity to harness liberty in the service of their economic interests. Backed by the self interest of their landed and commercial elites, and inspired by revolutionary ideas, the colonists had a dream worth pursuing. They were prepared to die for this dream – and to kill. They did: and they won.

On September 11, 2001, nineteen Arab hijackers too demonstrated their willingness to die – and to kill – for their dream. They died so that their people might live, free and in dignity. The manner of their death – and the destruction it wreaked – is not merely a testament to the vulnerabilities that modern technology has created to clandestine attacks. After all, skyscrapers and airplanes have co-existed peacefully for many decades. The attacks of 9-11 were in many ways a work of daring and imagination too; if one can think objectively of such horrors. They were a cataclysmic summation of the history of Western depredations in the Middle East: the history of a unity dismembered, of societies manipulated by surrogates, of development derailed and disrupted, of a people dispossessed. The explosion of 9-11 was indeed a “shot heard ‘round the world.”

- Dissident Voice (via Jihad Watch)

Not only is Alam's article historically inaccurate, I know big shock, it also tries to explain away the radical islamic ideology in ways that it should not be explained. Simply put, it's not true. The dream of the terrorists in Al Qaeda is to re-create Persia under an Islamic rule. They hate the fact the United States, a country which operates under a Democracy, is even in the same area. They see Democracy as evil because it puts the people at the same level as God in their view. Of course they don't recognize how an Islamic cleric running the country would be the same, but then again the terrorist mindset is far from reality. One of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence, something I'm of course very proud of. An immigrant who is enjoying the freedoms our ancestors fought and died for now wants to compare those who have no regard for human life the same as those who fight for freedom.

Terrorists do not fight for freedom. They fight to suppress people. They literally try to scare people into doing nothing for themselves and hope they fall in line with their ideology. Terrorists actively recruit people to strap explosives to their belts and march into crowded market places to kill as many people who are just trying to make a living or buy food for their families.

Those who helped found this country rebelled against being taxed without recieving representation. They fought for the rights granted by God. They fought to create a utopian government as best man can put together. They fought to have equal right while respecting all walks of life.

No two groups can be further apart, however Alam isn't the only one not to understand this. There have been Americans who have called terrorists killing our soldiers and innocent Iraqis "freedom fighters" and Minutemen. The problem is that Alam is a professor at Northwestern University therefore he has interaction with today's youth. He can bring not only a completely wrong view of what radical islam is to those who will be the future of this country.

As a young American myself, I can only hope there are more people that see these types of things like I do. Forget politics, this isn't a political issue. This is a moral issue where Alam is teaching immoral acts are equivalent to a revolution against a government taking the people for granted.

Cross-posted at In the Bullpen

Posted by: Chad at 10:15 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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