Fragile is the mind beseiged by fear

Technorati tags: Malaysia, Religion, Islam, Fear, Conspiracy, NIИ

Driving into work this morning, Walski had the CD changer on - which is more often than not, since commercial radio in Malaysia truly suck big time. The following lyrics kinda resonated, for reasons that hopefully will become apparent further into the post:

do you know how far this has gone?
just how damaged have I become?
when I think I can overcome
it runs even deeper
everything that matters is gone
all the hands of hope have withdrawn
could you try to help me hang on?

Even Deeper ■ Nine Inch Nails ■ The Fragile

Walski, like many other liberal-thinking individuals living the now of our Malaysia, sees things around him in a very cynical light. It's quite understandable, really. There's a lot of noise emanating from certain quarters in our nation claiming that "Islam is under attack".

But the more you listen to these voices, and read what they really have to say (and the Malay language blogsphere is rife with those expousing this viewpoint), the question that often arises in Walski's mind is "Under attack - how?"

"The Lina Joy decision, if in her favor, is going to open the floodgates of Malay/Muslims apostacizing" is a popular one. Okay, but how is that going to change the way you live as a Muslim? And of course we have the ludicrous figure of 100,000 waiting in the wings, as claimed by FatwaMan, based on "research" done by a group of Muslim professionals. Assuming for a moment that the figure quoted is actually factual - how does that change how one lives as a Muslim?

And then, of course, come the claims that there is a concerted effort by Christian missionaries to give incentives to seduce young Muslim girls into apostacizing Or luring our youth towards apostacy through sports and entertainment. Wacky as this sounds, that's what certain concerned Muslims are saying. And because these claims are coming from professionals, many are buying it lock, stock and barrel. The Malaysian has also commented on another similarly ludicrous claim in a recent post.

Kinda makes you wonder how fragile these folks seem to regard Islam, doesn't it?

Walski, on the other hand, has always maintained the belief a person's level of education has little to do with their personal belief and objectivity when it comes to real life issues. In many cases, they can even be mutually exclusive. Crap, even coming from a professional, is still crap.

So, every now and again, Walski's faith in mankind's ability to reason with rationality is restored when certain people of standing in society come out and speak out against the stupidity surrounding some of these claims made.

The recent article, reporting on MP Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, is indeed something of a welcome change. Similar articles can also be found via The Sun (see here, and a related opinion piece here).
(more liberating thoughts in the full post)

Sure, the conservative lot will probably condemn him as a Liberal (many already have, and not like it's so bad to be one), and not a few may take a step further labelling him a kufaar (infidel), but it's nice to know that there is still some sensibility within our nation's political fraternity. An UMNO MP, no less.

(Incidentally, other esteemed bloggers have already commented on this: Lucia's Mental Jog, and Howsy's The Sensintrovert, to name two).

And the underlying agenda of making those ludicrous claims of Christian conspiracy is quite clear to Walski - it is to instill fear. A mind beseiged by fear is more easily controlled. And in the end, it may be more about control than any other reason. With that control in place, and the votes that come with those conquered minds, it would be easier to achieve the mother of all agendas - to make Malaysia the Islamic state of their dreams, with the Syariah as the constitution.

We liberals, however, will not be taking this crap lying down. There's enough room in this country for everyone. And those who choose to live the life of conservatism are more than welcome to do so. We liberals don't mind one single bit - just don't f*cking impose your way of thinking and life on us.

However, one prominent man's opinion will probably only make a small dent. But it is a positive start, and Rome, as they say, wasn't built in a day.

And it does make the days ahead a little more bearable, knowing that not all the hands of hope have withdrawn.