To Indoctrinate or Not

To those poor families forced to now feel shame and grief because of their sons' delusions, I genuinely offer deepest sympathies and best wishes.

However, I feel compelled to raise what seems to me a fairly obvious point...

"Hello, good evening and welcome to 'Britons Today'.
I'm your host, Su Spicious and, first up is Mrs Unbe Liever, whose son is not one of the many young men who have rushed off to fight in one of the many 'holy' wars currently raging.
Mrs Liever. Welcome."

"Thank you, Su. Delighted to be here."

"Now, Mrs Liever, could you explain just how your son not going off to fight in this latest 'holy' war has made you feel?"

"Well, I said to his father, 'what shall we indoctrinate the lad with, Father?' This was not long after the boy was newborn and I'd had a few pamphlet through, so I asked, I said, 'should we go with the barbaric classics, the Torah, Bible and Qur'an or switch it up a bit and baste the bairn in Hindu? Or, maybe, go with more modern day voodoo like scientololologism or the new-wave crystalline wiccadruids.' I mean, y'know it's a tough choice! So many to choose from! 'I've read all the pamphlets', I said, 'and they're all much of a muchness!"
And he said, not straight away mind; he carried on staring into the fire in silence for a bit, like he did, then he said something that I really wasn't expecting.
'You now what, mother?' He said, he had a very deep voice, that's one of the things that first attracted me, 'You know what? I don't think any of them make any sense!'
Well, it raised my eyebrow, I can tell you, but before I could say anything he continued, which in itself was unusual, not a very verbose chap y'know, anyway, he said. 'I've had deer poop' only he didn't say poop, he was a bit of a lad; luv 'im. 'I've had deer poop in my socks for a month now; just exactly as Morgana at the 'wishes & wants emporium' said to do, and Nothing! No improvement whatever! I tell ya, I don't think any of those people, who wax all lyrical about magical things, actually know anything about magical things! And, if they don't know anything about 'em, maybe there are no magic things!"
I was dumbstruck! I just sat and watched as he angrily tore off his poopy socks, then tentatively offered, 'You are suggesting we don't indoctrinate him at all, Father?'
'I am, Mother.' He said, he was deadly serious and when he's deadly serious it's always worth thinking about. So I did, I thought about it a bit, and what I thought was Kylie, my tarot card reader, never gets anything right! And it made me feel he might just be onto something. So after a moment or two I agreed, I said to him.
'Right, that's settled, then. I can stop worrying about it and recycle all those inane pamphlets!' As I stood to collect them, a thought struck me... 'So that the lad has the best chance of learning to think for himself, maybe we should abstain from practising our indoctrinations while he grows into an adult?" Well, father looked at me with such a loving smile on his face; proud, y'know.
'That's my girl,' he said, 'always thinking two steps ahead.'
So we didn't indoctrinate him in anything. And now, with all these kids leaving to join in some 'holy' war or other, I'm thrilled with our choice.
So many of those who chose to indoctrinate their precious sons have lost them to the violence of ideological war that their child only learned about from the book of their indoctrination! It's very sad, they must feel like they've betrayed their own children. And now, sadly, each and every one of them will never know the joy of being grandparents. Whereas, my son and his partner are expecting my third grandchild.

I just wish Father were still alive to see the wonderful fruits of our choice."

And so to the questions...

Is it possible for one who is NEVER branded and indoctrinated with an ideology to consider Jihad, Crusade or other "holy" war justified and worthwhile?
If one has never been taught to believe 'there is a paradise waiting for you', can one be persuaded to offer one's life for any cause promising paradise for those killed in pursuit of it?
On both counts, I think not.

However, this is not how the great multitudes of indoctrinated have been, and are being, educated to think...

At about 50 seconds into the report the obviously troubled father asks...
"Who made fatwa for them to go there? On what basis?" I feel that one may only conclude that the unspoken subtext of that mental position is...
"If one of my righteous religious leaders had got it in his head to call a fatwa, then it would be fine. I wouldn't be annoyed, shocked or worried.
I'd be rejoicing in my son's honourable participation in glorious holy Jihad."

So as a final ponder...
Can we honestly continue to pretend that these "warrior for god" concepts are not promoted in books, which almost all of society hail as "instructions direct from god"?
Is it not time for us all stop pretending these books are benign?
Might it be time to eradicate them, or at the very least edit them?

More on this theme...
To Offer Or Not Offer Belief, Scripture Scramble Religious Gameshow or Presentation for 3rd Annual International Day of Protest against Hereditary Religion

This is one of the Too Many Questions

PEACE
Crispy

Please leave a comment - Anything will do
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Will Moderate Muslims Please Stand Up

Dear moderate Muslims,

You claim the militants, radicals, extremists don't truly follow Islam. They claim that you are not following it properly. You must be furious that these foul, evil, haters of human freedom are bringing such an easily despised view of YOUR religion to global attention, but how can we, whom are NOT compelled by any scripture to cause harm, however 'righteously', how can we know that's how you feel? I 'hear' you constantly professing that your religion is peaceful so won't you please...

Take Responsibility.

Be the surgeon of your own religion. Declare a Jihad on the those you claim are perverting your precious message. If those at war with human freedom are truly your religion's cancer, cut them out!

Openly denounce the radicals and militants. (While you do not, we (the rest of the human race) must assume you stand with them and secretly support them.)
Openly denounce any who promote hate, especially your Imam.
Openly discourage extremist talk of militant jihad.
Muslim mothers - please take charge and slap the violent urges from your sons.
Report your troubled youths and errant Imam's to the police.

If you feel that the Qur'an, Hadith and Sharia need modernisation, that they no longer properly represent the modern Muslim, or indeed as I feel, are the root cause of the extremists, born, however misguidedly, from the more violent, misogynistic passages, then take personal, local, direct action...

Openly admit Islam is a supremacist doctrine. (It is, whether you admit it or not, but admitting so would at least show some measure of intellectual honesty.)
Openly refuse to worship the hate (Modify the clearly supremacist Surah 1:7)
Openly declare equal rights for women.
Muslim women, openly assert your own equal rights. (If you are a Muslim woman living in a free democracy, you do not have to obey your husband. The only power over you to which your husband is entitled, is the power you choose to give him. YOU ARE FREE and our free democratic laws support your freedom.)
Openly send Midwinter greetings cards to your friends and neighbours.
Openly fly the flag of the nation in which you have chosen to make your home.
Openly stand for, and sing along with, your national anthem. (You are either a part of the free democracy in which you thrive, or you are not. If do not wish to be part of it, then you should be asking yourself whether you should be there.)
Openly denounce the global dominance aspirations of Islam.
Openly take those of other religions or no religion as your friend.
Openly watch television programmes made in the free democracies.
Campaign for the proper education your children in Evolutionary science.(Ultimately, dishonest education can only be a disservice to our children and our democracy.)
Openly sign the Declaration of Human Rights. (Take it to your mosque and get your friends to sign it too. How about a sign up party?)
Openly protest against the human rights violations. (Show you are for peace! Iran is a nightmare, Iran is Muslim! They are your home-boys, don't like what they're saying? Then get on it! Protest and sort it!)
Openly declare your dissatisfaction with the hateful passages within the Qur'an (delete Surah 9:5 etc.)

You could even do this yourself!
You don't have to wait for the hierarchy to sanction your actions. Permanent markers are widely available. If you feel you want to make a protest, although I would never promote wilful destruction of property, you could register your dissenting opinion instantly and easily. What could be a simpler or more peaceful protest than just striking through the hateful passages in any Qur'an you find?

Please note here.
If you are worried that you may get in trouble with your parents, friends or religious hierarchy for acting on any of the points I've made here.

YOU ARE BEING OPPRESSED.

If, alternatively, you have a clear understanding of exactly what punishment you will receive for acting on any of the points I've made here.

YOU ARE SEVERELY OPPRESSED

Open dissent is the cornerstone of a free thinking democracy.

And at the core of freedom.

You say there's over a billion of you, so that's plenty of people to 'educate' any extremist minority into extinction.

Stand the fuck up!

Take responsibility

Ensure your religion IS the religion of peace you profess it to be.

I wonder why you haven't yet done so.

For those unaware, this is apparently what moderate Muslims sound like...

I've a very different comprehension of the definition of the word moderate, have you?
This is one of the Too Many Questions

PEACE
Crispy

Please leave a comment - Anything will do
The best communications are often,
THREE WORDS OR LESS
OR ONE OR MORE FINGERS!