I READ with interest the article, 'Terror threat: New approach needed' by Professor Rohan Gunaratna (Jan 2), and also the comments by Ms Faizah Zakaria on Tuesday ('Gaza: Why Muslims are outraged').

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Which is why we CANNOT LET divisive constructs like appearance, race, culture, language, religion, nationality, etc define us as 'better/worse' than the Other in deserving respect, rights and justice within the same society, nation or world!

The recorded phone messages of the Mumbai terrorists sound cold-bloodedly chilling enumerating the number of hostages and nationalities - and directing, 'Kill them all' except for Muslims. Hypothetically, would unabashed chauvinist-posters like TheChairman gladly admit his Chineseness under the gun barrel of anti-Chinese terrorists - to martyr himself as a 'superior Chinese'? The scary possibility is he might.

referring to #2 - but it's ok to let divisive constructs like variety of language define us as 'better/worse' than the other in deserving respect, rights, justice and professionalism within the same society, nation or world?

Originally Posted by unewolke

referring to #2 - but it's ok to let divisive constructs like variety of language define us as 'better/worse' than the other in deserving respect, rights, justice and professionalism within the same society, nation or world?

I don't think the "constructs" themselves are to blame for being divisive or inspiring superiority complex.

Even in the most homogenous society or organization or professional circle in the world's past and present, individuals will still find "divisive constructs" such as educational background, alma mater, neighbourhood etc., to establish their own sense of identity.

There is nothing wrong in saying "I am proud to be a Singaporean." or "I am proud to be an American." - it does not necessarily imply anything wrong with not being a Singaporean or not being an American, or those who are not deserve less in terms of rights, justice, respect or professionalism.

Is it possible to only have the benefits of these constructs without the drawbacks? Yes.
Is it easily done? No.

It is not always easy differentiating whether one is "rising above the rest" or one is "putting down the rest".

cool 03:38 ~ Thanks for chiming in - even if neutrally! Reasoning like your is a breath of fresh air we need more of to offset the smug glibness that's fatuously rampant/unchecked.

wolke 04:21 ~ Address me directly. Don't be like Big, geli and misogynist-ageist others : 'matadors' who snipe from cover. In cool's words, why mispresume I prefer some to 'rise above the rest' to 'put down others' whenever I advocate standards-setting to maintain/grow a language that commonalises all universally?

Remember I taught basic English to factory workers (China nationals, Malaysians and locals)? Motivated idealistically to level them up FIRST for self-confidence and multiplier effects on their progeny. The corollary being social mobility and earning power. If Singlish or whatever had been the instrument of progress, in an alternate society, wouldn't have mattered to me - so long as STANDARDS were maintained/enhanced in their learning to exemplify, instead of misexemplify practice detrimentally!

Like you, I imbibed democratic/leftist ideals like conscientisation and learner-centredness in the sociology of education. At least one teacher-trainer was an avowed left-of-centre political activist in his home country. I'm more centrist and left of on issues that you deem me rightist of. Those rabidly leftist on an issue can't help unjustly 'prismising' their 'opponents' thus?

cool 03:38 ~ Thanks for chiming in - even if neutrally! Reasoning like your is a breath of fresh air we need more of to offset the smug glibness that's fatuously rampant/unchecked.

wolke 04:21 ~ Address me directly. Don't be like Big, geli and misogynist-ageist others : 'matadors' who snipe from cover. In cool's words, why mispresume I prefer some to 'rise above the rest' to 'put down others' whenever I advocate standards-setting to maintain/grow a language that commonalises all universally?

Remember I taught basic English to factory workers (China nationals, Malaysians and locals)? Motivated idealistically to level them up FIRST for self-confidence and multiplier effects on their progeny. The corollary being social mobility and earning power. If Singlish or whatever had been the instrument of progress, in an alternate society, wouldn't have mattered to me - so long as STANDARDS were maintained/enhanced in their learning to exemplify, instead of misexemplify practice detrimentally!

Like you, I imbibed democratic/leftist ideals like conscientisation and learner-centredness in the sociology of education. At least one teacher-trainer was an avowed left-of-centre political activist in his home country. I'm more centrist and left of on issues that you deem me rightist of. Those rabidly leftist on an issue can't help unjustly 'prismising' their 'opponents' thus?

Tech support please note : Posts that take longer to submit encounter an error message asking that submissions be made after an interval of 30 seconds or less. This happened in the early days of this DB but unfortunately has resurfaced - resulting in duplicate posts as above.

It is nice & good to say that terrorists are responsible for their own actions, but these suicide bombers & murderers kill in the name of Islam. Since they bring shame to the religion, genuine Muslims must come out & denounce these misguided fanatics. Instead, we see many posters on this DB come out in defence of these murderers just because they claim to be Muslims.

Not anti-American and yet are not prepared openly to promote and ask the Islamic Faith to get all mosques worldwide to hang up the banners:

"We are not anti-American. We love America",

and,

"We strongly denounce all acts of violence and terrorism no matter under whatever pretext, reason or belief".

Deception will not raise one's Spirituality from the perspective of the Creator God [some call Him Allah].

Jousterr,

Still smarting from the heartfelt comments I felt so obliged to make because of your self righteous tone? While I respect some of your views, I can't say I fancy your harsh tone and choice of words.

Do everyone a favour (I'm not asking you to be a 'crowd pleaser'), but a gentler tone goes a long way to negendering civilised discussions.