Similarly, as I watched the growing polarization of a (fictional) divide between "Islam" and "the West" embraced by media and politicians (fear sells a variety of agendas, folks - don't forget), I started to make sense my own past, to make deeply disturbing connections.
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Every day, I am more horrified by parallel global trends that weaponize religious rhetoric for politically expedient campaigns aimed at terrorizing and polarizing the unaware -- towards an end of power consolidation. Everywhere. Names are different. The phenomenon isn't.
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It took that trajectory -- forced into unwanted "expertise" on ISIS terrorism in the Middle East -- for me (and good GOD, as a professional, I KNOW better) to finally arrive at some unsettling things about my city, state, country, and culture of birth.
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Even if I "thought" I consciously knew better, it has taken my whole life to truly, viscerally deconstruct the assumptions that were socialized into me: "real terrorism" is "theirs." Ours is just "culture war," albeit horrific. Again, I thought I knew better -- the whole time.
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You see, why don't we see things (exactly) like ISIS here in the US from the hard-right "religious," bombing and acid attacking their way into political change? They no longer need to (already did); that phase passed, and willful amnesia helps us forget. We shouldn't -- ever.
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And that's how terrorism has bookended my life thus far. ISIS helped me make sense of my entire childhood - growing up in the heartland of a terrorism campaign in Jesus' name, in the good ole "real America" of Wichita, Kansas, USA.
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If you think this is "about religion," you've missed the point. Professionally and personally, I know "religious" terrorism and political violence -- painfully, intimately. So before you hop into my
@s on some bigoted ignorant shit, know this: I'm not the one to troll.1 reply 12 retweets 168 likesShow this thread -
Hey there! Great timing as I draw this long thread to a close. The response in your logic here? Yeah, it's the same as ISIS. Identical. You don't get to decide who "believes," or who lives or dies. You're not God. So kindly fuck right off.pic.twitter.com/CSZ9bkhEHC
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And that concludes my long rant in three parts on: political/religious terrorism, world-wide, how I was forced to work on it in the first place, and how my entire life story helps me contextualize what we're living through today. Thanks for reading. Enjoy your day.
#PeaceOut16 replies 18 retweets 262 likesShow this thread -
What the man said. Have a peaceful weekend, my friend, and thank you for your courage, eloquence and wisdom.
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