What is happening these days? Everyone is aping the west only. Urbanization and all are against Indian culture boss. Did you know 2000 years ago there were no malls? What existed 2000 years ago we want to recreate now. What? Progress? All that is western concept yaar! In Indian ethos, we have to always remain in one state forever. Who needs electricity and computers? Did you know 2000 years ago there were no power plants?
Look at west. Just they are sleeping with everyone. No one knows their father also. Hmm what? People in the west love their children and care about their family? Nonsense. Someone told me westerners don’t care about their children, so it must be true. After all they’re westerners man! Just they kick their children out after they turn 18. Is that love? Real love you know is making your children marry whom you want and remote controlling them till you die.
See I will tell you the truth. India you know used to be very great. Women were virgins, people were innocent, no one raised their voice, all elders were respected, and they peed milk and honey. Also when they farted the smell was like a rose. These days if someone passes gas means that’s all!
And what is all this nonsense about freedom? That is a western concept man. In the olden days our ancestors used to live in villages where people poked their noses into every else’s business. Don’t you know that an individual must sacrifice their life for the sake of the group? After all we have reincarnation and all. What is one life? If a person doesn’t accept the diktat of their group leaders means their property has to be confiscated, they will not be allowed to drink from the well, and if they try and form a new life somewhere else means we will make sure everyone else knows also. That is what is called real progress yaar!
Self respect and dignity are all very un-Indian you know. These dirty western people only have imposed this on us. How dare they tell us that our lives are worth something? I tell you my life is worthless! Who are you to say otherwise? And everyone else’s life is also nothing. And Indian Constitution? Just a piece of paper imposed on us by Britishers robbing us of the right to control others. You don’t know only. A document giving people freedom is actually an instrument of oppression! Who wants equality? That is a western concept man!
And blindly we are following. These days women can divorce and all. Did you know in olden days women used to be the property of their husbands? That is true civilization man! Today just they think they own their bodies and are having sex willy nilly. Men? What about men? They can have sex no problem! How you can compare men and women? Idiot fellow. All that is just western propaganda man!
See in olden days a farmer’s son could only be a farmer. What is wrong with that? After all, no one has the right to look for a better life. People knew their place. They would not dare look above themselves and think they can be something more. Just people are born by chance into their line of work means their bad luck boss! Fate and all. Anything else is all western concept. Try and understand.
Also look at their lifestyle. Just they are idolizing Michael Jackson and useless singers. In our land we look up to Mahatma Gandhi and Vivekananda. What? US has holidays for Martin Luther and George Washington and also a holiday for remembering the Holocaust? That and all is meaningless. I don’t know why. It goes against my opinions so I will ignore. Next?
See how west is exploiting nature? Just in the name of development they are razing trees and all. We Indians used to live in harmony with the surroundings. No no I can’t hear you. What are you talking about national parks, and environmental movement, and preservation of forests? That and all err…I don’t know. Forget yaar, forget! Just you need to understand how west is evil. That’s all!
See how in India we have family support systems for old people? In west means they don’t care about the aged. Just they are left to starve and fend for themselves. Eh? What is this “social security” and all? All that is western concept man! Don’t listen to all that. Just they are trying to tempt you.
Don’t get fooled ok?
oh and btw, if both parties create any contract, and one clause includes going on the roof and singing humpty dumpty, one member of the party trangresses this contract, isn’t the other member allowed to break the contract in this case? It may sound like a stupid clause, but it exists nonetheless, right?
Again, marraige in itself is a contract and faults exist in contract. I’d say the West should either except faults or they shouldn’t acknowledge marriage. But then again, from a tax point of view, that would cause a mess for most middle class earners.
In reply to Western Point of View
“oh and btw, if both parties create any contract, and one clause includes going on the roof and singing humpty dumpty, one member of the party trangresses this contract, isn’t the other member allowed to break the contract in this case? It may sound like a stupid clause, but it exists nonetheless, right?”
Of course. But there’s no clause talking about sex in marriage at all. There’s no connection. Two people can get married just for fun and then divorce the next day. Sex doesn’t enter the equation.
Marriage is a contract in the sense that you’re classified as a “spouse” for legal purposes. That’s it. Sex is an irrelevancy.
Wanted to reply to a couple things you mentioned regarding a few points. Separation of Church and state, is more American, not say Western as whole. There are plenty of South American countries, which are technically considered apart of Western society, that actually use Catholicism as the official religion of the land. The Anglican Church is the official Church of England, though it technically has no say in governing issues (this varies in South American countries).
I’d say why separate religion from the state? The nice thing about Shariah, for example, is the arbitrary is thrown out the window and you have concrete rulings based on of course the religiouse doctorine as well as previous precedents set, which CAN also be overturned, unlike something that, say the Supreme Court has mandated. Once something gets appealed to the Supreme Court and they make a decision about it, it is difficult, if not impossible to overturn.
Now in Western society, since sex is practiced freely, you are correct in that marriage and sex are not equivalent. However, in a religious society, they ARE connected, so it depends on how you are looking at it. What you can mention, even in a Western land, if you sign up for a Pre-Nup (remember, all Muslim marriages technically require pre-nups in the form of mahr), one claus could be having sex everyday. If that claus isn’t met, the couple could get a divorce and neither couple AND the husband would not be required to split any of his assets. Also, remember, even if a couple divorces after 10 years of marraige in the US, an ex-spouse can still receive Social Security benefits from that particular spouse they divorced. This could also be apart of the Pre-Nup.
Obviously, those are much more Civil issues.
Back to Church/State. It is difficult to entirely remove the church from the state. We have printed money that is essentially telling its people to Trust God so it isn’t exactly subtle. A lot of subtle things are apart of the US, but these are more cultural than anything. Bank/government offices are closed on Sunday, which is the Sabbath. Good Friday (Easter)/Christmas are also Bank Holidays.
But, again, these are subtle. No particular sect is being supported by the US, unlike say South American countries where Catholicism is officially recognized.
You mentioend if you don’t want to grow up in a religious environment. One nice thing about Shariah is that the more “religious” laws such as charity (zakaat) and being drafted for particular wars don’t apply to the non-Muslim people. Since Muslim countries technically should (that is a big should especially today) not truly recognize country borders but instead simply allow people to move in and out as they please, the only people recognized to perform certain duties are the Muslim people themselves, while the non-Muslim population is required to be protected by the governing body from anything.
Obviously, the nationalistic Arab nations really aren’t too keen on following the religion, but instead increasing the power of their Arabicism as well as their pre-Islamic Arab traditions in many cases.
In reply to Western Point of View
Can a born Muslim choose to become an atheist?
technically, yes. The definition of Islam is everyone is born a Muslim, even if you are not born into a “Muslim” family. You essentially chose your religion or make your decision when you are mentally mature, which is defined at puberty (boy=ejaculation or wet dream and girl=menses).
Of course you’ll have to deal with your parents. They won’t look kindly upon you leaving ANY religion and you’ll probably get kicked outta your house. Happens to everyone and is totally normal.
You should also keep in mind that if ANYONE betrays your country by treason, it is a capital crime and is punishable by death. The same applies under Muslim rule. remember again, technically Muslim nations don’t have traditional “citizenship” and anyone can come and go into the nation as they please. If someone, however, betrays the religion or the state and goes around spreading terror and the such, they can expect the death penalty.
if you are referring to apostasy, this refers specifically to those that professed Islam, went through the motions of worship etc and did a 180 and rejected Islam. This is seen as a form of treason and the death penalty is performed. In terms of say a child who was born into a Muslim family, it depends on circumstance. Remember, as I mentioned, Islam recognizes all chidlren who are not physically/mentally mature to be Muslims. To a lesser degree, this also applies to the people that lack certain mental capacities, since they cannot think properly for themselves.
Now another thing you should note is that today, there is techncially no true Shariah/Islamic nation. Maybe Saudi, maybe Malaysia, maybe Indonesia, but that is really it. So technically even those nations cannot perform such things unless they begin enacting other parts of Shariah to their fullest extent.
I thought this was a well written article, then I went on to read the comments. My God… Kudos for actually having the patience to sift through and reply to all that nonsense!
In reply to BBD-Lite
Good thing I have a lot of free time huh? :)
In reply to bhagwad
Hey, I apologize if I’ve taxed anyone too much on the comments. Like I said Bhagwad, you can mark me as spam or whatever. I didn’t mean any trouble. I will give you the Kudos as well.
Again, I apologize, but man this has been fun. It is nice to see an intelligent person that makes such excellent points, which is probably why I’ve commented so much.
Please take my excessive comments as more flattery than taxing your time :)
In reply to Western Point of View
Don’t be absurd! Discussion is always welcome as long as it’s polite and respectful. There are lots of people who come here and argue but at the same time insult and abuse.
While we disagree on many things, you always remained on topic, polite, and never got personal. That puts you leagues ahead of most other commenters on the Internet. Thank you.
Well thank you for the kind words. Discussion is absolutely nice especially with those you disagree with. It is nice to see different “sides of the coin” as it can do certain things: possibly change your midn OR make your convictions even stronger.
Though I disagree with you, it was nice to discuss this with you. You were also polite and let me, well, you let me ramble, lol.
So do I agree entirely with Westernism? Yes and no. Westernism has lots of nice things, but lots of other facets that could be changed due to them being so arbitrary. In matters of personal life, it is nice to have “gray areas” but in terms of governance, those gray areas should be backed by concrete doctorine.
Great article; gave me a laugh. Thanks.