tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post1412684789189650974..comments2024-03-28T17:16:25.333-04:00Comments on Mad Padre: On Being Military and MuslimMad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-50419288193857840572009-11-11T19:32:09.010-05:002009-11-11T19:32:09.010-05:00Looking forward to hearing more about the Four Agr...Looking forward to hearing more about the Four Agreements book. From what I recall of my cultural theory, appropriation is a dominant culture taking possession of a minority's modes of expression, art forms, etc. It's essentially an imperialistic act. In the military we speak of assimilation (the need of members to conform themselves to the military ethos) while we also speak of accomodation (the need of the military to allow members of component groups) to be true to their cultural and religious identity where such accomodation can reasonably meet given the demands of the military. <br />From what has been coming out in the last few days about the Fort Hood shootings, I think we may need to ask if certain religious expressions (specifically Hassan's alleged sympathies for global and radical Islam) allow such a person to still have a place in his or her country's military. There are some hard questions ahead. Tom Ricks asked some of those questions on his blog the other day: http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/11/09/five_questions_on_the_army_and_the_fort_hood_shooterMad Padrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044826704035279962.post-69522881929255742522009-11-09T09:19:26.508-05:002009-11-09T09:19:26.508-05:00Definitely a thought-provoking and interesting pie...Definitely a thought-provoking and interesting piece. There were two quotes that I thought were very important:<br /><br />“Our diversity, not only in our Army but in our country, is a strength,” General Casey said Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.”<br /><br />I've been reading a lot about multiculturalism and cultural <a href="http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2009/11/04/the-appropriateness-of-appropriation/" rel="nofollow">appropriation</a>. I think that General Casey is right that diversity is important in (North) America, there are many places in the world that are not diverse. In the article it says how the military wanted to recruit Muslim and ME Americans as they would benefit from understanding the culture more- it makes me sad to see that these recruits did not receive respect and trust from their colleagues.<br /><br />The other quote:<br /><br />“It gets to you sometimes,” said Mr. Khan, 32, from Queens, who is of Pakistani descent. “But the more personally you take things, the more you’re going to have a hard time surviving.” <br /><br />I think that's generally true of anyone about anything and more people could stand to not take things personally. It's one of the concepts in the book The Four Agreements (which I recently heard about at a graduation ceremony, and would now like to read).J Goreham-Penneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12948591681078814457noreply@blogger.com