Thursday, May 05, 2005
Iraqis Are People Too! Dammit!
Bush pays lipservice to the need to not point the finger at all Arabs. He talks about the dispute being between the U.S. and militant Islamic fundamentalist not all Muslims. His actions, however, do not match his words. My job requires me to work around members of the military, Army and Air Force, many of whom have been to Iraq. In my interactions with these service members, most of them refer to Iraqis as "Hadji" men, in reference to a cartoon character on the 1960s cartoon Johnny Quest. If you do not remember, Hadji Singh was ethnically of East Indian descent and Jonny Quest's best friend. Based on my observations, none of the superiors have corrected their men for using this derogatory, pejorative term. The way the term is used by these servicemembers serves to only dehumanize and degrade Iraqis. In fact, it makes it much easier to kill someone that you do not view as being like you. That is how the Europeans were able to enslave Africans all over the Americas from Brazil to the United States and destroy (culturally and literally) every sovereign indigenous nation in North or South America. Africans were subhuman and the indigenous people of North and South America were pagan heathens. By being willing to call Iraqis "Hadji" men, proves that our society does not differ much from the 15th & 16th century European colonizers.
# posted by The Alabama Hammer @ Thursday, May 05, 2005 
