How Our Native Language Shapes How We See the World - Differently From Others

Guy Deutscher wrote a fascinating article about the impact of our mother tongues on our alternating perceptions of life. He quotes Roman Jakobson’s maxim to summarize that “Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.”

But the insights go so well beyond what you might think. This article is a must read.

What it does not explicitly conclude (but I would like to infer) is that learning additional languages helps us expand our horizons in yet more ways than you’d ever had realized.

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Islam and the Silent Majority

I received the following email forward from a friend who is skeptical about my work to build bridges between the West and Islam.  I find the point persuasive that even if extremists are a minority, they can cause enormous devastation when they rule and the moderate majority is silent and hostage.  But it seems to prove rather than dispute the importance of efforts like OneVoice’s to amplify the voice of moderates and empower ordinary citizens who cherish co-existence and respect.

What I asked my friend and ask everyone who reads emails like the below is, what are you doing about it? And is it more effective to draw lines in the sand and turn an entire civilization into the enemy, or to align all moderates together to isolate, discourage and neutralize violent extremists all across?

The author of this email is said to be Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist.

A German’s View on Islam

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates.   When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

‘Very few people were true Nazis,’ he said, ‘but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care.

I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools.   So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come.   My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.’


We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.   Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant.   It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.   It is the fanatics who march.   It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.   It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.   It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill.   It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.   It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.   It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the ’silent majority,’ is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 40 million people.   The peaceful majority were irrelevant.   China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist.   Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery.   Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

· Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.

· Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

· Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts–the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand.   So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on!   Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, and send it on - before it’s too late.

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Islamberg, valid concerns about the scary side of Islam, and how to offset them

I have written repeatedly to defend Muslims from being discriminated against, including most recently with the establishment of a mosque in downtown Manhattan (see here, here, and here).

This video I just got raises serious valid concerns about extremists using religion to further illegal activities, and of them subverting Islam to their purposes.

To my mind, it makes it all the more clear why we want to support moderate Islamic role models and why people like Imam Feisal, Naif al-Mutawa and countless others deserve all our support.  Muslims leaders like Imam Feisal should not be asked to “choose sides.”  Theirs is not a culture of division.  By being themselves, they will continue to win by building bridges, rather than burning them on either side.

Additionally, this article illustrates the frightening opposition that many mosques face as they attempt to build across the country, where more and more opponents are beginning to admit their discomfort with Islam itself.  In reality though, budding mosques have proven to quell many of the fears of radicalism, according to a recent study that the articly quotes.

Muslims, like all other human beings, are overwhelmingly moderate and kind.  Extremists with ideologies of supremacy and domination feed off of the divisions between cultures that they try to foster.  We would only grant terrorists a victory if we were to cower into painting all the “others” as our enemy!  That was the main goal of Osama Bin Laden! If we want to win, we have to do so not just with weapons but also with brains and souls – with an ideology of inclusion best represented by Western and Muslim leaders that offers a better vision than that of an eternal struggle of us vs. them.

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A compelling Documentary about the Mideast Conflict

By Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

Tom Friedman discusses an appropriately complex documentary, “Precious Life” in this article and then compares its meaning to the appropriately complex reality of the Mideast conflict.  Friedman’s point is not to condone Israel’s behavior unilaterally, rather to encourage her opponents to give constructive criticism, which comes from a place of understanding- a place that “Precious Life” depicts very nicely, according to Friedman.

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Creativity From Diversity, Tolerance from Rauf

Beyond the earlier geo-political and human arguments I made supporting Imam Feisal Abdel Rauf’s courageous work for tolerance and the Islamic community center he is building in downtown NYC, Tom Friedman advanced beautiful additional arguments that center around the critical value of diversity to foster a creative culture that brings out the best for America and the world - and makes us most competitive.

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The Park 51 Debate Continues

by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

This article by Robert Wright features the harsh continued debate over the construction of a mosque near ground zero.  The debate is filled with intolerance, fears of radicalism, and biased players; the attacks on Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf are especially disheartening and the opposition of some NY politicians are incredibly disappointing.

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International Trade Union Confederation calls for Peace

by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

The International Trade Union Confederation called for peace in the Middle East.  In the process, the ITUC rejected BDS and encouraged action by Histadrut, Israel, PGFTU and Palestine to revisit negotiations to achieve a resolution to the conflict. The ultimate goal is for both parties to accept a non-violent and lasting peace.

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Israeli TV Features OneVoice’s 2018 Campaign

by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

In a recent story, an Israeli TV channel featured OneVoice’s campaign for Israel-Palestine to host the 2018 world cup.  As the story articulates, this ambition may seem just like a fantasy, but according to the philosophy of the OneVoice campaign, there is no reason why Israelis and Palestinians cannot partner to host the world cup in eight years.  The challenge remains for this fantasy to become a reality.  Watch this movie and radio interview with OneVoice’s Tal Harris.

דמיינו: ישראל והרשות יארחו את המונדיאל ב-2018

לרובכם זה ודאי נשמע כמו תסריט דמיוני, אבל בארגון "קול אחד" מאמינים שאין סיבה שישראל והרשות הפלסטינית לא ישתפו פעולה ויארחו יחד את המונדיאל בעוד 8 שנים. "לשם כך צריך לפתור את הסכסוך, והכדורגל הוא כלי מצוין לכך" - אומר יו"ר הארגון טל הריס, שהפיץ סרטון בניסיון לקדם את החזון. האם הדמיון יהפוך למציאות?

חדשות 2 | פורסם 23/06/10 13:33

 

נסו לדמיין את התסריט הבא: שנת 2018, נבחרות הכדורגל הטובות בעולם עושות את דרכן לשטחי ישראל והרשות הפלסטינית שמארחות את המונדיאל - יחדיו. בארגון "קול אחד" מאמינים שהתסריט הזה יכול להפוך למציאות.

"סרטון שמופץ בימים אלה ברשת מציג שחקני כדורגל שמתחרים על תואר האלופה ליד גדר ההפרדה. את הסרטון הפיק ארגון "קול אחד" (One Voice) שפועל לפיתרון הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני.

"כחלק מחגיגת המונדיאל ניסינו לדמיין איך תיראה שנת 2018 בסכסוך הישראלי פלסטיני", הסביר טל הריס, יו"ר הארגון לחדשות 2 באינטרנט. "לשם כך צריך לפתור את הסכסוך, והכדורגל הוא כלי מצוין לכך".

משיחות עם אנשים בשני צדי הסכסוך ראינו שהדמיון חורג מכל מציאות שאנחנו מכירים, ואם דרום אפריקה שסועת הקרבות הפנימיים והמתח הבין גזעי יכולה לארח אירוע כדורגל כזה, אין סיבה שישראל והרשות הפלסטינית לא יעשו דבר דומה", הוסיף הריס.

"אם לא נקדם את העתיד אחרת - הוא לא יהיה אחרת"

אם הסרטון מזכיר לכם את הפרסומת השנויה במחלוקת של חברת סלולר ששודרה עד לא מזמן בישראל, הריס מבהיר שאין שום רצון להעביר מסר פוליטי. "אם לא נקדם את העתיד אחרת הוא לא יהיה אחרת", אמר. "אנחנו לא חושבים ששלום כולל חייב להיות במדינה אחת, אלא דווקא בשני עמים שחיים זה לצד זה, ורצוי שיהיה גבול ביניהן".

דמיינו: מונדיאל ישראלי-פלסטיני (צילום: חדשות 2)

מונדיאל משותף בישראל?

"כמו במדינות רבות באירופה, נותר לנו רק לפתור את הסכסוך וזה יהיה אפשרי", אמר הריס. "בקרוב נקדם עצומה לשרת התרבות והספורט לימור לבנת, כדי לקדם את ההרשמה למונדיאל ב-2026, כי פספסנו את ההרשמה לזה של 2018".

את הקליפ יצר איתן הלר עבור התנועה "קול אחד", שפעילה מאז 2004 ופועלת בקמפוסים ברחבי הארץ במטרה לקדם פיתרון של שתי מדינות לשני עמים. "אנחנו רוצים לגרום לאנשים לדמיין את הפיתרון ולהבין את המחיר שנדרש כדי להגיע אליו", סיכם הריס. "אני מאמין שזה אפשרי".

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Israel and Turkey: Friedman analysis

This article by Tom Friedman is one of the more balanced and insightful articles on the fall out in the Turkey-Israel relation, worth reading.

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Queen of England Mentions a Two-State Solution in Speech

by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

In her opening speech of Parliament, the Queen of England articulated that her “government will continue working towards a two-state solution that sees a viable Palestinian state existing in peace and security alongside Israel.”  This is an important because her words are intended to set the government’s priorities for the next year and a half.

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