Friday, April 5, 2024

How to handle conflicting cultural worldviews

There is a saying one mans meat is another mans poison.How can multi cultural communities coexist when there is conflicting values and beliefs? When so many refugees settle down in western countries,they isolate themselves in self contained communities and feel segregated .this sense of being marginalised causes discontentment that they are being victimized.so they are easy recruits for extremist groups that empowers them to lash out at the mainstream society that seem to disregard them. this backlash to destroy those who dont treat them fairly see a rise in islamophobia.just as in the west,what they perceive as a threat to their hegemonic power and their economic dominance has given rise to sinophobia and start of asian hate rhetoric and discrimination against China students or researchers.The media is only an echo chamber of public sentiments on the ground.what the public perceive is a rejection of progressive values of human rights like lack of freedom for women to drive,killjoy attitude to live entertainment(the govt put a killswitch for live concerts ),lack of freedom to marital choice,honour killing,denial of womens right to education and restrictions to participation in sports due to dress codes,rights of husbands to discipline (beat)the wives all give a view of anti modern and rejection of western values so why do they keep on trying to migrate to the west and not to middle eastern or african nations that have the same cultural beliefs and value system. reread book by Zak Ebrahim,the son of a terrorist who helped plan the bombing of the World trade centre.he grew up the son of an Egyptian engineer father and an American mother .Although he was inculcated in dogma and hate as a.kid,
he realised the horrific depths of his fathers acts when he grew up and as a man he resolved to dedicate his life to promoting peace.it speaks of his growth as a humane person to reject hate as his mother told him Im so sick of hating The kindness and tolerance of his friends who didnt isolate and bully him despite knowing his fathers heinous ctime.Zak Ebrahim became a better man as hes less judgmental more tolerant of differences in beliefs,values or even the LGBT.so if a person has no self restraint and lacks independent thinking and universal love,it is a reflection of his upbringing,his beliefs and his values as he has to depend on external forces to control him,the emotional outburst and bullying behaviour speaks for what he stands for and not the victims of his vitriol.Counter hate with more love for others whether a being or non being,human or animal . Gandhi said "There are many causes I would die for but there is not a single cause that I would kill for," Zak Ebrahim chose to spread light not darkness.He wanted to be remembered as Zak the pacifist and disown his.inheritance as the son of a terrorist .As the Malay proverb says Harimau mati tinggal belang,manusia mati tinggal nama.what wisdom from the malay forefathers.when the tiger dies,he leaves behind its skin but,when a man dies,he leaves behind his name so the Tiger of Jelutong ,Karpal Singh the Sikh politician who fought for the oppressed without fear or favour is remembered as a towering Malaysian and The Sikh gurdwara members who donated food and fed the stranded victims of the great flood disaster in Selangor is respected for their generosity and merciful relief in a disaster as kita jaga kita .Where were the army helicopters in search and rescue of victims stranded on roof tops,where were trained marine n navy personnel with speed boats and divers?They were waiting for the go ahead from higher authorities and politicians good at No Action,Talk Only.it was the ordinary Malaysians with their kayaks,fishing boats who came to the rescue mission of victims without food,drinking water or milk powder and medicine.

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