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Originally Posted by JiggyMac
Well let's break this down.
First from the article is the 'call to jihad'. It sounds scary, but, ironically, it's the exact thing people have wanted when they're calling for 'reforming Islam'. The definition she gives of 'jihad' is
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"I hope that we when we stand up to those who oppress our communities that Allah accepts from us that as a form of jihad.
Hey look, she's defining 'jihad' as political activism within the American political system. That's good! That's exactly what people who say they want reform say they want. And yet everyone seems to be highlighting 'jihad' as some kind of scare word. I mean, I know why, and I'm pretty sure a lot of other people know why, but it's not at all clear why people are using it as a scare word.
Second, how much to retain of one's 'cultural' individuality vs be one of the stereotypes is always a perennial question. How much should Italian Americans eat meatballs and head back to the mother country vs eat hamburgers and learn American slang? It's a false dichotomy though for the vast majority of any people. They're shaped by American culture where they think so or not. Even a 'rebellion' against the naive culture, is tinged on the axes of that culture. Pretty much the only ones who are free from American culture are the Amish, everyone else is 'infected' with American culture regardless of how much they try and separate themselves.
It's a bit of irony that Conservatives who portray themselves as strong masculine against an effeminate liberal tend to look at culture as something sickly and always on the verge of collapse against the influx of new entrants while p*ssy liberals tend to see culture as strong, all invasive and pervasive, touching everything and graduating pulling everyone into its orbit like a black hole.
As far as assimilation goes, she's already as assimilated as one could possibly be. Born in Brooklyn, speaks with a Brooklyn accent, focuses on civil rights. There's not much else to it, she's American dyed through and through. One might as what exactly she means by assimilation. I'm betting it's defined against the pro faux patriotism of not questioning authority, seeing America as a guileless victim/amazingly strong entity/ etc. If that's the case, she's merely reflecting the imminently American attitude of being a rebel individual.
Last edited by Huehuecoyotl; 07-13-2017 at 11:59 AM.