Salam Pax on religion: "You, I and the whole world talks these days of Sunnis and Shia and Kurds as if they are homogeneous groups. We have lost all nuance and differentiation. As if no Sunni had a Shia neighbour ever. As if Kurds never lived in central Iraq. As if my Shia mother never got married to my Sunni father. AS IF EVERY SINGLE IRAQI TAKES HIS/HER ORDERS DIRECTLY FROM THEIR IMAMS.
Stop trying to label me and then either punish me or bestow your sympathy on me depending on that label you just stuck to my forehead. I don’t believe in your bloody gods. Where does that put me in Iraq? Nowhere I guess, unless the Kurds start taking refugees."
Stop trying to label me and then either punish me or bestow your sympathy on me depending on that label you just stuck to my forehead. I don’t believe in your bloody gods. Where does that put me in Iraq? Nowhere I guess, unless the Kurds start taking refugees."
Exactly right - identities (religious or ethnic or political or sexual) are not monolithic and discrete. Just because I'm European, doesn't mean I'm a Christian. Just because I'm a Wiccan, doesn't make me a duotheist. Just because I'm a web developer, doesn't mean I'm 100% geeky. And fortunately for me, none of my various identities makes me a target for persecution (at the moment) or kidnappers.
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