The script goes something like this: 1) get a degree in engineering, medicine, business, or law; 2) complain about how you don’t like what you do; 3) get married and have kids;  4) live a text-book life; 5) grow old and bored; 6) due to boredom, raise a ruckus in your local mosque and anywhere else where you think you’d receive some attention; 7) grow really old and lament about how you wasted life.

Such a script is probably not going to win “best screenplay”, and a director may even use it as toilet paper depending on paper quality.  Why then are we recycling it for our own use?

As a first-generation Muslim born and raised in the West, I sometimes cannot help but notice how we continue to remain stagnant in an environment that has so much to offer.  More and more Muslims I associate with or talk to seem to be turning into carbon copies of their parents holding the same conservative ideals centered around a stable career, retention of faith and culture, and upholding family values.  There is obviously nothing wrong with any of this, however, I do feel that holding a life philosophy based around these criteria alone is not only flawed, it is downright regressive.

Muslims who immigrated here to find a better life were either fleeing persecution by despotic regimes, looking for a better life for their future children, or just wanted a better opportunity to make more money.  Whatever the case may be, they did not have the luxury of engaging in the arts, getting involved in politics, or pursuing a passion.  They were simply concerned with putting food on the table.  In doing so, their life philosophy was simple - career, faith, family. 

Unfortunately, due to their own past uncertainty, some of these now successful immigrants forced the very same values upon their children and pressured them to follow certain career paths that were either stable or associated with status, prestige and materialism.  There are cases where Muslims have challenged the status-quo, however what I find troubling is many have also internalized this one-dimensional approach to life and are making the same choices subconsciously.  The script, it seems, has already been laid out, and it is followed without question.

Furthermore, as first generation Muslims are now finding their way into the job market, it is not a surprise to find that most don’t really like what they do.  When I was in school, I had a conversation with a friend that went something like this:

Friend:  Hey Zeb, so why didn’t you go into engineering?
Me: I don’t know, never really was interested and I don’t think I would enjoy it even if I got in.
Friend: Nobody enjoys it, you just do it.

Again, I’m not arguing that being practical and safe is faulty practice.  On the contrary, one needs a certain level of discipline and preparation to achieve success. However with that said, being too safe and too conservative limits our ability to realize our true potential. 

Now there are Muslims who have followed the safe path, but are still involved in the mainstream community by pursuing film, music, poetry, activism, or other interests, but these examples are few and far between.  Most Muslims I know are learned and knowledgeable individuals, but there is absolutely no desire on their part to go above and beyond or follow an interest.  For example, talking about politics as tableside conversation is what old immigrant parents do, but for some reason we are doing the same thing. 

Shouldn’t we as born and bred Canadians be going a step further by walking the talk and getting involved especially in a climate where Muslims and Islam are being targeted more then ever before?  Shouldn’t we be engaging with the mainstream community at a greater level rather than limiting our interactions with niche cliques, Muslim-only groups, and Muslim-only initiatives? Shouldn’t we get past the archaic “By Muslims, For Muslims” mentality by now?

Perhaps it will take more than just one generation for us to truly think outside of the box.  Until then, the script will continue to replay itself because from the looks of it, we are not running out of film anytime soon.

Hollywood can save on toilet paper in the process.

Is it any surprise that a report written by a panel appointed by Harper wishes to continue sending our soldiers into battle? Soldiers who have been marred by poor equipment, isolation from NATO “allies”, and an increasing threat from a population that sees our efforts as an occupation? 

Is it any surprise that the individual directed to head the panel, John Manley, already had a predetermined pro-mission agenda which he outlined three months prior in an article he wrote for a publication called Policy Options and incorporated those same passages into the “independent” report.  Would it be naive to assume that his prior views had nothing to do with his selection? 

Is it any surprise that our Conservative government fails to see that combat will only serve to exacerbate the already volatile situation and further encourage the Afghani population to side with the insurgents, even if they were despised before the American invasion?  Is it any surprise that our soldiers are engendering more hatred by supplying prisoners to Afghan Communists (a.k.a Northern Alliance) who are then engaging in systematic torture of those prisoners? 

Considering the lack of direction and blatant disregard of the real issues that has characterized this mission, it’s not surprising at all.

Adopting the typical American “us versus them” attitude and hoping that the Taliban disappear into the ether is simply a delusional tactic that will never see the light of day; the insurgents have nothing to lose.  Instead of isolating, marginalizing and stigmatizing a significant portion of the Afghan population, it is time Canada reverted back to traditional peacekeeping methods by trying to build links with each ethnic group in order to build a foundation for a sustainable democracy.  The leadership must also keep in mind that engaging in a war with the Taliban in the south also means waging war on the large ethnic Pashtun population who are forced to side with the Taliban due to being left out of the political process. 
Instead, Canada continues to put weight behind a former UNOCAL employee and CIA installed “leader” in Hamid Karzai who cannot walk outside his residence without American marine body-guards , who is laughingly referred to as “the Mayor of Kabul” (although I think my ward councilor would probably rival him in terms of territorial jurisdiction), and who has become so desperate that he has even talked about awarding government positions to the Taliban (nice to see the Afghan leader totally contradict the unrealistic goals we’re trying to achieve). 

Unfortunately, the Canadian legacy of peacekeeping has been corrupted by those who are keen to impress their American masters by slaving to their ruthless, self-serving, and self-destructive foreign policy.  With an incompetent and clueless Official Opposition, a media that has mirrored the U.S. when it comes to cheerleader coverage, and a Canadian public that is refusing to ask tough questions, the hawks on Parliament Hill have all the ammunition they need to further tarnish Canada’s international reputation.

As capitalist culture inculcates itself whether through the commercial image of Che Guevara, mass-produced consumer magazines that preach the illusory virtues of fashion, or the nonsensical music that glorifies sex and materialism, it is hardly surprising that this degenerative cultural phenomenon has now trickled its way into religion.

Molding potentially subversive ideology into a commercial trend has altered and trivialized the very concept of revolution and civil dissent, thereby rendering such ideas useless.  For example, once the artistic rebuttal to inequality and poverty, hip-hop has now become the musical manifestation of redundancy and insignificance.

The same holds true for political ideologies that challenge the status quo. The hammer and sickle logo and T-shirt’s bearing the images of leftist personalities have become so commercialized to the extent that they have lost all meaning. In our consumerist society it is just “cool to be the bad guy”.  Thus, Usama bin Laden merchandise will become a hot commodity in 15 years when the U.S. will be busy invoking fear against another fictional enemy.

Power and profit are essentially the chief motivating factors that advance the capitalist/consumerist system. Mainstream corporate media veneration of societal scum such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and other wannabe talent is not only a reflection of what society demands, it is also a means to keep the masses from critically examining issues that actually matter. Hence, the average, low income African-American does not wear a Malcolm X T-shirt because he is socially conscious, he wears it because 50 cent wore it during a hip-hop concert last night.

So the question arises: should we as a society let religion become prey to this monster? With clothing bearing text such as “Jesus is my home boy”, the multitude of Muslim teenage boys donning over sized Allah medallions in a futile attempt to look “gangsta”, and the plethora of so-called designer Hijabs, it certainly seems as though religion is taking a step forward commercially but a step backward from a spiritual sense.

My assertion is not of a dogmatic mullah, neo-conservative Christian, a Zionist Jew, or of someone showcasing a “holier than thou” attitude (we have enough of those people), but as someone who sees religion as the deepest and most beautiful expression of human nature and does not want to see it corrupted. I cannot help but think that grills (diamond encrusted teeth worn by hip hop “artists”) etched with the star of David or the 99 names of Allah is not the type of religious expression God had in mind. On the contrary, such absurdity would only serve to trivialize the concept of religion as a whole.

Let’s not fall farther down into the commercial trap than we already have.