Here is an interesting story:
Does it follow any trends recently?
http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/10/04/sri-lankas-buddhist-monks-protest-bangladesh-violence-2/
How do we prevent events like this from happening? Whose job should that be?
We are all given the right to peaceful protest. All humans have the right to their own opinions on every aspect of their own lives. Buddhist monks have been peacefully protesting the recent wave of violence towards them. They're all scared for their lives and hiding in forests. Preventing these situations first begin with taking away the reasons for these types of arguments to escalate. Bangladeshi authorities should be keeping the minority population protected. Many muslims have been attacking buddhist churches and places of worship. They have torched dozens of buddhist temples and over 50 homes. If we cannot feel safe within our own countries, where can we feel safe? Many countries wonder why there are so many emigrations, however, they are reasons such as these. People believe in worshiping that in which they wish to. Those monks are unable to now feel safe within their own area. The ambassadors and leaders of Sri Lanka are to blame for these actions. They have detained around 300 people in these attacks, however, they are not reassuring the Buddhists that there is nothing left to fear. A country should keep their people safe. If that is not the number one priority, what will be? There is no economy to be made with no people present in that country.
ReplyDelete1.http://www.ww4report.com/node/11570
2.http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Lankan+monks+protest+attacks+Buddhists+Bangladesh/7342727/story.html
3.http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C10%5C05%5Cstory_5-10-2012_pg14_6
This is my weekly post:
ReplyDeleteThe Muslims' reason for attack was because they discovered a photo of a burned Quran and blamed it on a Buddhist man. Rather than violently reacting to this (without any real evidence might I add!) they simply could have talked it over with the Buddhists. The Buddhist protesters seemed completely fine with talking, as they were chatting with the staff at the Bangladesh Embassy.
Wars and violence have been the solution to most of the world's problems since the beginning of time, but is it the best solution? Can't talking things over solve things in a more peaceful way with significantly less (actually none) bloodshed? Buddhists have always lived in peace and they continue you to even now when they are terrified for their own lives. Instead of burning temples and killing innocents, I think the Muslims' first plan should have been to ask the Buddhists if they were the ones who burned the Quran and had it settled over words rather than violence.
Personally, I doubt the Buddhists had anything to do with the burning of the Quran. Buddhism is a peaceful, non-violent way of life. "To avoid evil; to do good, to purify the mind." (1) If they were to blame for the burning of the Quran, would they not be contradicting their own beliefs?
It is understandable that the Muslims would be upset and offended, but they were certainly in the wrong to react so rashly without any proof that the Buddhists were to blame.
To prevent something like this from happening, the Muslims responsible for initiating the attacks should find themselves in trouble with the law; they acted without any form of evidence for one, and two, there is nothing in the world that can justify killing innocents and burning temples. In this situation, the Muslims are wrong and authorities should be involved to let the Muslims know what they have done is wrong.
(1) - Dhammapada, 183
I really agree with you on doubting how Buddhists have nothing to do with the burning of the Quran. The fact on how Buddhists believe in peaceful ways of negotiations and way of life makes it a strong point in argument.
DeleteThis is my weekly post:
ReplyDeleteThe muslims reacted in the only way that they knew possible to get their message across which was violence. I do agree that this was not the right situation, but when they are presented a photo and was told it was a Buddhist man, the acted the way in which their message would get across. I understand and agree with Ren that communicating is the right thing to do but however what would that accomplish (I know violence doesn't either)
To prevent something like this, I assume that the law should be taking a role in this and that the Muslims should be punished for the quick judgments, knowing that over 20 temples have been burned because of this accusation about the Buddhist setting flame to the Quran. The authorities should be responsible to insure that incidents like this do not repeat themselves
This is my weekly post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mimi, we are all given the right to peaceful protest. Which is why the Buddhist monks have every right to peacefully protest against the recent violence targeting their religious community in Bangladesh. The Buddhist are hiding in jungles in fear of their lives because of what the Muslims have done to their people and their community. This started after Muslims found a photo of a burned Quran and blamed it on a Buddhist man. Because of this, thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims rioted targeting temples in Cox Bazar and surrounding areas. This led to innocent people being massacred which is why Buddhists are in hide out.
The Muslims weren't positive that the Buddhist man created the photo of a burned Quran. Which is why they only "blamed" it on him (1). That is why I think the Muslims shouldn't have acted so quick on the riots, and they have been sure about it first. I feel as if they should have addressed the situation in a professional manner instead of going out and killing innocent people that have absolutely nothing to do with it. Ways they could have dealt with it would be like i said earlier "professional", that way people could have sat down and talked about it like mature adults would have.
I feel that the government should be responsible for this event and every other similar events to this one. They should be able to control groups of people and culture that are known for situations like this one. Governments and leaders should be able to be mature about events and settle conflict without involving violence. That way it would save all of the innocent peoples lives that have died. When violence happens, it is usually followed up by retaliation If events like this keep happening around the world i think it can potentially spark another world war, as bad as it sounds i believe it is true.
(1)http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/10/04/sri-lankas-buddhist-monks-protest-bangladesh-violence-2/
I forgot to write that that was my weekly post.. haha but it is :)
ReplyDeleteThis is my weekly post...
ReplyDeleteThis violence is taken out of proportion and completely being handled the wrong way. A trend that this seems to have followed is that of what happened due to the Muhammad video...it’s all based around religion and beliefs which is continually leading to chaos and rioting. It does make sense that the burning of a Quran would cause some anger amongst the Islamic religion because it is their holy sacred book believed to be the word of God as dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel. (1) Aside from the Holy book, Muslims have had their conflicts with Buddhists in the past because of religious differences which I feel is the reason as to why the Muslims were so quick to assume it was a Buddhist monk. (2) Either way their wasn’t nearly close to enough proof to say who was burning the Quran; this being said, the situation was irrationally handled when it could have been solved with no disruption of the peace. Although they have managed to detain 300 people for these irrational acts, I strongly agree with Mimi that the leaders of Sri Lanka should be reassuring the Buddhists of a safe environment so they can stop fearing to be within their homes. This type of event should be avoided from reoccurring by having a faster more reliable source of police to have these tormentors evacuated faster and the punishments should be more severe to decrease the chances of the Muslims or anyone in that matter to pull a stunt as such again.
(1) https://www.google.ca/#hl=en&q=Koran&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=tClyUOKuHJS30gHTmYGgDQ&ved=0CB0QkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=f154b83c769d5f6a&biw=930&bih=453
(2) http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-islam-and-buddhism/
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ReplyDeleteThis is my weekly post
ReplyDeleteIf everyone would just learn to celebrate each other's differences rather than destroying each other for them then the world would be a much happier, safer place. We seriously all need to take a look at each other and understand that we are all human, and should therefore all have the basic right to be who we want, believe in what we want, and do what we want ( so long as it only affects ourselves). The Buddhist monks have also reacted by destroying a muslim shrine(1) so they are not entirely without blame. There are even strong allegations of abuse of children by buddhist monks in Sri Lanka.(2)As a nation we should be trying to implement peacekeeping forces without siding with one or the other, but clearly this is not a black and white issue and needs to be investigated very thoroughly to understand both sides of this tragic story.
1)http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14926002
2)http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15507304
This is my weekly post. In my opinion, there are many things wrong with the way in which this series of events was conducted and reacted to. As afore stated, yes, we as a population do have the right to peaceful protest should we deem it necessary—I am not disputing that. And yes, those people who reside in a country, whether they be religious personnel such as the Buddhist monks or regular patrons of society are entitled to feeling safe in the place they call home—that too, I would not debate. However, what I do not agree with is the fact that violent acts were committed by both parties. An act of hate is still wrong no matter how big or small it may be. And, in all honesty, who are we to decide what makes an act of hatred “worse” than other. Burning a Qaran is of course going to cause a stir amongst people of the Muslim faith. They hold the utmost respect for their religion and symbols that embody that religion. Their rage in regard to disrespect of their religion was displayed in their rebuttal against the cartoon of Mohammad. However, with the burning of the Qaran, as D.H mentioned, there is no significant proof that this was in fact the work of a Buddhist; the picture may have even been doctored. I do feel as though the Muslims were quick to place the blame on Buddhists in order to justify their actions. In order to prevent these events from happening in the future, perhaps there could be more global initiatives to unify the different religions of the world, a sort of spin off on the “accepting differences and celebrating them” that Lindsey mentioned above. As for whose job it should be to control these issues the answer is simple. All of us. Each of us should be responsible for doing our part in being more accepting of those around us. We may not always agree with the opinions and decisions of the people with whom we share the world, but at the end of the day, we just have to remember those four words: we share the world. If we wish to live in a world that is more peaceful, accepting and harmonious, we each have to take a step towards making it so.
ReplyDelete(1)http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/10/04/sri-lankas-buddhist-monks-protest-bangladesh-violence-2/