Looking at television reminded me of how diverse our society is. For example, you can go to New York City to find Americans of different backgrounds, languages, cultures, races and religions. Or, you can hop an Air France jet to Paris and understand that "wee wee" is not a body part.
On Friday, I read a report in the
Washington Post about how the Saudis are producing children's textbooks that praise Islam and rejects other religions such as Christianity and Judaism. The Saudi manufactured children's textbooks are also spreading these intolerant beliefs around the Arab world. Even more scarier is that this hatred of religious cultures is currently being taught in the United States via a Saudi Academy in Washington, D.C. The situation gets worse when the
Saudi Ambassador, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, admits changes eliminating hatred in the textbook to a town hall in Los Angeles:
"The Kingdom has reviewed all of its education practices and materials, and has removed any element that is inconsistent with the needs of a modern education. Not only have we eliminated what might be perceived as intolerance from old text books that were in our system, we have implemented a comprehensive internal revision and modernization plan. New curricula emphasize critical thinking, math, and science, and these curricula also emphasize the teaching of true Islamic values and the positive skills necessary for good citizenship and productivity, as well as how to safeguard community in peace, the environment, health and human rights. In every level of education, from grade school to high school to college, the government has gone so far as to sponsor lectures that promote moderation and tolerance."
According to the same Washington Post article, the previous statements made by Prince Turki Al-Faisal are not true:
A review of a sample of official Saudi textbooks for Islamic studies used during the current academic year reveals that, despite the Saudi government's statements to the contrary, an ideology of hatred toward Christians and Jews and Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine remains in this area of the public school system. The texts teach a dualistic vision, dividing the world into true believers of Islam (the "monotheists") and unbelievers (the "polytheists" and "infidels").
Law enforcement can't do anything about stopping this hate being taught to Saudi students in private academies in the United States because of the First Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing our freedoms of speech, which reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Back to the story. Now, if this hate material is taught to any child, who is innocent and can learn by experience and by the literature which taught to him or her, then he or she will be taught to hate. Thus, more terrorist attacks would occur in the future. For America's sake, I hope that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the State Department in general would take immediate action upon this issue because this educational material spewing hatred is considered to be a weapon of mass destruction.
Here's an example of what is being taught to eighth grade students in Saudi Arabia:
"As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus."
Connecting with the idea of tolerance, the Saudis should revise and transform their teaching methods to youths from the concept of hatred into the "It's a Small World" concept. The "It's a Small World" concept was manufactured by Disney in the early sixties and is available to see in Fantasyland in Disneyworld's Magic Kingdom in Orlando and Disneyland in Los Angeles. The "It's a Small World" concept teaches to children (and to adults) that we are all the same inside, even though we look differently and behave differently and believe differently. If the Saudi government takes an initiative to teach tolerance to the next generation, then the threat of terrorism will decline and the hope of unity will ascend.
Our thirty-second president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." We, as humans can overcome fear by using tolerance. In the end, tolerance can help unify our small world.