Please send a copy of this write up to Amnesty Internations.
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Terrorism is a war on information. Boko Haram and ISIS for example conduct brutal killings for the effect. The after effect. The Chibok girls incident led to a global outcry after which Boko Haram started to kidnap more girls and woman in order to increase its notoriety. ISIS stage killings, in artistic format, in order to provoke outcry. Terrorism is not the act- - its the outcry.
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The world was a better place when these third world countries which cannot govern themselves were colonized by the West. There, I said it, with no apologies. Any faults of that time are outweighed by all of the tragedies of the present.
This is a horrible situation and I hope that Nigerians along with the African Union can put a halt to it before this Boko Haram ideology spreads further in o the neighboring nations, such as it is attempted with Chad and Cameroon.
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The most horrific element of Boko Haram is not that it is just mindless or godless. The most horrific element is that they are armed. Well armed. Their victims are not. They are helpless. Unarmed, helpless people cannot face down Boko Haram fighters armed with AK 47 automatic rifles and other lethal weapons.
People who cannot defend themselves are doomed. I know that this comment will be attacked by those who believe that I'm a gun nut. Or worse. A member of the NRA. Or even worse. That I own a "black rifle" or semi-auto pistol.
I am not a gun nut. I was member of a high school rifle team and the Boy Scouts. I also am an Army veteran, 1967 vintage. Yes, I do own an AR type rifle and old Ruger 77/22. But I am not a gun nut. Not by any stretch.
However, I strongly believe that here in America Boko Haram or any of its ilk wouldn't survive for 15 minutes. We have a very special right to have an armed population of American Citizens. We also have a tradition of hunting and self defense. Not a wild west tradition. But a tradition of citizen soldiers.
Boko Haram exists and thrives because the local population cannot defend itself.
Tribal warfare where one side is hopelessly outgunned is simply slaughter and butchery.
To those who want to end our 2nd Amendment rights, take note. Boko Haram and ISIS and many other butchers are just waiting. They will strike when the target is soft enough. Nigeria is the target now. Who will be next?
People who cannot defend themselves are doomed. I know that this comment will be attacked by those who believe that I'm a gun nut. Or worse. A member of the NRA. Or even worse. That I own a "black rifle" or semi-auto pistol.
I am not a gun nut. I was member of a high school rifle team and the Boy Scouts. I also am an Army veteran, 1967 vintage. Yes, I do own an AR type rifle and old Ruger 77/22. But I am not a gun nut. Not by any stretch.
However, I strongly believe that here in America Boko Haram or any of its ilk wouldn't survive for 15 minutes. We have a very special right to have an armed population of American Citizens. We also have a tradition of hunting and self defense. Not a wild west tradition. But a tradition of citizen soldiers.
Boko Haram exists and thrives because the local population cannot defend itself.
Tribal warfare where one side is hopelessly outgunned is simply slaughter and butchery.
To those who want to end our 2nd Amendment rights, take note. Boko Haram and ISIS and many other butchers are just waiting. They will strike when the target is soft enough. Nigeria is the target now. Who will be next?
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Has any one investigated who is arming the Boko Harram?
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There is no evidence for Boko Haram, there is no evidence for any misdeeds ascribed to Boko Haram or to the misdeeds themselves. Please provide proof of the group and its supposed misdeeds by something other than "reliance on authority", and "circular logic" which is not only fallacious logic but has entranced the great unwashed and untrained minds of the masses and forced them to submit without reason for millennia.
Assuming that all the comments are being posted by the NY Times in a timely fashion, it is a sad commentary on our almost complete lack of interest in any topic related to Africa.
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Those who think that reason will save the day should think again. The Nazis were eminently rational yet perpetuated horrific crimes against humanity. Communism was and is officially atheistic, yet between them Russia and China have probably killed 200 million people.
Reason doesn't operate in a vacuum. It rests on assumptions we make about how the world works. We use it to operate in the world. If you believe that Jews are the greatest evil in the world, then it makes sense to try and eliminate them. So reason isn't going to help us. What is required is for people to develop love and compassion for others. When this is done then reason can really be put to good use.
Reason doesn't operate in a vacuum. It rests on assumptions we make about how the world works. We use it to operate in the world. If you believe that Jews are the greatest evil in the world, then it makes sense to try and eliminate them. So reason isn't going to help us. What is required is for people to develop love and compassion for others. When this is done then reason can really be put to good use.
Chika Oduah had a narrow escape. What would become of her, had she been captured by the Boko Haram fighters?
A former Boko Haram captive, who had managed to escape, after being held for 5 months, told the BBC that she saw some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls committing atrocities in Nigeria.
"People were tied and laid down and the girls took it from there… The Chibok girls slit their throats."
She didn't condemn these girls.
"Its not their fault they were forced to do it." she added. "Anyone who see the Chibok girls has to feel sorry for them."
A former Boko Haram captive, who had managed to escape, after being held for 5 months, told the BBC that she saw some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls committing atrocities in Nigeria.
"People were tied and laid down and the girls took it from there… The Chibok girls slit their throats."
She didn't condemn these girls.
"Its not their fault they were forced to do it." she added. "Anyone who see the Chibok girls has to feel sorry for them."
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Boko Haram exists in a world totally unlike ours. It is hard for us to understand because we import our ideas of reality.
They exist in a different reality, of magic and of abandonment.
"villagers said use magic charms to disappear into the air." They are said to be "demons" or "ghosts."
THERE ARE NO SOLDIERS. Remember all the soldiers in our airports after 9/11? They've got Boko Haram running around breaking into homes, and no soldiers.
It isn't for lack of soldiers. They have a big army. It draws much of the government budget. It recruits from among the victims. Yet it isn't there when needed. The leadership doesn't send it. Abandonment to ghosts and demons is what happens.
The "problem" isn't JUST Boko Haram. Where are the soldiers and why is this evil according magical powers? That enables the evil.
The victims are the helpless caught in the middle. I don't blame them. The educated, corrupt elite who run the country and set the national terms of discussion? Them I blame.
They exist in a different reality, of magic and of abandonment.
"villagers said use magic charms to disappear into the air." They are said to be "demons" or "ghosts."
THERE ARE NO SOLDIERS. Remember all the soldiers in our airports after 9/11? They've got Boko Haram running around breaking into homes, and no soldiers.
It isn't for lack of soldiers. They have a big army. It draws much of the government budget. It recruits from among the victims. Yet it isn't there when needed. The leadership doesn't send it. Abandonment to ghosts and demons is what happens.
The "problem" isn't JUST Boko Haram. Where are the soldiers and why is this evil according magical powers? That enables the evil.
The victims are the helpless caught in the middle. I don't blame them. The educated, corrupt elite who run the country and set the national terms of discussion? Them I blame.
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"Boko Haram exists in a world totally unlike ours. It is hard for us to understand because we import our ideas of reality."
Yet the world of Boko Haram is a world in which our ancestors, not that long ago, lived.
George Santayana wrote, ""Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
But most people never get around to actually learning about the past, or the present, because they are self-absorbed living their own realities while denying any realities that conflict with their own realities.
Yet the world of Boko Haram is a world in which our ancestors, not that long ago, lived.
George Santayana wrote, ""Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
But most people never get around to actually learning about the past, or the present, because they are self-absorbed living their own realities while denying any realities that conflict with their own realities.
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The scope of the violence is too great for me to comprehend as well.
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The religious references in this article were interesting. The villagers see Boko Haram as ghosts, the Muslim as godless, and the Boko Haram themselves as fundamentalist Muslims. The problem is the battle between superstition and rationality. Once you accept that there can be a supernatural, then any view of the supernatural is just as valid as any other non-falsifiable view. How can we judge! We will not have a safe world until reason wins out over superstition, the latter including the sanctioned and protected superstition of religion.
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While people obsess over the Israeli treatment of Palestinians, ramping up the BDS movement as a cloaked expression of anti-Semitism, Boko Haram spreads evil and terror in the name of Islam, yet again corrupting the potential for Muslims to enjoy a normal society. Sad...the world's focus is upside-down, inside-out.
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Palestinians, who were dispossessed of their lands by Israel, are entitled to be treated humanely. Being Muslim doesn't not mean they are excluded from humanity.
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Every story about Boko Haram sends shivers down my spine. It isn't the barbarism in the north that is so truly disturbing, but the relative indifference in the south. If fundamentalist Christians in Kansas began killing and abducting children en masse, would so much of the nation respond with a shrug?
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Groups like Boko Harum exist because in the Post-Historic West we have lost all of our Historic values, as described by Francis Fukuyama in "The End of History?" (1989):
"The end of history will be a very sad time. The struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one's life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism, will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands. In the post-historical period there will be neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history" (p. 17).
In fact, the only people who defend OUR Historic western values are people like Malala, a 17-year-old Pakistani Muslim girl.
"The end of history will be a very sad time. The struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one's life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism, will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands. In the post-historical period there will be neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history" (p. 17).
In fact, the only people who defend OUR Historic western values are people like Malala, a 17-year-old Pakistani Muslim girl.
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If the NIgerian military want to defeat Boko Haram on the battlefield they have to get rid of the ineffectual officers, pay and train their troops decently and start treating the civilian population respectfully. However, the real solution has to be political. The Government in Abuja has to get serious about corruption and start developing the country. The fact that Nigeria still gets so much foreign assistance is a shame and even a joke. Why should the fat-cats develop jobs when the international community is spending tens of millions to do it for them. Nigeria's foreign-aid curse is almost as bad as its resource curse. Both have to be treated together.
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Nigeria does not have a real government, it has a sham government that serves the purpose of making Nigeria look legitimate so WE can buy Nigeria's oil from Nigeria's generals.
Nigeria's is NOT cursed by foreign aid.
Nigeria is cursed by OUR desire to control Nigeria's oil, which is destroying Nigeria's environment with almost no money trickling down to the average person.
Nigeria's is NOT cursed by foreign aid.
Nigeria is cursed by OUR desire to control Nigeria's oil, which is destroying Nigeria's environment with almost no money trickling down to the average person.
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It is sad commentary on Western society that the main defenders of Western values and ideals are Malala, a 17-year-old Pakistani Muslim girl, and Jimmy Carter, the 90-year-old former U.S. president, who was defeated by Ronald Reagan and who most Americans remember as being a "failure."
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How can we hope to help and protect people whose reality is steeped in magic and sorcery? And, why is this not a problem for Africans?
This is a horrible situation but there are many like it in the world and they cannot all be solved with American blood and treasure!
This is a horrible situation but there are many like it in the world and they cannot all be solved with American blood and treasure!
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Who exactly is asking for American blood or treasure to be spent in this conflict?
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From my perspective extremists of any and all faiths are equally terrifying irrational and immoral. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Shinto, Sikhs, Mormons, Catholics and Protestants have shed blood, sweat and tears on par with and exceeding "pagans." This look at "darkest " Africa could be Gaza, Iraq, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan or a European past that has not passed.
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A chilling reminder of what some people are facing in their daily lives. It continues to anger me that those high school girls have fallen out of the news and still have not been rescued. Thank you to Chika Oduah for your brave journalism.
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