George W. Bush on US aid for the tsunami victims:
We’re working with the United Nations and with governments around the world to coordinate the comprehensive international response.
Jon Stewart:
“Wha-… ? Did you just … Did he just say he’s working with the United Nations and governments around the world? Tsunami make him kuh-razee.
Value-added services
Colin Powell has described US aid as “American values in action.”
While I applaud US generosity, it should be pointed out those values aren’t just American values.
Those Malaysian prisoners who are donating what little they earn from prison labour, they have those values.
That homeless man in the UK who gave everything he had, he has those values.
Those Canadian Buddishists who are selling their temple with proceeds going to the Red Cross, they have those values.
Those Bam quake survivors who want to help the tsunami victims, they have those values.
For God’s sake
Meanwhile, religious leaders worldwide have been scrambling to rationalise the disaster to the faithful. I was particularly disturbed to see an American rabbi claiming innocent lives were lost because the governments of the tsunami-hit countries allegedly rejected American values. He cited the lack of early warning systems and in a roundabout manner attributes it to “the peculiar fatalism toward death found in so many other cultures.”
I’m sorry but I’m going to have to throw that back in his face: was the US government guilty of rejecting American values when it failed to heed early warnings prior to September 11, 2001? Western Civilization isn’t alone in recognising the importance of human life and to suggest otherwise (even obliquely) is, to borrow a phrase from the rabbi himself, taking “self-indulgence to new heights of obnoxiousness.”
I suppose we should thank Simon Winchester for reminding us religious figures have been known to sow and exploit fear, uncertainty and doubt to affect political change in the aftermath of disasters.
More quotes:
- “Are we too cowed now to even ask if the God can exist that can do such things?“
- “A great tragedy like this is often the catalyst for bad theology offered as soothing counsel from religious professionals.“
- “Disasters do not wipe out faith any more than they wipe out love.“
- “Why don’t we just leave the Almighty alone?“
