Reflections of a naïve mind

Am I allowed to not understanding what the hell is going on in this world?

Let me explain myself.

Yesterday Danny Danon was interview by Teymoor Nabili in Talks to Al Jazeera. Danon is a deputy speaker in the Knesset and belongs to the Likud party (whose president is B. Netanhayu) and nowadays, the ruling party in Israel. Is well known that this party falls in the right side of the politics but Danon is just further right, nearly falling from the edge. This bright new actor in the Israeli politics is one of the main supporters from the Boycott Law and is pushing to wider the settlements and he believes in the Jewish continuity (whatever does that mean, biologically-wise speaking). Finally, Danon considers that the Israeli governament has done nothing that breaks the Oslo Accord (meaning that they have never carried out any unilateral action that would eventually condition the Israel-Palestinian negotiations) but thinks that Abbas has taken an unilateral action by going to the UN to try to legitimate the Palestinian State.

Before going further, I must say that for those who are not really interested in Israel-Palestinian politics, the interview is still worth watching just to see Nabili's faces, quotations and resumes. They are priceless.

Anyway. We are all usually very readily easy to say that Islam is more an exclusive than inclusive religion. There has been lately various voices saying that there is a threat for the western values/way of life when the muslim people are settled in the community; mainly because they are not integrated. Other voices say that Islam is a beligerant religion and that there is a secret plan to convert all the world (let's hide under the pillow what the Christian missioners did a few centuries ago). Well. First of all, make clear that I am not christian nor muslim nor jewish. I am basically against any religion that considers that have the right to convert other people or invade others countries because "God said..."; therefore I am probably against the so-called Religions of the Book (shall we make an exercise of remembering that the three religions come from the same root?).

Historically this "because God said" was atributed to the Islam, but interestingly Danon uses the exact same reason to validate the Israeli settlements and their fight against Palestinians. Now, my question is, are we going to go mad because they are justifying their actions using a book "written" ages ago? (I am here blindly accepting that the book was actually written and not made up). Because that's what is actually happening with that mass madness against all the muslims. I am not gonna insult the jewish community by even considering that they think the same as this far-right MP. As well as I am not gonna even dare to think that there is not a muslim extremist side that is actually really concerning. I am only wondering why we seem to easily justify ones and critisize the others, using different strainers for the exact same issue.

I find quite funny, maybe because I am thick minded and naïve, that we are ready to high value an exchange program to any european, american or asian country when we are studying, we think that the more languages one can study the better, we also consider that traveling broadens our mind and is therefore highly recommended. In fact, all three characteristics are highly considered when applying for a job. Yet, we are still reluctant to talk with no restrictions and to open our door to new people, mainly if they are from the Middle East (usually the others are more easily accepted). I wouldn't consider that the example of a tolerant or inclusive culture, let alone a respectful one.

Allow me to comment another point that Mr. Danon has lighten up and, being a human biologist and having studied a bit of history, has struck me. What the hell is the Jewish continuity? Or let me be more general, what the hell is etnic continuity? Biologically that means exactly not a single thing. Who can safely say that all the family (not only the close one, but also all the ancestors) belong to the same religion/clan/community/group? Let me be clear, no one. Maybe they consider only the past, pick a random number and, say 4 generations. Are they going to ask for the genealogic tree and make sure that there has been no external input or cultural exchange? If we are going to be picky about our origins, let's bring the issue to the absurd and say that we all come from a hand-full of Anatomically Modern Homo Sapiens who appeared in Africa 200.000 years before present (BP) and left the nest around 70.000 years (BP). Now, we are all the same, therefore, we don't need the genealogic tree nor ask for a blood test/genetic background to date that lovely and smiley person we love. After that, it seems useless to comment what I think about the couples formed by two people who come from different areas/backgrounds/cultures. I would just say that I would be really happy and feel really lucky if I am ever able to transmit the priceless value of the cultural mix to my children (if I ever have one).

The religion should be a personal choise, not imposed, not inherited. Needless to say that it shouldn't be an excuse to repress, exclude, marginalize someone else. Since using it to support an offense or attack, not only insults the people that peacefully follows this same religion, but shows that there are not sensible reasons to justify these actions. It's time to grow up, set aside the religion differences and work together for the things that actually matter and try to make this crazy world a bit better for the next generations.

And I will cross fingers and hope that there are more people who think like this way because if not, we are going to lose an unvaluable part of ourselves.

My ancestors clearly come from .... well, you know, from some point on this map. Bearing in mind that this map only shows the Out of Africa episode. I should add on top, all the migrations of iberians, phoenicians, greeks and romans; to start with only during the Ancient Times. And I shouldn't forget that these people also had their own genealogic history...