Something is wrong when 'might makes right'.

By now, many of you are aware of the story of the sixteen-year-old girl - dubbed the "hijab teen" by our friends at the Toronto Sun - who was murdered by her father in their suburban home for the crime of not conforming to his construal. Naturally, in the wake of a heinous crime perpetrated by an "other", some of us in the mob, who would have not given a shit about this girl otherwise, have drawn the knives out, painting an entire people with the same brush, demanding to know why we let people like these into our country.

This is a story of a domineering father who snuffed out his daughter's life because she refused to allow him control over it. This is a story of child abuse, a crime committed by parents of any and all ethnic and religious backgrounds. Why don't we pigeon-hole all Christians when Dad beats his children into submission to assert his place as head of the household? Or when the White man has himself a few shots of scotch to cap off a long day at the office, then smacks his child's head against the hard porcelain toilet bowl? How about the White man from British Columbia who killed young women and fed their remains to pigs? Should we be wary of all White men from British Columbia?

Why, then, do we feel the need to pick on an entire people, rather than focus on a man's need for power over his child? Is it because we need another reason to justify our aggression against them? Who are we to condemn the murder of a child, then turn around and condone the systematic murder of thousands upon thousands of children? What about the children, our children, we send off to the killing fields, all the while reassuring them that they're doing their duty to their country? What about the children we murdered when we conquered the land on which we live today? Perhaps we should be barred from this country?

I've seen this passage used time and time again, but I find it befitting for this discussion:

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? - Matthew 7:3

I realize this is a Christian passage, but, given the circumstances, perhaps a Christian passage is needed to awaken the masses. How many children did we allow to be slain in the name of the Christ Jesus? How many children continue to be slain in the name of the Christ Jesus? Are we anyone to condemn this man for his heinous act when we live with the belief that "might makes right"? That people, especially women and children, are to be treated as possessions? This young lady did not die because of some verse in the Qur'an - by the way, have you read the shit the Bible says about women? How does that not make your blood boil, if this did? - but rather because of some patriarchal belief that the man of the household knows what's best for the rest of us, even if he has to use violent means to prove it.

I hope, one day, this young lady, take from us far too soon for no good reason at all, will be allowed to rest in peace. Given our Islamophobia and the need by our media to fan its flames, I highly doubt she will anytime soon.