Politic?

This is a blog dedicated to a personal interpretation of political news of the day. I attempt to be as knowledgeable as possible before commenting and committing my thoughts to a day's communication.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Portrait of a Canadian Jihadi

"He's a funny guy, he has this personality." Ball hockey team manager
Yes, amusing and personable, always ready to be there, to have some fun, play some ball hockey and in the process, do good, raising funds for a foundation whose purpose is to assist impoverished people. Those hockey tournaments are team-spirited, good-works propositions. You're part of society, make your place in it, and contribute to it. Dr. Khurram Syed Sher certainly knew the value of being appreciated, liked, respected. He was noted as being one of the more dependable team players "He's one of the most sought-after guys", skilled and top-ranking. And funny, funny as hell.
"Have you ever thought of being a comedian?" Judge, Canadian Idol
So funny in fact that he loved to impersonate that which he was not; a backward immigrant, one who dressed in traditional rural Pakistani costume, yet so well attuned to the cool zeitgeist of the pop music industry that he could belt out popular songs at the same time as he was able to charm viewers with the quality of his moon-walking skill. The ultimate contradiction; some young guy just out of the boondocks of Pakistan, yet fully involved in popular culture. Presenting it all with the smooth professionalism of a born comic.
"I really liked the family and we thought he was a good guy." Dr. Sajid Shukoor, father-in-law
Well, one would hope so. Even though such arranged marriages do not necessarily require that the extended family members actually like the fellow they are handing their marriageable daughter over to; their approval in the face of his education level and professional attainment ensuring he would be gainfully employed and respected would suffice. Yet, having sired three children with their daughter, they have invested much in this good guy. Hard to see it evaporate in the miasmic fog of vile jihad, leaving the little family in quite the lurch.
"When I woke up and came to work this morning, this would have been way down my list of things that might have happened. It was very surreal, actually, to hear. Nobody really saw this coming at all." Paul Collins, president/CEO St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital, St.Thomas
Yes, it's tough being a CEO, having to supervise a large professional staff, answerable to the health needs and expectations of a sizeable community. Knowing that the reputation of the hospital hinges on the expert professionalism of the hospital staff. Wincing at the obvious public dismay that someone who was conspiring to create bloody havoc on Parliament Hill and possibly the Montreal Transit System might have been involved in diagnosing one's ills.

A pathologist whose pathological hatred of the West that he lived freely within - taking advantage of its educational system, acquiring the distinction of an specialized M.D., accepting the respect of peers and patients - lays the entire country open to the virology of violent fanaticism unleashed.
"Oh my God, impossible. He's not that type of person. You must be joking. These days, frankly speaking, you cannot even trust your brother or sister. The world is getting nasty." Rafat Syed
Interesting, a bit of candid realism interjected into the public discourse. Interesting that someone quite close to Dr. Sher as an extended family member would react in this manner. Acknowledging the fact that one of his nephews in whom the family itself might have had a misplaced trust as an integral member of Canadian society turned his back on what he had, and raised his face eagerly toward the appeal of violent jihad. Rather than the kind of angry denials seen in other segments of the Muslim community.

What passes for normalcy these days? Why the lives we all live, in harmony with one another, neighbours, community members, acquaintances, working peers, the shopper you see wheeling a superstore grocery cart around the aisles, just as you're doing. Nothing in their appearance might alert to dangerous covert activities whose purpose would be to turn your world upside down in their eagerness to achieve mass slaughter.

Someone born in Canada, for heaven's sake, imbibing, one might believe, the values held dear by most Canadians, including the freedom to be whatever inspires one to aspire to. In Dr. Sher's case, it was to be a medical doctor. To be a husband and a father of three young children, all this accomplished in Canada, to a home-born citizen of the country, at age 28.

Was life so boring for this doctor, with his career, his passionate avocation, his growing young family, his wife's illness to be considered, that he ultimately craved more action, drawing him toward Islamist jihad?

Was the draw toward jihad so irresistible, his hatred for non-Muslims and the world he was most familiar with so completely irreversible that he was prepared to divest himself of the persona and the credentials so familiar to others? Become a stranger to his wife, estranged from his children. What kind of fantasies did this seemingly normal man indulge in?

What messages did he receive from the mosque he attended? As a devout Muslim did he trust the recruiting messages vilifying the West and his country, that he, famished of meaning in his life, devoured on the Internet more than the messages of community and pluralism and the value of citizenship he received from his neighbourhood mosque?

Will he now instruct his lawyer to inform the authorities that this arrest and his 'alleged' links with al-Qaeda represents a huge error on their part? He's a comedian, see. Vitally interested in determining for himself just how vigilant Canadian security is. Now that he knows, he would prefer to make it be known he is innocent of all charges.

He has so instructed his lawyer. Who will now diligently work on behalf of his client to decry the manufactured evidence; in reality a stunt. And the joke's on us.

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