Spitz: A small story big enough to scare al-Qaeda - News - The Villager - Northborough, MA
Spitz: A small story big enough to scare al-Qaeda
If you know the name Malala Yousafzai, you're ticking off the Taliban. Even if you don't know her name, but are vaguely aware there's a Pakistani teen in a hospital in England, struggling to recover after being shot in the head by terrorist thugs who wanted to make an example of her, you're ticking off the Taliban. And al-Qaeda, too.
If you know the name Malala Yousafzai, you're ticking off the Taliban.
Even if you don't know her name, but are vaguely aware there's a Pakistani teen in a hospital in England, struggling to recover after being shot in the head by terrorist thugs who wanted to make an example of her, you're ticking off the Taliban.
And al-Qaeda, too.
They claim it's just the attention of "ruling circles,'' which apparently includes teen star Selena Gomez, that's the problem here, but, surprise, surprise, they're wrong. It's the fact that ordinary, average people in places like Birmingham, England, or Bellingham, Mass., are paying attention to the story that has the Taliban and al-Qaeda sputtering perverse spin control and acting scared.
Google around and you'll find al-Qaeda's Pakistani spokesman has been issuing statements about how he doesn't understand why people care about this one girl and not the thousands of women who die because of poverty or who are killed in military operations.
I can't think of a time I've agreed with anything put out by an al-Qaeda propagandist, but he does have a point.
For whatever reason, perhaps because mass suffering is something we feel powerless to fix, perhaps because it's easier to identify with one person than thousands, most every cause gains attention because of one person.
Malala's story encapsulates what young women face in places where radical Islamic fundamentalism thrives.
Brief synopsis: Malala, a 15-year-old with the guts to champion the idea that girls deserve to go to school, was attracting attention. Not enough to make her name known to many Americans, but enough that she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize. Which caused the local Taliban in her region of Pakistan to feel threatened enough that its local leader ordered a hit on her. She was shot in the head, and two other girls were hit as well, while riding on a bus Oct. 9.
"This attack created shockwaves in the ruling circles around the world,'' al-Qaeda mouthpiece Ustad Ahmad Farooq said in a statement released a few days later. "They issued a number of statements condemning the attack on Malala. I may ask why? Why is Malala's blood more important than those killed by the army?''
It is not a value judgment on the worthiness of a person's blood, Mr. Farooq. What makes the attack on Malala so noteworthy is the shockwaves aren't confined to "ruling circles,'' whatever you consider those to be. The shock is felt by the average, ordinary school kids in Pakistan who held signs saying "I am Malala.'' And average, ordinary parents around the globe who have seen the story on TV. And yes, Selena Gomez, who tweeted her support for Malala to legions of Twitter followers. Even an education official in Afghanistan stepped up to say how despicable this was.
The Taliban's response, according to reports from The News International, has been to order a hit on another girl in Pakistan, Hina Khan, who has also had the gall to be mouthy about school for girls. She "has invited the wrath of the Taliban for the same cause that prompted Mullah Fazlullah to dispatch his hit men to (the district of) Swat to target Malala,'' The News International reported on Tuesday.
The Taliban then provided a statement to the press attempting to justify the Taliban's fundamental right to kill young girls.
"The Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is not opposed to female education but it is against the co-education system and the secular teachings which clearly violate the Islamic Shariah,'' Ehsanullah Ehsan, a man identified as a TTP spokesman, said in a statement quoted in The News International story. "If anyone thinks that Malala was targeted due to her quest for education, that is absolutely wrong and stinking media propaganda. Malala was targeted because of her lead role in preaching secularism and so-called enlightened moderation. Whoever does the same in the future will be targeted by the TTP.''
OK, then. No more stinking media propaganda from this side of the world, Mr. Ehsan. It's enlightened moderation that warrants a death sentence for girls.
Will a teen being shot on a bus be a catalyst for change in Pakistan the way Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus was in America?
Perhaps so, perhaps not.
But when a young girl can scare the Taliban and al-Qaeda members into trying to defend the indefensible, she has achieved something truly remarkable.
Malala Yousafzai has united people of different faiths and backgrounds and shown them exactly how cowardly the forces of evil really are.
Spitz: A small story big enough to scare al-Qaeda - News - The Villager - Northborough, MA
Spitz: A small story big enough to scare al-Qaeda
If you know the name Malala Yousafzai, you're ticking off the Taliban. Even if you don't know her name, but are vaguely aware there's a Pakistani teen in a hospital in England, struggling to recover after being shot in the head by terrorist thugs who wanted to make an example of her, you're ticking off the Taliban. And al-Qaeda, too.
If you know the name Malala Yousafzai, you're ticking off the Taliban.
Even if you don't know her name, but are vaguely aware there's a Pakistani teen in a hospital in England, struggling to recover after being shot in the head by terrorist thugs who wanted to make an example of her, you're ticking off the Taliban.
And al-Qaeda, too.
They claim it's just the attention of "ruling circles,'' which apparently includes teen star Selena Gomez, that's the problem here, but, surprise, surprise, they're wrong. It's the fact that ordinary, average people in places like Birmingham, England, or Bellingham, Mass., are paying attention to the story that has the Taliban and al-Qaeda sputtering perverse spin control and acting scared.
Google around and you'll find al-Qaeda's Pakistani spokesman has been issuing statements about how he doesn't understand why people care about this one girl and not the thousands of women who die because of poverty or who are killed in military operations.
I can't think of a time I've agreed with anything put out by an al-Qaeda propagandist, but he does have a point.
For whatever reason, perhaps because mass suffering is something we feel powerless to fix, perhaps because it's easier to identify with one person than thousands, most every cause gains attention because of one person.
Malala's story encapsulates what young women face in places where radical Islamic fundamentalism thrives.
Brief synopsis: Malala, a 15-year-old with the guts to champion the idea that girls deserve to go to school, was attracting attention. Not enough to make her name known to many Americans, but enough that she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize. Which caused the local Taliban in her region of Pakistan to feel threatened enough that its local leader ordered a hit on her. She was shot in the head, and two other girls were hit as well, while riding on a bus Oct. 9.
"This attack created shockwaves in the ruling circles around the world,'' al-Qaeda mouthpiece Ustad Ahmad Farooq said in 
a statement released a few days later. "They issued a number of statements condemning the attack on Malala. I may ask why? Why is Malala's blood more important than those killed by the army?''
It is not a value judgment on the worthiness of a person's blood, Mr. Farooq. What makes the attack on Malala so noteworthy is the shockwaves aren't confined to "ruling circles,'' whatever you consider those to be. The shock is felt by the average, ordinary school kids in Pakistan who held signs saying "I am Malala.'' And average, ordinary parents around the globe who have seen the story on TV. And yes, Selena Gomez, who tweeted her support for Malala to legions of Twitter followers. Even an education official in Afghanistan stepped up to say how despicable this was.
The Taliban's response, according to reports from The News International, has been to order a hit on another girl in Pakistan, Hina Khan, who has also had the gall to be mouthy about school for girls. She "has invited the wrath of the Taliban for the same cause that prompted Mullah Fazlullah to dispatch his hit men to (the district of) Swat to target Malala,'' The News International reported on Tuesday.
The Taliban then provided a statement to the press attempting to justify the Taliban's fundamental right to kill young girls.
"The Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is not opposed to female education but it is against the co-education system and the secular teachings which clearly violate the Islamic Shariah,'' Ehsanullah Ehsan, a man identified as a TTP spokesman, said in a statement quoted in The News International story. "If anyone thinks that Malala was targeted due to her quest for education, that is absolutely wrong and stinking media propaganda. Malala was targeted because of her lead role in preaching secularism and so-called enlightened moderation. Whoever does the same in the future will be targeted by the TTP.''
OK, then. No more stinking media propaganda from this side of the world, Mr. Ehsan. It's enlightened moderation that warrants a death sentence for girls.
Will a teen being shot on a bus be a catalyst for change in Pakistan the way Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus was in America?
Perhaps so, perhaps not.
But when a young girl can scare the Taliban and al-Qaeda members into trying to defend the indefensible, she has achieved something truly remarkable.
Malala Yousafzai has united people of different faiths and backgrounds and shown them exactly how cowardly the forces of evil really are.