A Smiling Face Sometimes Hides Unspeakable Evil
Because I find trivia fascinating, as a young man I would often walk up and down the aisles of the Bayonne Public Library (a bit of trivia: Andrew Carnegie donated $50,000 for its construction in 1903) looking for books on subjects that were of no interest to me. Anyone can read material that interests them, but it takes a wandering and wondering mind to take on stuff of absolutely no use or value.
The task was accomplished rather simply: walk randomly about, stick out a hand a pull a book off the shelf. No matter what the topic, no matter how thick the bundle of pages, no matter the topic, I would read the book from start to finish. I reasoned that the author took some time writing it, it must have something interesting inside. And indeed, it always did.
I learned of many things through this forced serendipity:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings.
Now with the Internet it is infinitely easier to wander. Earlier today I was surfing through Action Figure dolls (I have no interest in action figure dolls) when I came upon the fellow you see at the top right of this post.
There was something about his white face, the green hairdo, the black tie, the wide red smile hiding some dark evil when it came to me as I let the word "evil" flit through my mind.
I remembered now. A seemingly innocuous thing of white and green and black and a wide red smile hiding an unspeakable evil.
What you see here is the flag of the Organization of Islamic Conference. It looks benign, doesn't it?
Standing behind the Organization of Islamic Conference are 57 member states, most of which are Muslim majority nations. You will not find on the Internet a flag of the Organization of Christian Conference although there are many countries that are majority Christian. You will not find on the Internet a flag of the Organization of Buddhist Conference although there are many countries that are majority Buddhist. I won't mention a flag of the Organization of Jewish Conference since there is only one Jewish state.
The reason there is a flag for an Islamic Union, is that Muslims do not think of themselves as members of this country or that - they only think of themselves as one political entity - members of the Islamic state. The Christians in Italy think of themselves as Italians. The Christians in France think of themselves as French. The Buddhists in Thailand think of themselves as Thai. Buddhists in Mongolia think of themselves as Mongol and would never think of uniting politically with the Buddhists of Thailand, South Korea, or Cambodia. This is so because the Christian religion, like the Buddhist religion is not a political entity as is Islam.
Sadly, most Americans do not realize the evil and danger behind an Organization of Islamic Conference. It does have that smiley face, after all.
Disclaimer: I have not been reimbursed or paid to endorse any action figures discussed in this article nor do I have an economic interest in the company or website promoting them.
