Boat Ride Up the Napoli Coast

Boat Ride Up the Napoli Coast
The Quigley Expedition to Ka’uai, Hawaii, 8-14-2010

As our Ka’uai tour boat reached the half-way point up the Napoli coast the boat slowed to a stop for our snorkeling opportunity. Almost as soon as the boat stopped the younger, more macho types slipped into the water. Not long after that Mark and Alex adorned themselves with masks and flippers, grabbed a “boogie” board with the clear plastic window, and slid off the boat’s stern deck which was barely above water level. You could tell when Alex was in because the delighted, piercing scream of a 7 year old girl was cut short by the sound of a splash. There was a short pause then excited giggling as she emerged from the ocean depths. Her father helped her onto the boogie board then there was excited talk as they paddled away spotting fish below. Next we heard the reluctant yet excited talk of Lizzy and her mother as they too slipped into the water. Since there was only one boogie board Lizzy climbed onto the safety of a small surf board while one hand held firmly onto her mother. At three years old Lizzy showed more reluctance than Alex but was still thrilled that she could be swimming in the ocean. The swimming classes had paid off. They might not yet be expert swimmers but at least they were not afraid of the water.

Both Lorri and Michelle managed to appear in the water next but with far less fuss or noise. With my game leg it took me longer to get the shoes off and the gear on. But when that was done I managed to limp to the railing and start down the steps. My main impediment was the crew member who insisted on helping me get to the water. But I finely got to the last step, turned and fell backwards into the water. I instantly sensed the power available in the flippers and with a couple of kicks was beside Lorri and Alex, who was now on the surf board while Lizzy was on the boogie board laughing and screaming with exuberance at the fish she saw.

Just then Mark’s heat popped above the surface of the water and he yelled, “Turtle! Dad! It’s headed right toward you”. I quickly secured my mask, blew out my snorkel and stuck my head below the surface. Just then I saw a turtle made huge by its proximity was swimming straight for me. Mark was hot on it’s tail and the turtle was looking behind itself to be sure it was out swimming Mark. But it did not seem afraid. It didn’t want anyone touching it, but it was still hoping for a scrap of food. I was amazed that it was coming straight for me and didn’t seem to be aware I was in its path. With one kick of the flippers I was back out of its way as it glided by me with Mark still on its heels.

Even though the fish were mostly black the bright color of the stripes were amazing. I had to look twice to be sure they were not fake fish with bright neon lights down their sides. But they were real enough and they too had almost no fear as they swam among the people in the water. My only regret was the lack of an underwater camera.

Most of the people were in the water when the captain announced that our snorkeling time was up. As we clambered back onto the boat we were still too excited to be disappointed at the brevity of our visit. The rest of the voyage was anticlimactic even though we saw more turtles—some two feet across, lots of dolphins and also many birds, at a distance, gliding over the water then diving in for an afternoon fish lunch.

Return to Evil vs Human

It took some more thinking than I liked to reach a judgment about the permissibility of building the controversial mosque in NY city. The stumbling block was that there is great harm done by fundamentalist Muslims and that harm is highlighted by the picture on the cover of Time of a beautiful Afghan woman with her nose and ears cut off by the Taliban. Thus when there was argument about whether or not to give the Muslim community permission to build a huge mosque two blocks away from the site of the World Trade Tower/9-11 site, it was to me an open question. I lack much sympathy for the Islamic religion—or any religion, but of late the brutality of the Muslims has been particularly chilling. It seemed unnecessary to build the Mosque so close to the site of the 9-11 disaster when it would be so offensive to so many. Also, the Jewish Anti-Defamation League and many of the relatives of the 9-11 victims opposed it. But on more careful thought it is diversity that is the hallmark of the best of America. The advance of diversity is served by allowing the Islamic religion as much freedom as any other religion. I do not pull back from judging religion as one of the permissible insanities of mankind. But if we are to allow it for one religion we should allow it for others.

If I had my way I would remove the stigma against atheism from the public sphere. I think that sometimes it is hard to sort out what the attitudes of the world actually are, then to shift and think about what they should be. In the case at hand there are some who think that the building of the Mosque should go ahead as an instance of diversity. Then there is the criticism of “liberals” who think that Islam is really just like other religions promoting the good of all people when in fact it is authoritarian , the critics say, and prejudicial and has a lethal attitude toward other religions. My original impression was that Islam is very concrete and is the source of a surprising amount of violence. And the violence manifests in a warlike political way as well as violence toward women. It is likely true that there are moderate Muslims who abhor violence and mistreatment of women. But I keep returning to the question of the relative number of fundamentalist Muslims and of moderate Muslims. One thing I came across today was that the Sunni Muslims in Saudi Arabia are the violent ones and that the Shiites are more moderate. Still, whatever the sect, other religions do not countenance the mistreatment of women with their scriptures so much as the Quran does. Of course my temptation is to dismiss the whole religion as evil. But then things come up such as the mosque in NY and I feel obligated to cut them some slack and treat them like a group that thinks differently than I do but is within the realm of acceptable. Also, I have a hard time dismissing 1.25 billion people as evil at heart. The truth is probably that Islam is the most judgmental and violent and anti-feminist of the major religions of the world. Its adherents accept the religion because it provides simple answers and social acceptance, as well as respectability and the other standard benefits provided by other religions. Adherents accept the harsher aspects as far as their particular group accepts them but condemn the fundamentalists who carry it too far. Hersi Ali’s contention is that when push comes to shove they will accept things like suicide bombings because it is being done by their team and it is being justified by their team. It will be the minority who will defy their religious leaders and break away when it goes too far. That is especially true with an authoritarian religion that discourages thinking for one’s self.

So, in getting to the answer to my question of how many Muslims are ready to abuse women and to approve of the use of violence I would consider unacceptable the questions becomes, ‘How do you tell?’ If even the moderate thinkers would turn on a dime and become violent- or approve of violence-- how can one measure that tendency? It seems to me the answer is to look at some historical events where things got pushed to the point where violence was one of the options. What happened with the average Muslim? Just now I am reading about the incident in Bangladesh that happened in reaction to Hindus in India destroying a Muslim shrine. There was widespread violence on the part of Muslims, the majority in Bangladesh, against Hindus. Many religious shrines were destroyed and many people killed. It could be argued that Bangladesh is a poor and backward country, and that is true. But then I wonder if there any advanced Muslim countries.

So far my judgment is that there are probably some good and moderate Muslim people and some good and moderate Muslim groups of people, but that still Islam is the most primitive, violent and misogynistic religion. Opinion subject to modification.