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I am sure many of you have already read the recent news regarding the order handed down by the US commander in Afghanistan regarding the lowering of national flags and the flying of the Afghanistan flags on all coalition bases. If not here is the link:
http://dgpa-dgap.mil.ca/DGPA/ntl/060302/f00261aa.htm
Hopefully it works.
I am curious as to what most folks think regarding this. At first I guess the argument could be made that it would be a small gesture not even worth discussing, however I find we in Canada / North America tend to take small gestures for granted. In my experience many "Culturaly Sensitive" nations hold their visual national identifiers in high regards as many (not all) of them also have religious and or traditional affiliation to the nations structure. With this in mind what kind of message would the coalition leadership be sending these folks if we are willing to lower our own colors and replace them with theirs. Forgive me if I offend anyone I am not trying to push any buttons or even suggest that Canada is bowing down to the Afghan government. I do however have a concern in that by doing what we think is "culturaly sensitive" we may be showing the population there that our Flag (which to the majority of Canadians represents Freedom, Diversity, Family Value, Unity) can easily be put aside for the good of the nation we are helping. If so then what do you say to a local who would view us as a people who are willing to set aside our own traditions and values? As a Canadian I believe we can show our support by flying the Afghanistan Flag beside the Canadian flag to show unity and support for their cause without sacrificing the pride of flying our colors. Having been overseas most of you understand thata not every day is the same, and those days were home seems farther away than most others, it would be nice to look up and see our national emblem greet us. I would venture that the flying of both national flags would send a greater message to the taliban that there are other nations who will no longer stand for abuses and mistreatment of human kind.
My final point on this is what do you say to the young soldier in your coy, troop, flight, who is a practicing Christian, Budhist, Hindu, Free Nation who cannot express his time of worship due to the fact he may insult a local... short story, I was posted to the persian Gulf region about 3 years ago and a soldier prayed over his meal. No big deal right? To each their own right? We need to be culturaly sensitive do we not? So what? he prayed before eating. Well he was approached and asked to stop doing that as the locals in the Kitchen ( some were muslims) took great offense to this. The member stopped out of fear of being expatriated. I guess I can be called bias as I am a practicing Christian, however, I have my faith and a right to practice it. I understand being in a muslim nation this activity would bring me risk I would be willing to take for myself, I would definately consider the repercussions to the rest of the soldiers in the organization, but how far should the pendulum swing? Thoughts?
"It goes back to the cultural sensitivity training that we did back in <Canada>. This is not <Canada>, this is the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (and) we've got to respect their cultures and traditions," Brig.-Gen. Fraser said.
http://dgpa-dgap.mil.ca/DGPA/ntl/060302/f00261aa.htm
Hopefully it works.
I am curious as to what most folks think regarding this. At first I guess the argument could be made that it would be a small gesture not even worth discussing, however I find we in Canada / North America tend to take small gestures for granted. In my experience many "Culturaly Sensitive" nations hold their visual national identifiers in high regards as many (not all) of them also have religious and or traditional affiliation to the nations structure. With this in mind what kind of message would the coalition leadership be sending these folks if we are willing to lower our own colors and replace them with theirs. Forgive me if I offend anyone I am not trying to push any buttons or even suggest that Canada is bowing down to the Afghan government. I do however have a concern in that by doing what we think is "culturaly sensitive" we may be showing the population there that our Flag (which to the majority of Canadians represents Freedom, Diversity, Family Value, Unity) can easily be put aside for the good of the nation we are helping. If so then what do you say to a local who would view us as a people who are willing to set aside our own traditions and values? As a Canadian I believe we can show our support by flying the Afghanistan Flag beside the Canadian flag to show unity and support for their cause without sacrificing the pride of flying our colors. Having been overseas most of you understand thata not every day is the same, and those days were home seems farther away than most others, it would be nice to look up and see our national emblem greet us. I would venture that the flying of both national flags would send a greater message to the taliban that there are other nations who will no longer stand for abuses and mistreatment of human kind.
My final point on this is what do you say to the young soldier in your coy, troop, flight, who is a practicing Christian, Budhist, Hindu, Free Nation who cannot express his time of worship due to the fact he may insult a local... short story, I was posted to the persian Gulf region about 3 years ago and a soldier prayed over his meal. No big deal right? To each their own right? We need to be culturaly sensitive do we not? So what? he prayed before eating. Well he was approached and asked to stop doing that as the locals in the Kitchen ( some were muslims) took great offense to this. The member stopped out of fear of being expatriated. I guess I can be called bias as I am a practicing Christian, however, I have my faith and a right to practice it. I understand being in a muslim nation this activity would bring me risk I would be willing to take for myself, I would definately consider the repercussions to the rest of the soldiers in the organization, but how far should the pendulum swing? Thoughts?
"It goes back to the cultural sensitivity training that we did back in <Canada>. This is not <Canada>, this is the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (and) we've got to respect their cultures and traditions," Brig.-Gen. Fraser said.
