Need to open our eyes
The US has never been a country that can be considered fair to all (“How lasting is America’s Islamophobic disposition?”, Gulf News, January 4). All the minorities, be it Irish Americans, Hispanics, African Americans or Muslims, have faced and still face some form of discrimination in one way or the other. In the present situation, Islamophobia is in the forefront and the reasons for that are many. The prime ones being the negative portrayals of the Muslim community through various media outlets, lack of opportunities to know about Islam and mingle with ordinary Muslims, the absence of inclusive education and last but not the least ignorant, unhelpful and non-cooperative stance of some Muslims. This Islamophobia is there to continue until major reforms happen in the mindsets of the general public. For that, along with the government, Islamic scholars as well as ordinary Muslims of the country have a great role to play. Only through their sincere efforts the world can truly realise how peaceful a religion Islam really is.
From Ms Sajida Kamal
Abu Dhabi
Interesting news
I’m confused as to how he found his mother like that (“This guy claims Aishwarya Rai is his mother”, Gulf news, January 4). He needs to find out about his father. Originally, he is not Indian and is from Britain. As he said he was born in London, he must be having a house in London, instead of loafing around in Andhra Pradesh. Let him go to London and enjoy, his relations might be waiting there. We all know that actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is happily married to Abhishek Bachchan and they have a lovely daughter named Aaradhya. It would be interesting to see if the Bachchan family reacts to this news or not.
From Mr Ikram Mohammad
UAE
The essential grove of life
It’s inspiring and thrilling to know that Liza Goldberg at the age of 14, was selected to help scientists at NASA to use satellite data to map mangroves, muddy, tangled rainforest which are very critical ecosystems (“Maryland teen develops map system at Nasa”, Gulf News, January 2). Goldberg has developed the world’s first satellite early warning system to determine where mangroves are threatened. Mangroves are the lifelines of the ecosystem, as they store huge amounts of carbon, fish, shrimps and other marine life, which will become endangered. In general, due to high human intervention and climate change we are losing vast areas of mangroves and high fragile marine life. Climate change is a major factor, and if we do not control our human activities, which destroy the existence of our Earth, then all living things including our marine life will perish. We hope the new data system to locate the mangroves will be shared internationally and respective countries will take appropriate measures to protect the mangroves and ecosystems.
From Mr Eappen Elias
Dubai
New kind of female roles
In the past decade, women have made great strides in all spheres, social and political. It’s always heartwarming to see a fellow woman break barriers. But even die-hard feminists would be baffled to hear the news that this year, we may get to see a female James Bond (“James Bond could be a woman next”, Gulf News, January 2). James bond is the most racist, sexist and obnoxious character ever to grace English literature. James Bond is loosely based on the author, Ian Fleming, who led a controversial life, which included extra-marital and abusive affairs. Though over years directors have tried to tone down the self-inflicted notions of supremacy and inherent snobbery of the World War II era, the movies of the past are cringe-worthy and offensive. All foreign women in the movies were shown to be lusting after Bond, and foreign men were shown as imbeciles who got outwitted by the agent. Cool gadgets were the only saving grace. Why on Earth would any self-respecting woman think such a character is cool? What are we going to achieve with a female Bond? Feminism doesn’t mean women have to replace a man. It means we women have to be comfortable in our skin. Instead of trying to fit a woman into the megalomaniac shoes of Bond, it would be better to create a new female character who would be suave without being offensive.
From Ms Mariam Jinnah
Ajman
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