The Generation Gap
August 23, 2006I’ve been reading Madhab al-Irfy’s blog for awhile now, so this type of news doesn’t surprise me in the least:
THE founder of Australian mobile phone giant Crazy John’s has attacked “self-appointed” Muslim leaders, accusing them of destroying his community’s progress, and questioning their allegiance to this country.
John Ilhan, one of the nation’s most successful Muslims, yesterday blamed many first-generation community members for being opposed to Western ideals and cultural diversity, and accused them of “conditioning” their children to follow in their footsteps.
“There’s a massive disconnection between what the young and the old think,” he told The Australian yesterday. “They (first-generation Muslims) haven’t experienced life like we have in this society, yet they want to be our mouthpiece.”
Hopefully this is the kind of rallying cry that both left- and right-wing pundits can get behind. It’s obvious now that there’s a huge disconnect between First-Generation Muslim migrants and succeeding generations. This problem needs to be addressed, and soon.
It’s unlikely that people on either side of the political spectrum will want to hear REAL Muslims. The caricatred ones are too interesting and irrelevant. Yes, the whole world is a stage!
Comment by Irfan — September 12, 2006 @ 12:59 am