Disaster Risk Reduction Predator Prevention

Part of my way of keeping abreast of what is happening in the world, is to read English versions of online newspapers from different countries. It is preferable to read such things in the original language, but my language skills are not adequate.


Recent reading provided comments from a politician, who said that young immigrant men from an Islamic culture,  were acting within "cultural norms" when they sexually abused and exploited young girls and children. There was an explosion of controversy about those comments.


I have no Islamic background, but those comments were offensive even to me. I have known some nice Islamic people who would be as aghast at the behavior of those young hoodlums as anyone.


It is not part of Islamic culture or religion to exploit girls and children, or sexually assault or coerce them into prostitution. This sort of behavior comes from a situation where a whole population has post traumatic stress disorder, because of continual civil unrest and wars. People's behavior under such circumstances, degenerates into more of a law of the jungle, than Sharia Law or any other form of laws.


Young people growing up in those circumstances can miss a chance to have any coherent idea of behavior besides the law of the jungle. Those hoodlums were predators. 


They were preying on the weak. They do not need to hear about the history of women's rights. They need to hear that in Western civilizations, the police are intended to stand in for any weak or helpless person. The police are meant to act in the place of the nearest male relative to defend widows, orphans, and unmarried women. Society will not tolerate the law-of-the-jungle behavior and nobody is meant to be prey for the taking.


This is, of course, an idealized version of how we would like for our society to be. We know too well that some of our police are only criminals with badges. We all hope that most police are honest and mean to perform their duties to the best of their ability. 


We can all tell newcomers, regardless of where we live or where they came from, about the best ideals in their new home. We can tell them, so that we can hear these words ourselves, and strive to make them true, along with the recent immigrants.