Zak Ebrahim: I am the son of a terrorist.

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Luis Ko
YOYO member
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註冊時間: 週三 6月 06, 2007 10:18 pm

Zak Ebrahim: I am the son of a terrorist.

文章 Luis Ko »

"Zak Ebrahim: I am the son of a terrorist. Here's how I chose peace."
https://www.ted.com/talks/zak_ebrahim_i ... anguage=en

a speech from TED and a book review, of the speaker's book "The Terrorist's Son: A Story of Choice", written by a lady named Lynda. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2230 ... rist-s-son

guess both of them are quite worth taking a look. just share with you guys lo~ if you are also interested.. :mrgreen:
One of my favourite quotes is from Mahatma Gandhi:

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Zak Ebrahim is a living testament of this quote. He is the son of a terrorist, El Sayyid Nosair, a father who, in 1990, assassinated Meir Kahane, the militant ultra-Orthodox, anti-Arab rabbi and founder of the Jewish Defense League. Zak was just 7 years old. Then, from prison, his father helped plot the 1993 World Trade Center bombing - and was later convicted as one of the conspirators. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

TERRORISM - there is no more important subject in the world at this moment. I do not know a single person who is not appalled and frightened in equal measure by the spread of Islamic fanaticism, especially the seemingly unstoppable rise of the gang of murderers known as Islamic State, Al Qaeda, Taliban. In addition it makes most of us rage as well as weep that young people are often the innocent victims; the recent slaying of school children in Peshawar still at the forefront of my mind.

We may loathe and fear this mind-set, yet we must still seek to be informed about it. And that's exactly what this book does. It informs. It's a real-life example of someone who was raised by a fanatic yet came to embrace nonviolence.

The last time Ebrahim spoke to his father was in 1998. Now, Ebrahim travels the country speaking out against hatred and everything his father stands for. His nine-minute TED talk was released along with the book, which was published in partnership with Simon & Schuster in September 2014. You can listen to his talk here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyR-K2CZIHQ


His message is that fanaticism is a choice.

“Even if you’re trained to hate, you can choose tolerance. You can choose empathy,”

he writes. Ebrahim understands the sad failing of his father.

“He chose terrorism over fatherhood, and hate over love,”

he explains.

“My father chose terrorism over me.”


Nosair, now 58, remains in federal prison. Ebrahim's mother divorced him long ago and remarried. He hasn't seen his children since 1995.

"He is my son, by birth,"

Nosair told a Los Angeles Times reporter via email last year.

"But he has disowned me and my way of life."


Ebrahim acknowledges that he may never understand why his father chose killing over his family.

"I still feel something for him, something that I haven’t been able to eradicate - some strand of pity and guilt, I guess, though it’s thin as spider’s silk,"

Ebrahim writes.

"I realize now that I don’t really know my father. I never really knew him."


As I type this review in my Dubai study, with the doors and windows open, I hear the call to prayer. It is beautiful. It is melodic. It is one of the most distinctive elements associated with living in the Middle East. And as I listen and ponder this book, I think again about the above quote of Muhatma Gandhi. Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

Ebrahim's original, urgent message is fresh, groundbreaking, and essential to the current discussion about terrorism.

Be informed. Read this book.
i might be a cynic and, a sceptic as well but, i'm definitely not a bad person!!
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Rock
YOYO member
文章: 2161
註冊時間: 週三 10月 31, 2007 9:03 am

Re: Zak Ebrahim: I am the son of a terrorist.

文章 Rock »

郭靖對楊康說道:「殺父之仇,豈能不報?」
楊康聞此言,臉色大變,說道...
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"If you were raised to hate, would you choose tolerance?"
Luis Ko
YOYO member
文章: 970
註冊時間: 週三 6月 06, 2007 10:18 pm

Re: Zak Ebrahim: I am the son of a terrorist.

文章 Luis Ko »

Rock 寫:郭靖對楊康說道:「殺父之仇,豈能不報?」
楊康聞此言,臉色大變,說道...
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"If you were raised to hate, would you choose tolerance?"
right, it's still justifiable to loathe those who have done something really really bad to us haa~ :lol:
i might be a cynic and, a sceptic as well but, i'm definitely not a bad person!!
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