**Written May 6, 2014 Published June 8 2014
I wrote this BEFORE the release of Bowe Bergdahl, and before Robert Bergdahl said Bismillah al rahman al rahim. I will have much more to say about the Bergdahl swap and the controversies, real and fake, later.
"Oh My God" is a daily expression now, as it has been for a long time now. It is used to express a heightened sense of emotion, such as shock, excitement, grief, unbelief. And now along with LOL, "OMG" is used hundreds of times a day, where it's ubiquitesness has taken away its intended shock value.
Allah hu Akhbar, Arabic, God is Great
While we use OMG everyday without a second thought, if we hear Allah hu Akhbar instead, it gives us pause, as we think "what do they mean when they say that?" Well, they mean the same thing as OMG, with religious meanings, meaning they don't use it lightly like we have done recently, and they say it in Arabic, which gives it a foreignness that can frighten those who only associate it with Islamic extremism and terrorism.
On a side note, terrorism is a tactic, and is used by many groups, including Christian groups, Jewish groups, and nationalistic separatist groups, not just Islamic terrorists. More on that later.
Some recent examples of the confusion over Allah hu Akhbar include Senator John McCain schooling Fox News over a video where Syrian rebel fighters shout "Allah hu Akhbar" as they shoot down a Syrian govt plane, and the Fox News hosts are concerned that McCain is advocating sending arms to these fighters, who because they shouted "Allah hu Akhbar" and not "hell yeah" instead, or some other American colloquial expression that we would have no problem with, and would understand their excitement the same as when after 9/11 President Bush stood on the rubble and we screamed "USA USA" as we banged the drums to war in Afghanistan.
John McCain on Fox News Fox News Insider YouTube
The articles I found about the plane crash are from 1999---I remember another one? one more recently, in the early 2000s, but it may just be when I heard about it.
Wikipedia
Guardian
Atlantic
Atlantic
Like the Malaysian plane in the news recently, there was another airliner that crashed, and we know it crashed because we found it and the black boxes, and listened to the flight recorder, and listened to the pilot's words. Immediately many assumed that this was terrorism, a deliberate crash intended to send a message of jihad, and to kill the innocent passengers on the plane. The investigation showed that this was not terrorism, but instead just another tragic plane crash [I'm not sure now reading these articles]. And as the plane went down, the pilot was scared, and he prayed to God, Allah. Allah hu Akhbar. OMG.
I wrote this BEFORE the release of Bowe Bergdahl, and before Robert Bergdahl said Bismillah al rahman al rahim. I will have much more to say about the Bergdahl swap and the controversies, real and fake, later.
"Oh My God" is a daily expression now, as it has been for a long time now. It is used to express a heightened sense of emotion, such as shock, excitement, grief, unbelief. And now along with LOL, "OMG" is used hundreds of times a day, where it's ubiquitesness has taken away its intended shock value.
Allah hu Akhbar, Arabic, God is Great
While we use OMG everyday without a second thought, if we hear Allah hu Akhbar instead, it gives us pause, as we think "what do they mean when they say that?" Well, they mean the same thing as OMG, with religious meanings, meaning they don't use it lightly like we have done recently, and they say it in Arabic, which gives it a foreignness that can frighten those who only associate it with Islamic extremism and terrorism.
On a side note, terrorism is a tactic, and is used by many groups, including Christian groups, Jewish groups, and nationalistic separatist groups, not just Islamic terrorists. More on that later.
Some recent examples of the confusion over Allah hu Akhbar include Senator John McCain schooling Fox News over a video where Syrian rebel fighters shout "Allah hu Akhbar" as they shoot down a Syrian govt plane, and the Fox News hosts are concerned that McCain is advocating sending arms to these fighters, who because they shouted "Allah hu Akhbar" and not "hell yeah" instead, or some other American colloquial expression that we would have no problem with, and would understand their excitement the same as when after 9/11 President Bush stood on the rubble and we screamed "USA USA" as we banged the drums to war in Afghanistan.
John McCain on Fox News Fox News Insider YouTube
The articles I found about the plane crash are from 1999---I remember another one? one more recently, in the early 2000s, but it may just be when I heard about it.
Wikipedia
Guardian
Atlantic
Atlantic
Like the Malaysian plane in the news recently, there was another airliner that crashed, and we know it crashed because we found it and the black boxes, and listened to the flight recorder, and listened to the pilot's words. Immediately many assumed that this was terrorism, a deliberate crash intended to send a message of jihad, and to kill the innocent passengers on the plane. The investigation showed that this was not terrorism, but instead just another tragic plane crash [I'm not sure now reading these articles]. And as the plane went down, the pilot was scared, and he prayed to God, Allah. Allah hu Akhbar. OMG.
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