There's No Honor in Becoming 'Westernized', But There is in Murder

I recently learned about a case in Arizona where an Iraqi immigrant murdered his daughter by running her over with his vehicle in the name of honor. This man ran down his 20 year old daughter, and the mother of the daughter's boyfriend, in a parking lot and left them to die. The daughter died; the boyfriend's mother will recover from her injury. Why did this happen? The daughter became too westernized. This man brings his daughter from Iraq to the United States and then gets mad when she rejects her forced marriage in Iraq and moves in with her boyfriend in Arizona. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, though there isn't any guarantee that he won't drink once you get him there. If you don't like "western", or American, culture, don't come to America. Seems easy enough for me to comprehend. I don't drink alcohol, so I don't go to bars. I don't like hockey, so I stay away from the NHL. What kind of selfish pride would I need to have to go into a bar and start condemning everyone for drinking and claiming that their behavior was violating my rights? If I did that I would be thrown out. If I went to a foreign country where I didn't speak the official language, is it fair for me to demand that everyone speak my language and adapt to me? Of course not. Do I go into a Jewish Temple or Muslim Mosque and demand that they stop worshipping how they want? What would happen if I went to Saudi Arabia or Iran and demanded that they take any and all mention of Allah out of their law and government? I don't know exactly what would happen, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't comply with my wishes. Yet people come from all over the planet to the United States of America and make these very demands. Is it fair? Who is deciding that it is?

Back to the "honor killing", the article I initially read said that prosecutors were not going to seek the death penalty for the man. He is charged with first degree murder (this means that he is accused of having intent to kill) as well as attempted first degree murder (for the daughter's friend who was injured, but did not die). I promise you that if I had a daughter and I killed her because she was living outside of my Christian values, I'd be getting the death penalty. The man (I am not using his name because I don't want to have to cite articles and such, this is strictly opinion) admitted to having the intent to injure his daughter because she was too westernized. He admitted his intent! I don't agree with capital punishment in most cases, and I don't think it should be given in this case, but that is based on my personal feelings, not the merit of the case. Here is the problem, the prosecution said they will seek a sentence of life in prison rather than death because they don't want to create a cultural situation. It boggles my mind. Now, not only can I not say Merry Christmas or hear Christmas songs in an elementary school "holiday" concert, but I have to watch as our criminal justice system makes allowances for other culture's twisted, inhuman practices of killing their daughters who don't subject themselves to their fathers as slaves? I'm not OK with this.

I support freedom of religion and the right for people to believe what they want. I do not support the use of religion or culture as an excuse to injure other people. I don't care what your personal beliefs are, if they involve the destruction of another person I say they do not deserve respect and should not be called religion. My thoughts boil down to this, when you go to a country you shouldn't go expecting to change their laws and customs to suit your own interests. Learn about where you are going before you go; if you don't think you can abide by the laws and customs, don't go there. If your own country isn't working for you, fight for change. Improve conditions where you are. I'm not saying that no one should come to America, I'm just saying don't come here expecting me to change my way of life to avoid offending you. If what I'm doing is universally offensive, like, say, oh I don't know, killing people, then that is fair for you to expect me to change. However, when what I'm doing is worshiping God how I choose to, and allowing you to (as long as your "God" isn't telling you to murder) do likewise, then you better not tell me I'm out of line, and you better not expect special treatment. The United States of America is not perfect, it never has been, I doubt it ever will be, but from what I see on the news and read in the history books, it is by far the best thing available in our day. It is a mockery of justice to not try this man with the death penalty if the death penalty is what a regular, "westernized" person would be tried with for the same crime. It is also discrimination. Everyone wants to call discrimination on everyone, then why not now? This man is being given a lesser sentence because of his religion and ethnicity. Discrimination doesn't only mean the person in question is being treated worse, it simply means they are being treated differently because of a "social group" to which they belong. We are all people. Anti-discrimination is the new discrimination. Everyone needs to drop the "color wheel" (including religious and ethnic discrimination) of judgment and accept that there has been some terrible problems in the past, forgive it, and lets work to be united as people and do as Dr. King suggested, "live in a nation where [we] will not be judged by the color of [our] skin but by the content of [our] character" (1963). We are all humans, let us be humane.