Veiled Thread: The Guerrilla Grafburawa, Faith And Religious Values

According to The Global Religious Landscape’s research in 2010, about 84% of the world’s population is religious; for example, 31.2% of the population believe in Christianity, 23.2% of the population believe in Islam and 15% of the population believe in Hindi ("The Global Religious Landscape"). Religion is a powerful weapon that makes people have faith to do what they believe is right. However, since everyone may share a different religion, they undoubtedly communicate different ideas about their beliefs. This concept can be seen in both Veiled Thread: The Guerrilla Graffiti of Princess Hijab, by Arwa Aburawa and Faith and Diplomacy, by Madeleine Albright. The discussion about integrity is never-ending due to people’s different definitions

For example, some people are unable to afford cars, but will make such an investment because they want to look successful, such as the person in the advertisement. Some people may give up their basic life supplements and use money to buy a fancy car. For example, “Princess Hijab asserts, her dressing up on billboards is a symbolic act of resistance meant to reassert a “physical and mental integrity” against what she called the “visual terrorism” of advertising” (Aburawa, 2010, p.30). She tries to protect women and express her beliefs through her artwork to make people reassert their physical and mental integrity. Princess Hijab believes that society should not decide what the standards of beauty are for women, such as skinny bodies, tan skin, blue eyes or blonde hair; women should receive the same respect as men. Neither men nor women should be remembered and judged by their appearance. Princess Hijab also believes that the veil is not just a religious symbol, but also a weapon to protect women from unfair judgments. In some of her artwork, she did not cover all the body parts that were showed on the advertisement, which leads people to make certain assumptions about Princess Hijab’s beliefs. Some people

F. Stone: “Too many throats have been cut in God’s name through the ages, and God has enlisted in too many wars. War for sport or plunder has never been as bad as war waged because one man’s belief was theoretically ‘irreconcilable’ with another” (Albright, 2010, p.35). People use their beliefs to bring wars, and for centuries leaders used religion as a weapon to set up wars. America invaded Iraq, and the government addressed that the purpose of the war was against Weapon with Massive Destruction (WMD); however, people from Iraq might believe America fought against Iraq for the oil, since Iraq is a country with massive oil resources and America needed huge amount of oil every year. From different aspects, people see problems in different ways. People who live in America might believe they are good people who are against Iraq and terrorism. However, people in Iraq might believe that America invaded the country for revenge and oil. There is no right or wrong answer to this question because people share different interpretations of the definition of integrity. “The first is that there are people who are willing to die-and kill-for their faith” (Albright, 2010, p.37). In the first story, Albright shows the reader that if a person has faith, he or she can give up everything to uphold his or her beliefs. It is remarkable to have such strong faith, by devoting their lives to religion and beliefs. For