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January 15, 2008

Comments

Fantastic post. US would have gained much if people like you were in power.

I wonder why people with such spirit are out of power everywhere- whereas they have a more coherent vision to offer than the bigots we have.

India is no better. Look at these:
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2008/01/orissas-turn-emboldened-sangh-is-set.html
http://indianmuslims.in/orissa-violences-against-christians/

Well said! Brava.

All very depressingly true. Unfortunately, this viewpoint seems to have been bullied to the back of the information mainstream by leaders and citizens who are unable to exist outside a philosophy of black and white, us versus them. These people revel in their ignorance and hide it by dressing it up as some sort of inside knowledge. There is no hope of rational, reasonable discussion about the two separate subjects of Islam as a religion and terrorism as a weapon of war. It will be over-rided by fear-mongering and suggestions of naivity.

Scott Atran is an anthropologist and expert on terrorism whose research has uncovered a more nuanced understanding of how terrorism works. Namit has digested some of Atran's findings and provided links in his recent article, How Terrorism Works.

It's like you penned down my own thoughts, word by word :-)
But that is not a coincidence, because each one of us if looks inside can see the truth!

One article does not an expert make. US and Western stereotypes have been joked and played on for years. It's no big deal because we are the big bad west.

Funny how those who have escaped the tyrrany of radical islam just don't see things in the moral relatively hunky dory way overly cultural relativists do.

Tell all those who were subjected to the genocide in Sudan how nonunderstanding they were to those devils on horseback who came to rape, muder and enslave anyone non-arabic and non-muslim. See any other group doing that?

Hard to have dialogue when your head is being sawed off alive and you're being blamed for every ill under the planet.

If my foot hurts, I don't care how good the rest of the body feels. I look to take care of the injured foot. Similarly, I don't concern myself with what 99.whatever% of all the various religions on this planet do.

But, if any of them came to my attention because some number of them were committing absolutely horrendously brutal acts, THOSE would be the "representatives" of that previously unconcerning religion in my mind.

Adherents to the religion that produced the so-called basis or justification for their acts, no matter how misconstrued or perverted, would not be on my welcome list, and I would be happier if none of them were a part of my experience, ..thus avoiding the possibility of encounter with their worst elements.

I am an equal-opportunity fanatic despiser, and my comments above hold true for ANY religion or belief system which lends itself to the use of those with no respect for the golden rule.

Consider a yard full of snakes of similar appearance, ..some poisonous, most harmless. Is this where you would choose to hold your family picnic? If you say "Certainly not!", I would not consider you a bigot, but rather a rational person with a healthy portion of common sense. (No offense intended to the harmless snakes, but, "Duh!", ...am I so bound by the ideas by respect and courtesy to others, that I am ready to risk the safety of my family rather than hurt the feelings of the ones who unfortunately are "known by the company they keep"?)

If the "peaceful" Muslims are unable by word, deed, or some means, to make themselves easily and certainly distinguishable from the imposter-killers in their midst, they can only expect reasonable-but-prudent "un-believers" to sweep them all out together. Sorry!

[Does the statement that comments will not appear until approved by "the author" refer to Usha Alexander? Interesting condition, if sincere expression of possibly differing "takes" on the situation is welcome, no?]

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