Last evening, I had a rather spirited discussion with a friend regarding Islam. He does not feel Islam to be a problem, I obviously do. His position was that not all Muslims want to kill us and brought forth a figure of 30% who may feel this way with the balance being peaceful normal people. He did not seem the least bit disturbed that this would translate into approximately 360,000,000 people in the world that want us dead. Nope, not a problem said he, better border control would do the trick. Other than that, there was little we could do or should do in order to better protect ourselves. Measures we have taken to drain the swamp such as Afghanistan and Iraq are not, as he put it "worth one American life".
He was also unphased by the fact that only a very small percentage of Germans (a country of some 70 million people at the time) were actually Nazis but that reletively small group was responsible for a war that cost the lives of more than 50 million people in a span of only four years.
Stunning. This fellow is a highly intelligent and educated individual. He's an engineer and has lived and traveled all over the world. Yet, he seems incapable of acknowledging what is glaringly obvious to me. He was aghast at my contention that Islam itself is a defective mindset at best and diabolism at worst. His reaction indicated that he thought me something of an extremist bigot and I found it quite uncomfortable. Unfortunately, we live in a society where any defined opinions on subjects such as this will win you the label of "bigot" or even worse. Far better that we "honor diversity," even while real extremists seek to annihilate our civilization.
The moral indictments against Islam come not from outside of Islam, they come from Muslims themselves. This morning, I perused "Islam Online" which is often a good resource for monitoring Islamic thought. I came across this piece called "Culture of Suicide?" actually hoping to read some form of denunciation for the wave of suicide bombings throughout the world. Instead, the piece rationalized and defended the practice:
Most Muslim scholars make a distinction between the operations carried out by the Palestinians and the act of committing suicide - thereby differentiating between the two terms "suicide bombings" and "martyr operations" - on the basis that suicides kill themselves out of despair, hopelessness and fear of suffering, whereas martyrs sacrifice their lives, choosing to suffer death for Allah's sake, in the hope of furthering the Palestinian Cause.
Then there's this gem:
Yet, a majority of Muslim jurists consider it forbidden to target Jews outside Palestine/Israel, on the grounds that they are not directly involved in acts of aggression against Palestinians, even if they support Israel.
So, indiscriminate killing of Jews in what they cleverly call "Palestine/Israel" is perfectly OK in the minds of "Muslim jurists" and some condone such killings outside of Israel.
One of the points that I have made all along is that this carnage is pursued without condemnation from, and often with the blessings of Muslim clergy. This seems to support that belief. Another point that I have made is that Muslims themselves either fail to criticize this murder, or they actively support it. Again, according to Islam Online:
In fact, many Muslims wholeheartedly agree with the strategy of resistance that the Palestinians have taken up. According to The Guardian, polls reveal that 75% of the people in the Muslim world are in favor of martyr operations - the term given by Muslims to what is technically known as suicide bombing.
Feel free to read the whole article which is jam-packed with Palestinian whining, Jew hatred and blanket justifications for pretty much any outrageous course of action Muslims choose to take.
Am I a bigot? No, I don't think so, not even close. Am I more convinced than ever of the inherent dangers of Islam? Absolutely. Does that make me an Islamophobe? Well, I guess it does.
Note: I have permanantly linked this to the right, under "Essays."
