Gov't power to shut down churches

[Kirk Freeman]

From my perspective, this is representative of Islam operating without adequate external pressure to contain it.

Please do not confuse culture with the religion of Islam.

Much of what is decried as "Islam" on say Fox News, is actually the cultural practices of where Islam was adopted.

Think of separate railroad tracks:

►culture, independent of religion

►Islam, Qurun and Hadith

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Hopefully I will have time to pursue this.

How do you deal with things like Tripoli and Tunis capturing our merchant mariners and doing things like running them through with hooks and hanging them over the city walls? Please understand that my goal is a broadened perspective rather than dumping an incendiary question in your lap. From my perspective, this is representative of Islam operating without adequate external pressure to contain it.

Pirates be pirating. Do you suppose pirates are motivated by religion or by economics? Are non-Islamic pirates known for kindness and fair play?

 

[jamil]

We most assuredly do.

If you're saying that Kirkaria is where the mainstream Muslims step up to eliminate extremism in Islam, okay. I'm on board with that. But realistically, it is not going to come from a nation of politically correct outsiders where people are afraid to report suspicious activity because they don't want to be seen as profiling.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Are non-Islamic pirates known for kindness and fair place?

Most assuredly no.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

If you're saying that Kirkaria is where the mainstream Muslims step up to eliminate extremism in Islam, okay.

No reason we cannot help if not pull the strings.

 

[IndyDave1776]

Pirates be pirating. Do you suppose pirates are motivated by religion or by economics? Are non-Islamic pirates known for kindness and fair place?

I would say that this is a matter of what they feel allowed to do rather than compelled to do, but my biggest concern is that it was done with the full participation of the local government which, while ostensibly part of the Ottoman Empire, was largely self-sufficient.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

We most assuredly do.



No, but they all cite jihad. Reform jihad and we defang their motivation for terror.

So, again, billions not interpreting jihad as violence. All for centuries before we had you to explain it to us. Weird.

 

[BugI02]

Hopefully I will have time to pursue this.

How do you deal with things like Tripoli and Tunis capturing our merchant mariners and doing things like running them through with hooks and hanging them over the city walls? Please understand that my goal is a broadened perspective rather than dumping an incendiary question in your lap. From my perspective, this is representative of Islam operating without adequate external pressure to contain it.

Dave, would you then hold Squassation and Strappado to be 'representative' of Catholicism?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I would say that this is a matter of what they feel allowed to do rather than compelled to do, but my biggest concern is that it was done with the full participation of the local government which, while ostensibly part of the Ottoman Empire, was largely self-sufficient.

So, privateering? Have you compared it to contemporary privateering? I'm no expert, but murder and slavery were pretty prevalent among state sponsored pirates of all stripes.

 

[BugI02]

Pirates be pirating. Do you suppose pirates are motivated by religion or by economics? Are non-Islamic pirates known for kindness and fair play?

And it never hurts to have a bad-*** reputation - think ROK or Spetznaz

 

[Kirk Freeman]

So, again, billions not interpreting jihad as violence. All for centuries before we had you to explain it to us. Weird.

Really? Ok, cool, then a Woodruff Manifesto 2.0 is no big deal then!

 

[Arthur Dent]

OK, so the ComBloc collapsed, but now the very same thing is taking root here and getting stronger every day, just as Khrushchev promised us decades ago, and just as Joe McCarthy warned us was happening, only to be demonized in spite of there being clear evidence that he was correct, much like what we see in today's atmosphere of 'political correctness'.

What McCarthy did was admirable?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Really? Ok, cool, then a Woodruff Manifesto 2.0 is no big deal then!

Sure. If your goal is to tick off people who weren't previously ticked off, plat into a major narrative for the recruitment of terrorist groups, while simultaneously alienating allies and making it harder for moderates to reach out to de- radicalize without being dismissed as pawns of the West, its a great move.

 

[Trigger Time]

We most assuredly do.



No, but they all cite jihad. Reform jihad and we defang their motivation for terror.

i like your ideas on this! They can confirm or die fighting for a lost extremist cause or leave

 

[IndyDave1776]

What McCarthy did was admirable?

He told us the truth that certain domestic enemies didn't want to hear and managed to silence, and now the country is in the sh*tter because of it. Tell me again what is wrong with telling the truth, especially when the hard evidence that it was truth existed at the time and was deliberately kept secret and NOT acted upon.

 

[longbarrel]

What happened to "individual responsibility"?

 

[Jludo]

What happened to "individual responsibility"?

We're big on collectivism here.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

If your goal is to tick off people who weren't previously ticked off, plat into a major narrative for the recruitment of terrorist groups, while simultaneously alienating allies and making it harder for moderates to reach out to de- radicalize without being dismissed as pawns of the West, its a great move.

Renouncing violence always angers the reasonable.

I remember all the backlash when we stopped sati. It was exactly as you said.

 

[Libertarian01]

As I see it the closest analogy to terrorists from Islamic extremism that we had domestically was the Ku Klux Klan.

With the Klan you had thousands of extremists hiding within a population of millions who either sympathized and/or were indifferent to the Klans activities.

100% of the Klan membership identified as Christian. So did the vast majority of the southern population.

The Klan was brought down by a multi-faceted approach that was comprised of education, economic attacks, building sympathy for the victims, and law enforcement. To this day the Klan still exists, but it has been marginalized from the height of its strength 100 years ago. As far as its previous membership I am certain that the majority were not the die-hard extremists willing to kill, but rather somewhere between being a strong supporter and extremism.

While I think these tools can be altered to fit the new assignment of combating religious extremism, they will take time. I believe that the core issue with this approach is that it is a hard sell to Americans. We have become a "we want it NOW" culture, with everything from online ordering and next day delivery to drive-through coffee. The idea of using education, systemic reform from within and without, and other tools that may take years or decades to come to fruition will be resisted by those who vote.

In the end I believe radical religious extremism will be eradicated. Regrettably, many people of all faiths will die before this time arrives.

Regards,

Doug

 

[Kirk Freeman]

The whole notion that religion is inflexible and cannot change is simply ahistorical. We have changed plenty of religions. The solution does not require bombs or bullets, but merely requires an awareness of the problem and a focus on eliminating violent jihad from Islam.

Why is a renouncing violence a problem for anyone?