Christopher Hitchens observed that “If you want to get good people to do wicked things, you need religion.” This observation popped into my head in the aftermath of a failed Islamic terror attack outside New York’s Gracie Mansion.
Thoughtful post, Peter. Your point about the majority of Muslims not being radical illustrates the magnitude of the problem - as the minority that is radical consists of hundreds of millions of Muslims. That’s more radical Islamists than there are American citizens! 😳😳 The fact that the ostensibly non radicals refuse to reject the radicals makes them complicit in the Islamist evil infecting the world.
The big question is how to eliminate radical Islam? The first step is to acknowledge the problem - there is no such thing as an irrational fear of Islam (Islamophobia). Islamists wish to exterminate or subjugate all non believers, period! The next step is to acknowledge that Islam is more than just a religion, rather it is a system of oppressive governance thinly veiled with a shroud of religion. Refusal to treat Islam as a religion is critical to solving the problem. Lastly, aggressive deportation of those who support radical Islam is important, including a ban on any Muslims immigrating to the US. It will likely take decades to solve this problem and if we don’t start soon, there will be no solution 🤷♂️🤷♂️
It can't be eliminated. Fanaticism is too powerful.
It should be marginalized, and by the Muslim majority first and foremost. Getting them to do that is a herculean task.
Banning Muslim immigrants en toto would be the opposite of that. I think it's a bad idea. Immigrants should be judged individually, and without PC or quotas or "woke" skewing the decisions.
If Muslims had been treated the way Jews were, there might be a solution. There hasn't been a solution since before the Crusades started. We're a thousand years too late! If our actions in Iran go the wrong way we may see thousands of Iranians trying to escape. I think we need to be ready to accept them.
Unfortunately, the US doesn't have a great record when it comes to such refugees. Many, myself included, suggested that pro-freedom Hong Kongers be invited to become US citizens ahead of China's crackdown. But the nativist instinct that too many have - including the open borders crowd, it must be noted (they never want the migrants in their neighborhoods) - shuns such genuine pro-liberty gestures.
One would think that when the central fact of a story is "bombs were thrown" that the relevant facts to the story would center on "who threw the bombs". And the perpetrators didn't hide this fact: "We are ISIS!!!" they proclaimed loudly and proudly for all to hear. So the story, which should have been "ISIS terror attack" was pretzeled into: "Anti-Muslim protest incites violence against Mamdani" - a painful and torturous distortion of what happened based on the completely irrelevant fact of where the attack occurred.
"Isis-inspired" would be more accurate, at least as of now. It's an important distinction, because it illustrates the difficulty in fighting an ideology.
I was about to make the point that Leftism IS a religion, but you addressed it later in your post. Konstantin Kisin, of whom I had not previously heard, seems to be another writer well worth reading.
Thoughtful post, Peter. Your point about the majority of Muslims not being radical illustrates the magnitude of the problem - as the minority that is radical consists of hundreds of millions of Muslims. That’s more radical Islamists than there are American citizens! 😳😳 The fact that the ostensibly non radicals refuse to reject the radicals makes them complicit in the Islamist evil infecting the world.
The big question is how to eliminate radical Islam? The first step is to acknowledge the problem - there is no such thing as an irrational fear of Islam (Islamophobia). Islamists wish to exterminate or subjugate all non believers, period! The next step is to acknowledge that Islam is more than just a religion, rather it is a system of oppressive governance thinly veiled with a shroud of religion. Refusal to treat Islam as a religion is critical to solving the problem. Lastly, aggressive deportation of those who support radical Islam is important, including a ban on any Muslims immigrating to the US. It will likely take decades to solve this problem and if we don’t start soon, there will be no solution 🤷♂️🤷♂️
It can't be eliminated. Fanaticism is too powerful.
It should be marginalized, and by the Muslim majority first and foremost. Getting them to do that is a herculean task.
Banning Muslim immigrants en toto would be the opposite of that. I think it's a bad idea. Immigrants should be judged individually, and without PC or quotas or "woke" skewing the decisions.
If Muslims had been treated the way Jews were, there might be a solution. There hasn't been a solution since before the Crusades started. We're a thousand years too late! If our actions in Iran go the wrong way we may see thousands of Iranians trying to escape. I think we need to be ready to accept them.
Unfortunately, the US doesn't have a great record when it comes to such refugees. Many, myself included, suggested that pro-freedom Hong Kongers be invited to become US citizens ahead of China's crackdown. But the nativist instinct that too many have - including the open borders crowd, it must be noted (they never want the migrants in their neighborhoods) - shuns such genuine pro-liberty gestures.
I understand NIMBY. There are plenty of Muslim communities where they would be welcomed, I would hope. The story of Babel always comes to mind.
I was always told “surrender” was the more accurate translation. Not quite same thing.
One would think that when the central fact of a story is "bombs were thrown" that the relevant facts to the story would center on "who threw the bombs". And the perpetrators didn't hide this fact: "We are ISIS!!!" they proclaimed loudly and proudly for all to hear. So the story, which should have been "ISIS terror attack" was pretzeled into: "Anti-Muslim protest incites violence against Mamdani" - a painful and torturous distortion of what happened based on the completely irrelevant fact of where the attack occurred.
"Isis-inspired" would be more accurate, at least as of now. It's an important distinction, because it illustrates the difficulty in fighting an ideology.
I was about to make the point that Leftism IS a religion, but you addressed it later in your post. Konstantin Kisin, of whom I had not previously heard, seems to be another writer well worth reading.
Kisin and his Triggernometry channel are great follows. Born in Russia, currently a UK citizen, has great insight on the cultural shift.
See the part about "abnormally warm weather in NYC"? There is the true culprit: Those poor boys were suffering from global warming.
Are the preponderance of Muslim bad actors Shia versus Sunni? Or is there no correlation with denomination?
No idea.