I was responding to this: “The truth is, few on any side of the issue WANT an honest discussion.”
I wasn’t claiming that any of the ones you named engage in honest discussion...they’ve got businesses to run and they will be on their BUTTS if they were open about what they believe (at least Rush would be, for sure). My point is that many conservatives would JUST LOVE to talk about, how do you say, the more sensitive areas of Islam (i.e., enslavement, enslavement of women, female genital mutilation, support of terrorism, engagement in terrorism, etc.)...but they have sponsors and sponsors can (and are) EASILY intimidated.
Just look at Glen Beck...he has millions that listen to him, and he’s stuck pushing “work at home” and Goldline...no first-rate advertisers will get near him...they consider him radioactive. And do you remember when Rush was advertising Florida Orange Juice. Sales went through the roof...but they still ‘HAD’ to fire him.
OK, let’s talk about Muslims and Islam.
There are xBillion of them in the world. Most of the ones in North Africa put identity and loyalty to their TRIBE over their religion.
Half of those in Turkey, Romania, Bosnia, etc are secular. They are “Muslims” in the same sense that an aetheist Jew is a “Jew”.
There are large numbers of Muslims INSIDE Israel that we never hear anything about because the are peaceful and don’t do suicide bombings that get headlines. Most Palestinian Muslims on the old Arafat side are quite secular, more interested in money and bribes than the Koran.
Like people everywhere, most Muslims everywhere are sheeple. They go through the routine of their daily life committed to family and close friends. They give lip service to religion. They go through the motions.
But there are the fanatics. Some fanatics are non-violent. Some fanatics (the leaders) encourage others to do suicide bombings. But you don’t see those leaders following their own advice. And some fanatics are extremely violent.
Now, just for argument’s sake, let’s say that 3% of the XBillion Muslims are fanatics and 1% of XBillion are violent. 1% of XBILLION is still a big number.
Let’s break it down locally. Let’s say there are 200 Muslim students in my local University (ISU). Now I can vouch for the ones I know but I only know a few. Suppose just 1% or 2 out of 200 are violent fanatics and another 4 are fanatics egging on the 2 violent fanatics.
What do we do with that information? How do we find and remove the fanatics without stereotyping all 200 as fanatics, which they aren’t. Actions that turn the non-fanatics into agry fanatics is not the answer. Of course, such actions won’t turn all 200 into fanatics. But stupid actions on our part could double the number of fanatics from 6 to 12 with 4 now being violent rather than 2.
I don’t have the answer. But this type of discussion is part of an honest discussion of Muslims. The fact is that most of them are not fanatics. Most of them want to make money and have a family. That is all.