Posted on 07/13/2005 1:05:18 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Concerning the "paralysis of modern Muslims" in the face of Muslim extremist terror, which fellow TCSer Arnold Kling wrote on recently, I would suggest that a big reason for Muslim silence is, simply, terror.
Steven Schwartz in a recent TCS article points to a type of spiritual renewal and reinforcement of traditional Muslim principles sans the "bloody stain" cast upon them by the Islamic terrorists. But the state of fear in which many Muslims find themselves is a formidable barrier to such a transformation.
Americans and Britons have mainly shown anger and contempt for the Islamofascist terrorists. The Spanish? Well, their government proved a bit wobbly, but a lot of individual Spaniards were not intimidated and were indignant at their new government's swift knuckle-under to the murderous fanatics. The sad reality is that Muslims, who are bearing the brunt of the terror, are also the ones most disposed -- by a shared religious/cultural experience -- to be terrorized.
While it is true that fewer Muslims now openly cheer for the terrorists, many may still do so secretly, and many more appear to condone them with silence -- a silence born of fear.
It may have taken the Western public a while to really believe the blood vengeance of Islamic radicals against "infidels" and "apostates" (we couldn't quite bring ourselves to believe all that stuff about the fatwa that sent Salman Rushdie into hiding, for instance), but the Muslim faithful have known it all along.
They have reason to believe the threats of the terrorists are not idle. They have been exposed constantly in their communities and often in their schools to the blood-drenched rhetoric of jihadists. Having been too familiar with incidents like, say, the humiliation and harassment of those women who do not wear the veil, they have an uneasy sense that the sliding scale from mere humiliation of a teenage girl to histrionic decapitation of a young Iraqi policeman slides upward very quickly.
We are not talking, after all, about an Amish congregation "shunning" someone who has drifted from the faith, or a "good Catholic" girl being harassed at the dinner table for dating a protestant. We are talking death and destruction.
Many Muslim clerics are vociferous aiders and abettors of the terrorists. But many more, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, are compliantly silent lest they be killed. Just last Saturday, in Afghanistan's Paktia province, a cleric who had been supportive of the new Afghan government, was murdered in his home along with his wife by Taliban terrorists.
Recently I wrote about the power of hatred -- hatred of the West, hatred of the "crusaders," hatred of democracy or progress -- which spurs Osama bin Ladin and various others like his gangster ganymede Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. That hatred holds real power because of the atmosphere of many Muslim communities -- an atmosphere of isolation from the world in which a subtle and not-so-subtle coercion to conformity is an everyday reality.
Monday's Wall Street Journal carried a report on how "political Islam" is preaching intolerance in France. Its message in the burgeoning Franco Muslim ghettoes:
"People who are different are held in contempt. Mingling with mainstream society is frowned upon. Society should be founded on one religion: Islam."
Imagine yourself as a decent, law-abiding Muslim citizen of Iraq. Do you dare speak out against the bombings or tip off the police or the American troops to the whereabouts of terrorists? Many have, bravely. But it seems that many more have "thought twice" and chosen not to risk death to themselves or their family.
And while Muslim clerics of any stature have been among the most mealy-mouthed or silent, they know that they are in a position very like front-line officers vis-à-vis snipers.
It is easy for us to call for greater courage on the part of moderate Muslims, but if we have not lived in the fear-drenched atmosphere in which many Muslims find themselves, we cannot understand how they may see their silence as a proper and even logical element of simple survival.
As Iranian expatriate and Islamic terrorism expert Amir Teheri wrote recently, these "ordinary" Muslims, whether devout, moderate or "nominal." are dealing with fanatics who "cannot be talked into reason through anger management or round-table discussions."
While moderate Muslims might like to simply be left alone to live their lives and interact with other humans, the fanatic, notes Teheri, wants "to take full control of your lives, dictate every single move you make around the clock and, if you dare resist, he will feel it is his divine duty to kill you."
"Unless there are some changes, I think you will see a growing number of Americans insisting on racial profiling."
That is a subject that I think is dead. Not dying, dead. If the police officers are not permitted to profile just what makes you think that us common folks being upset is going to reverse the Courts decisions? Not a chance in todays world.
Asking your Muslim friends, neighbors is much different than asking co-workers. Your boss will probably get scared if co-workers complain about your profiling. The friends and neighbors, well tough noogies if they don't like the questions.
It's happening already in England. The people are demanding it. All it will take is a Muslim related bomb attack here anywhere, and you will see a huge backlash.
There's a way to ask without be offensive. I personally would like to know what they think about what is going on in their country. In my training, I'd ask the Iranian doctors about the Shah. I learned allot.
When you inquire about someones courage, not as a nation but as an individual you are getting very close to asking the most personal question there is.
Do you realize what you're saying here? If we can profile terrorists (Muslims) then we can profile pedophiles (NAMBLA), the queers (14,000 Gay orgs.),152 different ethnicity groups who have been fighting for multiculturalism(the UN). As I said, not a chance.
Absolutely. This article may be a sincere explanation of why it is that "non violent" Muslims won't come forward to denounce the extremists. However, it doesn't change the global picture, and it rather reaffirms what Islam has always been, throughout its sordid, bloody 1,400 year history - a rabid, ruthless, butchering cult of conquest through fear and appallingly inhumane acts of murder. After all, look at the "bio" of the illiterate brigand who invented "Islam!"
I say that NOW is the time, and this is the century when Islam itself must be terminated and eradicated from human history, once and for all. If you don't believe me, then go to Ali Sina'a splendid website: http://www.faithfreedom.org
........or to Jeff Epstein's new Peoplestruthforum.com:
http://www.peoplestruthforum.com
And, if you live anywhere near Plantsville, CT, consider attending the tremendous dinner symposium which will take place there on September 21.
Information about the symposium is available on the website, or you can also email Jeff Epstein at Jepstein02@snet.net
I couldn't access the http://www.peoplestruthforum.com link, is this the same as:
http://mosquewatch.com/
Detailed definition of two words....
Death cult.
'Religions' don't kill you if you disagree or want to leave.
Cults do.
We have seen Islam's hate- where is its LOVE?
Loving acts , charity, embracing of other faiths, brotherhood,
Where are the Islam ladies groups doing charity work for others? Where are the groups of Muslims getting together to show what THEY say Islam is all about?
Where IS the other face of Islam- now's the time to trot it out.
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
I fully realize what we are saying.
People 'profile' every day. We all do. We DISCRIMINATE as much as we can. We choose our friends, choose not to talk to certain neighbors, choose not to go certain places.
Profiling for NATIONAL DEFENSE, and using it to identify people who are BOMBING buildings and murdering people, and profiling for personal revulsion are different things. And profiling to catch terrorists is only necessary until we win the war against Islam.
You don't think there's a chance for a governmental, official, action of this kind. As it stands now, you're probably right. But things change- and grassroots action does not need 'official' permission.
Millions of American citizens can- and will- rise up.
We have the right to protect our homes,do we not? We don't HAVE to wait for police to come to our aid.
It will be an ugly day in American history if the people have to do what the government will not-but it may end up being a necessary one.
That's because you are confronting a coalition of disparate groups who have made an alliance of convenience. For instance, gays and lesbians support abortion and pro-aborts generally support gays and lesbians, even though abortion isn't really much of an issue for people who don't have children. It's just the good leftist thing to do.
If the violent Islamists go too far, this tacit alliance will be destroyed. They will be excluded from it, because other groups will find them more trouble than help in attaining their political and cultural agendas.
There is a long history of this sort of thing happening in the past. We will tolerate anyone but (fill in the blank). At the moment, leftists and Islamists are close allies, but that could change. Nazis and Communists were allies, too, but the Nazis broke the pact, and ever since Hitler and the Nazis have been written out of the circle aberrations that must be tolerated by open minded intellectuals. You still find people jumping to the defense of Stalin, but nobody jumps to the defense of Hitler. Islamists risk similar treatment if they go too far, and especially if they indulge their penchant for raping and beating women and killing leftist intellectuals.
I will never forget my best friend's elderly mother, who was staying with us on 9/11 and the days thereafter since her daughter couldn't get to Jersey from Brooklyn, saying that she had always been taught that "The purpose of Islam is to spread Islam at the point of the sword".
She was an extremely well educated, liberal, sophisticated woman. I knew nothing about Islam at that point, so I was impressed by her remark. I've seen nothing since to make me think that Bush and the rest of the "religion of peace" crowd are right and she was wrong.
I fully expect this war to get worse before it gets better. And I fully expect that soon enough our side will realize and accept what our enemy already proclaims, this IS a religious war, a war of Islam against all. Only when it becomes a war of all against Islam will we really even have a chance to win.
I don't know what will happen to the "moderate" Muslims. They should really bear in mind that even now the terrorists want to kill them too, and do, every single chance they get.
I think we're comparing apples to oranges here. I don't know what it will take; probably some soft targets getting hit here. But I can assure you that if the terror is committed by Muslim Americans, the back lash will be overwelming.
The back lash will be overwelming by the people, not the politicians.
true
Maybe it is their "religion" of choice that is their problem. Islam seems to be the only religion that believes in killing those who don't believe in it.
Great read thanx backhoe and Char too of course.
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