Posted on 02/21/2007 7:18:53 PM PST by FairOpinion
Global Jihad: A new Gallup poll finds that richer, better-educated Muslims are more likely to be radicalized. This explodes the myth of the poor, dumb terrorist.
Since 9/11, the politically correct elite have mau-maued Americans into thinking the terrorists have hijacked a peaceful religion out of ignorance and poverty. Or that they've been brainwashed by Osama bin Laden.
But Gallup found the opposite to hold true: The most radical among Muslims those who support jihad earn more and stay in school longer. These are the smart ones, not the rubes.
Surely there must be some mistake. Perhaps Gallup's sample was too small. Actually, its surveys represent more than 90% of Muslims. They were carried out in 2006 and 2005 in 10 predominantly Muslim countries. About 10,000 Muslims were polled.
Statistics aside, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence to support the findings. Look at the backgrounds of some of the world's most notorious Muslim terrorists:
Bin Laden, the son of a Saudi billionaire, studied engineering.
His deputy Ayman al-Zawahri is an eye surgeon.
Mohamed Atta, the son of a lawyer, earned a master's degree in urban planning.
9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed graduated from an American college with an engineering degree.
Gallup's survey of Muslims, the largest conducted, puts to rest theories that radicals attack us because they're poor and alienated from society. Or because they're dim and easily misled.
Radical Muslims have an education and an economic future, yet they still hate. They're literate enough to interpret their holy books, yet they still embrace jihad against infidels.
Perhaps the only sane course in this war is to separate the West from Islam.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
ping
AFAIC, these so-called 'educated' Muslims have majored in throwaway PC Stupidity.
It reminds me, oddly enough, of a novel by Stephen King. Does anyone remember The Firestarter? (The book, not the movie.) What really struck me was Andy (Charlie's father) ruminating on his psychic ability to "push" people. That was his gift, he could "push" someone with his mind and they would be unconsciously influenced.
Like for instance, a cop is about to arrest him and he says, "You don't actually want to do this," and gives him a mental push. The cop might blink dazedly and remark, almost as if talking to himself, "I don't really want to arrest you."
In the novel, Andy used the gift to operate a weight-loss clinic before the government came after him. But anyway... what made me think about this was Andy's experience with "the push."
Dumb people were harder to push than smart people. It seemed counterintuitive to me when I was 16, reading this novel. But I remember contemplating this: Intelligent people were more susceptible to "the push." The smarter they were, the easier they were to influence. The retarded were impossible.
Now this is, of course, just a novel. But I think King was onto something. Intelligent people... notice I said intelligent, not wise... are often quite naive. It's almost as though they are hungry to prove their intelligence. They're like butterflies with question marks on their wings, flitting here and there, uncertain and quite vulnerable to influence, until they accumulate some wisdom.
Okay, I'm sorry, that was just a ramble, wasn't it? But those are my thoughts this Wednesday evening, having looked at this article.
especially if they are educated by American leftist professors who feed the victim mind set and hatred of all things American...
Hhmmmmm.....like Obama?
It is because they have no say in oppressive societies and they think they should. In that respect they are like Bolsheviks and other revolutionaries of the past.
uh if this is the case then Bush's arguments of "draining the swap" are invalid.
or if they are educated enough to know that allowing American "culture" to spread to their country is destructive and bad - educated Arabs probably realized that allowing the Oprah or Jerry Springer type shows or Michael Jackson concerts to be broadcast in their countries is spreading a nasty cultural virus.
The real question is why the muslims targeted the World Trade Center instead of Wacko Jacko; Ludacris or Jerry Springer - even most Americans would probably support a jihad against trash tv promoters and rappers.
The terrorists are on record that they want to destroy our economy.
"Finally someone had the courage to point out the obvious, supported with facts."
Actually, we have been pointing this out for quite awhile now on The Threat Matrix at FreeRepublic.com; however, this IBD article wraps the facts up in a very neat and tidy info package.
THANKS for the ping Fair Opinion.
"Actually, we have been pointing this out for quite awhile now on The Threat Matrix at FreeRepublic.com; however, this IBD article wraps the facts up in a very neat and tidy info package. "
I agree -- I meant in a national newspaper. I don't want to call Investor's Business Daily part of the "MSM" because their editorial are not at all like that -- they are a widely read and well regarded business publication, but their editorial pull no punches.
You wouldn't read this editorial in the NYT or WP.
I agree.
Your ramble makes sense to me. You could have said the same about the Communists in Tsarist Russia 100 years ago before the "Great War".
"Dumb people were harder to push than smart people."
No.
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