07-13-2005, 07:29 PM
I refrained from reading this post till now, now that I have there are a couple points I would like to address.
The first is that the battle is against a culture, not a religion. The Muslim religion is as facticuous as Christianity. The people who are fighting against western civilization are afraid of losing the power they command in their respective communities.
The terrorist is a fearful man. He is not afraid of death, but he is afraid of westernization stealing the love of his wife, the cattle he owns, and everything he knows. And westernization will still these things from him if he can not adapt, so he has a right to be fearful.
The dangerous terrorist is the rich, fearful man. He who controls the newspapers and the television empires, and thereby controls what the average man sees.
Fighting the average man will get you nowhere. You must as, toast and others have said, convince them that westernization will give them more than it will take away.
I'm not smart enough to know how to do that, I just know that cracking heads hasn't gotten us very far in the past fifty years. Education and empathy is a place to start though. Getting this to the people is hard though. The rich man is constantly using religion as a tool - the same way the American gov't uses the threat of terrorism to garner support.
The Muslim world extends far beyond the borders of the third world countries where Christianity is inexistent. In every large city I have lived in, there are large Muslim communities. In the GVA for instance, Surrey is predominately Muslim. These people constantly speak against the acts of a backwards culture. They do this on television, radio, and in church.
This is true in the UK as well. The BBC has had many interviews over the past week or so with Muslim leaders and regular people. They publically denounce these acts. Several people in Surrey have been killed for doing so since the early seventies. But this does not diminish the courage of those left.
There are people who live in these countries where the culture breeds fear and repression who are also disgusted by what they see, but they lack the courage to stand up against it. I think America could do a lot more good were they to try and give these people courage, rather than spreading fear amongst its own citizens.
It needs to be internal and underground. The support for the rich man needs to be dug out from under him.
Or something like that.
Kudos to the Londoners for getting on with life.
The first is that the battle is against a culture, not a religion. The Muslim religion is as facticuous as Christianity. The people who are fighting against western civilization are afraid of losing the power they command in their respective communities.
The terrorist is a fearful man. He is not afraid of death, but he is afraid of westernization stealing the love of his wife, the cattle he owns, and everything he knows. And westernization will still these things from him if he can not adapt, so he has a right to be fearful.
The dangerous terrorist is the rich, fearful man. He who controls the newspapers and the television empires, and thereby controls what the average man sees.
Fighting the average man will get you nowhere. You must as, toast and others have said, convince them that westernization will give them more than it will take away.
I'm not smart enough to know how to do that, I just know that cracking heads hasn't gotten us very far in the past fifty years. Education and empathy is a place to start though. Getting this to the people is hard though. The rich man is constantly using religion as a tool - the same way the American gov't uses the threat of terrorism to garner support.
Occhidiangela,Jul 7 2005, 10:43 AM Wrote:Why should they risk fatawa for a bunch of infidels? If they speak up, they will be silenced, or targeted by formal or informal means. The moral courage you seek does not exist in the Muslim world in the depth needed to overcome fear.
Occhi
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The Muslim world extends far beyond the borders of the third world countries where Christianity is inexistent. In every large city I have lived in, there are large Muslim communities. In the GVA for instance, Surrey is predominately Muslim. These people constantly speak against the acts of a backwards culture. They do this on television, radio, and in church.
This is true in the UK as well. The BBC has had many interviews over the past week or so with Muslim leaders and regular people. They publically denounce these acts. Several people in Surrey have been killed for doing so since the early seventies. But this does not diminish the courage of those left.
There are people who live in these countries where the culture breeds fear and repression who are also disgusted by what they see, but they lack the courage to stand up against it. I think America could do a lot more good were they to try and give these people courage, rather than spreading fear amongst its own citizens.
It needs to be internal and underground. The support for the rich man needs to be dug out from under him.
Or something like that.
Kudos to the Londoners for getting on with life.