[Nattering Nabob]

^

Well looking at it in this way you are correct...

It seems I will have to dump the term Republican and replace it with anti-government activists...

[THX40]

Well looking at it in this way you are correct...It seems I will have to dump the term Republican and replace it with anti-government activists...

I appreciate your fairness. But just to be clear, if you had said, "rightwingers killed people in Oklahoma city" I wouldn't have had a problem with it...because that's what McVeigh and his screwball militia friends were.


-

[Bella]

Oh gosh, I cannot stand any of those View women. I saw the O'Reilly episode on YouTube, and I think he owned Joy. She got upset and stalked off later. And Whoopi Goldberg was just so rude to O'Reilly from the beginning. They're so unprofessional.

People do it in this forum all the time. There is despicable anti-semitic rhetoric that occurs in these forums on a daily basis, but the moderators don't do anything about it because either A) they support it and agree with the suggestions (most of the moderation team are uneducated left-wing "students"), or B) they're fooled by the language being dressed up in a pretty package and not explicitly stating hatred or denigration of the Jewish people. People often choose their words carefully when sharing their messages of hate. They don't come out and say, "I hate X", but they stop just short of it. That's what O'Reilly seemed to be doing, and that's what happens all over the place (including on this board) all the time.

Great point, Oleh Hadesh.

[Kinan]

"However there are also people of the other extreme who are so hyper-defensive about any form of criticism that's directed at Muslims (or even Muslim extremists) that they'll immediately get absolutely hysterical and start crying "hate speech!"


I am Muslim and I don't care much if someone criticize Muslims as a whole, I personally came to a level where I don't give a shit cos anyway anybody can say anything about anyone, why stopping them?
The 2 lines I quote can be applied also on the "anti-Semitic" shit, I am sick and tired of people throwing that accusation, esp to me, I am a Syrian for God sake, I AM SEMITIC, so how can I be anti me?
Too much bullshit in this world.

[Bella]

Here's the video if anyone wants to watch it.

[youtube]vCiNyBnoQ5I[/youtube]

[Vera Politica]

^ WoW. They made Bill look like a genius

[Cheesecake_Marmalade]

The only reason to be offended at the idea that muslims were responsible for 9/11 is if you think that:
[1] Killing 3000 people is akin to murder on an insane scale (it's not).
[2] 9/11 was not brought on by the US government (it was).
[3] Military action against the US is an insane idea (it isn't).

As far as I'm concerned, there's no reason to support the actions that took place on 9/11, but if you are from a Muslim country that has been adversely affected by US policies, it would be extremely hard not to sympathize with the actions of these extremists. The problems with their actions as I see it are not literally what they did, but the ideology that is behind it. That is, there is no reason to support reactionary assholes like Al Qaeda, and it is extremely stupid to base your ideology on having a suicidal war with the American government, especially since they can (and did) win any armed conflict while sustaining barely any losses. Were it a strategic attack, it was a smart move, if it was meant to make a point, it failed in that regard.

[Zwischenzug]

Would it be correct to say that the 911 was motivated by politics and to the extremists, Islam is merely the tool used to rally more allies to their cause? Of course, plenty of muslims buy into the "war on terror" as a war against Islam (i.e. that it is a religious struggle). Or perhaps it began with politics and warped into a religious struggle afterwards?

[septimine]

Would it be correct to say that the 911 was motivated by politics and to the extremists, Islam is merely the tool used to rally more allies to their cause? Of course, plenty of muslims buy into the "war on terror" as a war against Islam (i.e. that it is a religious struggle). Or perhaps it began with politics and warped into a religious struggle afterwards?

I think Religion, or at least Islam was the motivating factor on 9/11 as well as several other high profile attacks. The 9/11 hijackers were followers of Bin Laden who never acted without a fatwa first. They praised Allah while attacking, and their last will and testements were all steeped in religion. If it was like McVeigh in that the only connection these people had to a larger Islamic community was having attended a mosque 10 years ago, then you'd be fair in saying that Islam has nothing to do with 9/11. Muslims can't escape the connection because terrorists are making that connection themselves.

As for the religion itself, I don't think that Islam is "peaceful" at least not on the same terms as Christianity and Judaism. In either of those religions, it's explicitly forbidden to attack people in the name of God. No ifs, ands, or Buts, you don't declare war on peaceful people. Islam has nothing of the sort, and in fact has a strong history of conquest which formed the Islamic Empire. Iran isn't Muslim because of missionaries, Iran is Muslim because Muslims conquered Persia. Rome became Christian because of conversion -- Constantine converted and slowly Rome embraced Christianity.