So all youve learned about muslims and muslim countries and culture is from
racist websites and literature? Have you ever lived in a muslim country?
Have you ever had a muslim friend or actually met and TALKED to a REAL
fucking muslim other than just seeing them blow themselves up in the movies or
on the news? I didn\'t think so. Well, I\'ve actually lived a year in a
muslim country.
I\'ve studied islamic culture in school. Your attempt to pigeonhole islamic
culture is sad, pathetic and misguided. Oddly enough, muslims in america dont
commit 65% of the rapes. Nor do the commit rapes in most other countries that
i know of. Muslims are like any other people. There are extremists in every
culture. Maybe there\'s more extermism in places where there is extraordinary
injustice and/or inequality. Did you ever think about that? Saying that islam
as a religion is predisposed toward evil is just not historically true or
supportable. The vast majority of muslims in the world are peaceful people
who just want to live out their lives like you and me. Yet you judge them by
the crazy 1% of the websites you can find. Ask yourself if that is fair. Ask
yourself if maybe its YOU that is biased, and not them.

Better yet, how about you go out and actually live with muslims before claiming
that you know them so well.







And as I expect the discussion to evolve I\'ll throw in some interesting

For someone who is well accustomed to multiculturalism, you show very little
understanding of the nature of difference between various cultures. Your post
and the links you posted \"blend\" radical islam with moderate and lump all
muslims into the same extremist post. I didn\'t research the background of
the authors you listed but i don\'t have to; their articles are proof of their
bias. For example the first one you listed was:\"How my eyes were opened to
the barbarity of Islam\"
Do you think that just MAYBE this article (just from the title) could be a
little bit inflammatory and biased? Gee just maybe? The author goes on to
talk about how, after living in a country that has been invaded by both
superpowers, has had its economy crushed by the western powrs, and has been
bombed back to the stonage, she experienced a version of islam that was
barbaric and evil. Exactly how can you relate the version of islam that is
practiced in the most remote regions of Afganistan with that practiced by
secular muslims in europe, america etc? Don\'t you think that MIGHT be some
kind of over generalization? As evidence to this here is a COMMENT at the
end of the post of your second author:

\"One must remember that Saudi is not representative for Islam and Muslims on a
world scale, it represents an extreme position that most Muslims outside Saudi
disagree with. Using them as representatives for the entire religion and the
entire region is like using Fred Phelps as a representative example of
Christianity and the west. \"

That comment pretty much sums up the huge gapping holes in most of your
assumptions. Your fourth poster, Amil Imani, is a well known radical
anti-iranian dissident living in America. Amil Imani believes that islamic
RADICALISM and theocracy has overtaken islam; i believe your excerpt was taken
well out of context. What Amil actually believes is that concepts like
\"liberty, equality\" and the other \"conservative\" american values should
always take precdence over traditional muslim values. Irregardless of
context, presenting Amil as a moderate and unbiased voice on the issue of
Islam is rather disingenious. IN fact, Amil Imani has a specific agenda: the
overthrow of the theocracy of Iran and the establishment of a secular western
state. You can check out the ACTUAL believes of Amil at his website:
http://www.amilimani.com/
It should be noted that Amil Imani is a vocal critic of Shirin Ebadi who won
the Nobel peace prize. See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amil_Imani
In short, my point was (and remains) that attempts to define Islam and all
muslims based on a small portion of the islamic culture is improper.


Blayke









From the very beginning of my life I\'ve been introduced to multiculturalism

I would also like to point out that your ORIGINAL commentator, Bernard Lewis,
has been roundly criticized for exactly my criticism of your posts: That his
view of Islam is \"monolithic\"; whereas islam is really composed of a vast
multi-facted collective group. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Lewis. Bernard Lewis is also a
\"neo-con\" who believes that the Middle east can be remade in the image of
america. He is one of the favourite policy wonks of Dick Cheney, and his
thinking deeply influenced the decision to enter the current Iraq War. His
assertion (And by implication yours) that Islam as a philosophical system is
not open to criticism or inquiry is just that: an assertion. There is no
objective way to prove this. I know for a fact that the islamic kingdoms of
the middle ages were far more open to other religions and scientific
principles than the christian societies of the times. Perhaps the radicalism
of the Saudis and Somalis is more based on POLITICAL choices than on RELIGIOUS
ones? Just the existence of functioning, modern, secular muslims in our
western contries argues against your point. Religions do not exist in a
vacuum. The way they are interpreted affects their evolution.

Again your point that MOST or a \"LOT\" (and this goes to Saldas\'s point also)
muslims are infected by some maniacal radicalism is not true. The vast
majority of muslims are farmers, bankers, cab-drivers and other citizens who
just want to live out their lives in peace. Imho, a much more convincing
explanation for presence of radicalism in muslim countries is NOT their
religion but rather the constant political instability in the region, the
fundamental lack of human rights, and the constant state of war fare. These
factors are much more conducive to creating \"radicalism\" in a country than
is some western fantasized version of islamic philosophy. Radicalism exists
in EVERY country where these factors exist, irregardless of whether the
country is Christian (think germany in WWII), Buddhist (Burma and the Khmer
Rouge comes to mind), or any other religion.

\"Like Jimi Carter, Blackstar is increasingly irrelevant.\"

--President Bush