greycrusader wrote: ↑Sun May 20, 2018 3:14 amCorrect. I usually avoid topics like this on the boards, but the assumption "ALL fill-in-the-blank have such and such negative traits, because they are fill-in-the-blank" is the damn definition of bigotry.
Let me ask you something. What would you say about generalizing in such a way about Nazis? Would you be okay with that? I bet you would. Most people are. Now, if you give it a moment's thought, you understand that the National Socialist Party deceived a lot of people in its rise to power, and didn't run on anti-Semitism and concentration camps... but after it had become clear that this was what was going on, every member of the NSP was to some degree supporting these monstrous actions, just by their endorsement of the party. We're not really comfortable with a phrase like "not one of the
bad Nazis."
Still with me?
Now, tell me: what is the difference between Muslims and Nazis?
Islam is not a race. It's a set of ideas. White, black, Asian, whatever, you can become Muslim with one relatively simple declaration. It is, in fact, more a political ideology than it is a religion, as most of it revolves around laws and governance. In actual fact, it is an
oligo-fascist political ideology - meaning that it mandates a fascist state controlled by the clergy. Like most political ideologies, if you change your mind, you can forswear it at any time. (Except that in the case of Islam, this is punishable by death.)
Muslims hold a special hatred for Jews, and in Muslim-majority countries, Jews are the subject of actual, for-real systematic oppression. Where there is an appreciable Christian minority, so are they - see Coptic Christians in Egypt, one of the more "enlightened" Muslim countries, as an example. They are also rather notoriously anti-gay, with homosexuality carrying a formal death sentence in most Muslim-majority countries, and anti-gay violence being permitted by law enforcement in the rest. They also don't recognize transsexuality, categorizing it as homosexuality, with the possible addition of heresy - the implication that "God made a mistake" isn't going to be looked at kindly.
According to Islam,
any sin is permissible, as long as it is conducted with the aim of advancing the caliphate's rule over the world. Any transgression against a non-Muslim is not only permitted, but actually approved of.
There are a lot more things I could say about Islam. I've barely scratched the surface, but that covers the relevant stuff.
Now, I've been talking about Islam. What about Muslims - the people who identify as its believers and practitioners? Are there good and decent Muslims? Well, sure. Very, very many Muslims, especially the poor, around the world are ignorant of a great deal of their faith, just like many "Christians" have never read the Bible, and practice just enough to get through their day-to-day lives. A great deal more say "Yes, I'm a Muslim" because they've already said it once, and therefore a different answer will get them killed. A lot of them in the West are aware of the rather barbaric nature of their faith, but don't care, cherry-picking the bits that work for them and remaining confident that no one will hold them to account on the rest, because the threat of enforcement is so very far away. Thing is, though, that most educated Muslims - especially most religious leaders - view these Muslims as failures, in need of education and discipline. So everything that you're saying about #NotAll? REALLY pisses off the clergy.
I'd like to know what your position is on Western Muslims who celebrated on 9/11, incidentally. According to the survey data, the percentage is higher than you'd think.
greycrusader wrote: ↑Sun May 20, 2018 3:14 amOh, and Pakistan is in Southeast Asia; the only categorization of the former Indian territory as "Middle-Eastern" came during the second Bush administration, who will scarcely go down for their brilliant foreign policy.
Oh, absolutely. The Bushism that pisses me off the most? "Islam is a religion of peace." Did you know he coined that one? Memetic virus. The Muslims, on the other hand, say "The Faith of Mohammed is a Faith of the Sword."
greycrusader wrote: ↑Sun May 20, 2018 3:14 amI had a close friend who was a Pakistani Muslim way back in my college days, and he was one of the most fun-loving, easy-going guys I've ever met, getting along with just about everyone, INCLUDING the Indian and Jewish kids.
Hey, that's swell. What did his mosque think of that? I ask because many, many Western mosques are strictly opposed to that kind of thing. And if he didn't go to the mosque enough to really care... then maybe his distance from Islam is what made him cool? Like Jab's example of the Muslim party girl who danced at weddings -
pretty sure she didn't talk about any of
that at the mosque. I've never heard of a single mosque who was okay with that. If your behavior is in constant defiance of your religion, does that still count? I mean, Islam doesn't really have the whole "absolved from sin" element that Christianity does, without real sacrifice for the cause of the advancement of the caliphate. It sounds like a case of people who call themselves Muslim without actually practicing. Which I'm cool with, though I'm anxious about what will happen with these people as Muslim population density rises and their ability to enforce
sharia grows. Case studies show that historically, in those situations, the non-practicing Muslims grow quickly more orthodox. Which is bad.
greycrusader wrote: ↑Sun May 20, 2018 3:14 amBTW: Kamala Khan's whole shtick is emulating her role-model, the white, blond, blue-eyed, ex-American air force officer Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel; yeah, sounds like Caucasians are really cast as the villains in that title, huh?
You mean the one that she eventually correctly called out for in essence declaring herself the authoritarian overlord of Earth?
That not-a-villain? Because I do believe that the book sort of implied that Kamala's reverence for a blond, blue-eyed fascist was a mistake.