I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic, also, are all those events you're listing were committed by Islamic exremists?

 

Shamma, I like to think that in this world there are good and bad people of every race and creed. Unfortunately the pictures the media paints of various sectors of society are extremely biased.

We don't have to think too hard to realise there are supposed christians (of both the Catholic and Protestant variety) commiting acts similar to those above in Northern Ireland on an everyday basis.

I'm sure there are some nasty Buddhists around (although none come to mind). And plenty of nasty Hindu's as well. People, if I left your religion out send me a PM and I'll add it in .

Violent extremism isn't an Islamic monopoly, no matter how the media paints it.

 

Amen brother.

This is exactly the way I think, wish more people would think the same way too. Hope this doesn't offend anyone as it is not meant to do so.

 

I agree too but I haven't heard anyone in Northern Ireland call on all catholics to rise up and indescriminately murder all English people, or declare British army or police action against terrorism a "war on catholics" for example. Nor have I seen such huge crowds of clearly ferociously angry people all over the world apparently support such views. There's something unique and very frightening about what's going on right now. Why can't people just be nice?

Salman Rushdie, a man who knows what it means to be on the wrong end of fundamentalism, expressed it like this http://www.smh.com.au/news/0110/08/opinion...n/opinion2.html

 

A little off-topic:
Several people were claiming a few weeks ago that the U.S. was blatantly anti-Palestinian and pro-Israeli. The Economist magazine (British, by the way) has a long article detailing U.S./Israeli relations, which it calls well-balanced.

I thought it was interesting that the U.S. refused to recognize Israel as a legitimate country until the late 1950's, and no president visited until the '70's. The U.S. has always supported U.N. Resolution 242, which is designed to set up a Palestinian homeland. Every president for the last 25 years has tried to negotiate settlements between the PLO and Israel. Until 1988, the official PLO negotiating position was that the only possible solution was the expulsion of all Jews from the Middle East.

Considering that Israel is a capitalist democracy and the PLO is an authoritarian terrorist organization, I agree that the U.S. has spent quite a bit of energy and political capital trying to be fair in negotiating a peaceful settlement to the conflict.

 

Then you haven't been listening too carefully. That is exactly what the IRA preach against the English.

The fact is, the Islamic people we see dancing around a burning effige of George Bush are as much a victim of their countries media as you and I are of ours when we correlate wearing a towel on your head with terrorism. It is exactly this sort of dangerous ignorance on all parts that makes this world a scary place.

It is the fact that people in Ireland, where the media is no where nearly as strictly controlled as it is in Afghanistan, can be so ignorant and angry (on both sides BTW) that mystifies me. It is proof that much of what our censorship is not imposed by the media, but by ourselves.

 

I think what you say is wise Aus. It's very important to try to eliminate all sources of bias in our judgement. I also think this is bigger and more serious than anything we've faced before. What worries me most is that it doesn't matter how hard we try to make it otherwise, there are many people in this world now who wish to start a religious war. So far they are succeeding. I dare not imagine how many people support the acts of September 11. We ignore those people at our peril.

 

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Are you serious? The IRA preaches that the Catholic Irish should rise up and kill all the English? I don't think that's factually correct.

Speaking about the press however, I heard on national public radio the other day that the Arab news wires carried a story that 4000 Israelis and Jews did not come to work at the World Trade Center on September 11 - evidence that the Jews were really responsible for the attacks on the towers and Pentagon. Interesting since so many folks who bought this story were in the streets celebrating. I also heard that it was widely reported in the Arab world that the Jews were responsible for bringing down Pan Am 103. I think there's a powerful impulse at work to convince folks that the problem is someone else's.

World Trade Center Tower 1
World Trade Center Tower 2
Pentagon
Egypt Air 800
La Belle Discotheque
the nursery at Ma'alot
Pan Am 103
Achille Lauro
US Embassy in Kenya
US Embassy in Tanzania
Khobar Towers
Khobar Shopping Center
US Marine Barracks in Lebanon
USS Cole
bombing of the Bombay Stock Exchange and other targets in Bombay
US hostage beheaded by Moslem rebels in Philippines
Massacre of US troops in Somalia where US was protecting delivery of food aid to fight famine.

Is there a problem? I'm sure everyone who perpetrated every one of these atrocities thought they were doing good work. What do you think the problem is?

 

No they preach that you should give everyone a cuddle......

bstrds

 

That's funny. You made me smile.