ISIS Forces Last Iraqi Christians to Flee Mosul

I called you Islamists or possibly terrorist sympathizers, as you appear to be fans of the same ideology. I didn't call you terrorists. In my opinion, that would require you to actually cross the bridge to actual violence, and I don't have any indication that you have done that.

 

And every time you are wrong. But you are just seeking attention, so it's ok.

 

Why not?

If the religion/ideology is associated with murder and terrorism in the world currently, e.g. in Nigeria (Boko Haram), Afghanistan/Pakistan (Taliban), Iraq/Syria (ISIS et al.), Libya (Islamist extremists trying to take over), with the subjugation of women (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan), honor killings (e.g. Turkey), forced marriages of underage girls (e.g. Yemen), female genital mutilation (e.g., Somalia, Eritrea, and 25 other Islamic countries), rampant anti-Jewish hate (all over), worldwide oppression and penalization of gays and "apostates", stoning (e.g. Sudan, Yemen), worldwide intolerance and an "us vs. them mentality", then -

why not?

It is a different thing to reject an ideology or to reject people.

I reject the ideology of Islam because it is associated with way too much bad stuff in practice.

I do acknowledge that most people who happen to have been born into being followers of that religion/ideology don't support most of the excesses I mention above, and that most of these followers are peaceful. I have no problem with them as people.

As with other religious scriptures and rules (e.g., the bible, which contains a lot of weird stuff as well, when you read it from today's perspective), people can re-interpret them into something that helps them, gives them guidance and makes sense to them, and maybe gives them strength. There are highly intelligent people like dmc89 who just happen to be proponents of an Islam they defined for themselves and which they consider beautiful. Good for them, or maybe not, maybe they would be even better off if they freed themselves from the shackles of a questionable ideology - but at least I don't mind the people at all, as long as there are no negative consequences for other people from whatever they happen to practice or believe in.

But I do reject an ideology that is associated with all the negative things I mentioned above, and more.

 

Nobody cares, maybe it's time you notice. At least other people get a rise out of others, you are just like that annoying kid that keeps interrupting a conversation, desperately seeking attention.

 

Maybe it's not Muslim-specific. Maybe it's human nature.

People want to associate themselves with a group when they feel like the group is unfairly attacked, or the group is having success. But if members of the group (a chosen one or one that one was just born into) are doing bad or even horrible things, one just sort of blocks it out, doesn't want to be reminded of it, doesn't want to be told that one is associated with it (the easiest way out is to say "they aren't even members of my group, because we are perfect, and if someone is not, then they are not members, so why would I have to feel any sense of responsibility"). Add to that the fact that most Muslims get raised from an early age to have an extremely negative image of Jews and Israel, which makes for a convenient scapegoat for own failures, and it's pretty clear to me why there are so many more Muslims on the streets in Europe protesting and demonizing Israel, rather than protesting against the atrocities their own fellow Muslims commit in Iraq/Syria (ISIS), in Nigeria (Boko Haram), and in many other places around the world.

It's much more appealing to be outraged about perceived injustices against your own group than to be outraged about injustices members of the group commit.

E.g., I am happy/proud that Germany won the world cup, even though I didn't play. But I don't really have fun if it is rubbed in my face that Germany pretty much started the last two world wars, and murdered millions of people. I think that overall we "cleaned house" in Germany after the Nazis were finally no longer in power, and we have become a pretty respectable country. But anyway, I would instinctively rather talk about the world cup, or maybe complain about not having gotten a penalty in the last match, or whatever.

So I do understand that it is human nature to rather point fingers than to have to deal with negative aspects of the group you are associated with.

Sadly, I think that Muslims worldwide have tons of "cleaning house" to do, and of course, it is much harder because the ideology is not pretty much isolated in one country (like Nazism was) and therefore the extremists within it are much more difficult to isolate and defeat. But I would encourage our Muslim friends here to consider thinking about whether it would not sometimes be better to spend more time on working on negative issues within the worldwide Muslim community, rather than cultivating an "us vs. them" mentality and pointing fingers at a comparatively tiny nation such as Israel and a comparatively tiny religious group such as the Jews.

It would surely increase the respect the rest of the world would have for Islam and for Muslims.