Was bin laden and 9/11 successful in making you more aware of islam?

I'm not so sure about that, at best you could call it a Pyrrhic victory. The added exposure for Islam did more to turn the world against the extremist version of Islam OBL supported. It's just a matter of time till that interpretation of Islam is wiped out, the lack of exposure to the world was what was keeping it alive....well that, extreme poverty, and the prevalence of incest in the Muslim world that leads to exceptionally low IQ's and terrible birth defects. There's not much you can do to get those backwards people to stop raping their first cousins but having the rest of the world know what is going on over there is a step towards helping them join the rest of the world in modern times.

 

Uh, no.

You could have made this more pertinent and/or interesting.

 

No, I'm just saying that we all knew, or at least should have, the insanity of the Taliban and Bin Laden well before 9/11. Hell, he announced it on ABC news to Mike Wallace (I think it was Wallace in the cave).

 

Super aware of Islam, or super hateful of it?

 

How much research have you done on Islam? I know that it is the extremists that wish to perpetrate violence against the infidels. What percentage is that? How about deny women and homosexuals rights? Do you know what percentage favor those ideas that I presume and hope you would find repugnant?

I really don't know. I'm admittedly ignorant. I do know that the Islam dominated countries appear on average to have a pretty terrible record in these areas.

I agree with you one hundred percent that you shouldn't judge an entire religion by fringe elements. Or judge any group or people by the worst of that group. Or worse yet, persecute the individual for the acts of the worst of a group.

And I sincerely applaud you for your ability to look past stereotypes and not damn the whole for the few.

Now apply to that police officers. Or heck, second amendment supporters. Or Trump supporters.

I'm spouting off when I shouldn't -- particularly not at you. I just finished reading the "where were you on 9/11 thread", and the smugness of some of the earlier posters has set me off. Sorry, I don't have any cause to vent at you.

 

People aren't born into being officers.

Being critical of a certain profession that has a position of authority is quite different than making a blanket judgement of 1 billion humans, 99% of whom were born into said category especially when the profession that has immense responsibility and authority attached to it has systemic issues accross many departments accross the country such as low standards for employment such as a mere joke associates degree in criminal Justice and not smoking weed.

 

9/11 was impactful to everyone man. We all remember where we were that day and it changed everything.

My response was regarding how it changed our country in regards to the goals Bin Laden was looking to achieve. You just have to remind folks sometimes that terrorist groups have an agenda that ultimately is about power and money. They use religion to convert and brainwash, but their agenda is more power by disruption and pushing nationalism that pulls the West out of global affairs. Allowing for voids for them to fill. Aggressive dictators like Putin are not much different in that sense... just more sophisticated.

In that sense, the West became more engaged in the wake. Long term though nationalism has recently become a pretty nasty cancer that could wreak havoc if it continues to spread. As we remember 9/11 I think this point is important as hell. Remember what they were ultimately trying to achieve and to not give them that. We as a country need to together and pushing our leadership to engage more in spreading peace and freedom. Not sulking in our corners pointing fingers.

 

No one is saying that people are beyond criticism. But gross blanket stereotypes without an understanding of history and socio-economics is unfair as well. Christians were once radical in their day and guilty of many of the same atrocities and ill practices. That doesn't justify Islam but it should prevent people from making gross stereotypes

 

That's a strange question and strange context in which to put the question. Bin Laden's goal wasn't to bring awareness to the religion of Islam. So it is odd to ask if he was successful in something he never set out to accomplish.

 

Exactly. It shows a complete lack of understanding of Al Qaeda, or virtually any other terrorist organization.... including dictators who are power hungry as well.

Bin Laden wasn't on a mission trip to convert us all to Islam. That's for damn sure. But I do know that right wing Christian fundamentalist propaganda does create this false narrative that there is some holy war coming to convert the world to Sharia Law & behead all the Christians.... so donate half your savings account now to 555-345-7777.

 

I'm not in the habit of taking Bin Laden at his word. I think that he meant to draw attention to his distorted and twisted version of Islam.

I was aware of it before Hakeem, but after seeing the positive effect that it had on Dream, I had more of an awakening and awareness. I studied and investigated it. That was years before 9/11.

 

I don't understand what "ship has sailed" or where we are "going home" to? What... we should leave Afghanistan... is that you're point? Or are you trying to push a narrative that we are more aware of a religion that before was the second largest religion in the world, and still is. That's sort of an insult to our intelligence of global religions.

So what's your point? We knew about the religion of Islam before, and we know about it now... We just have more fundamentalists use the extreme groups or political terrorist groups' actions to further their own extremist agenda. The majority of Christians are good though, and the majority of Muslims are good too. So what?

Of course he would say that it was a call to Islam. Without a religion to stand behind, cowardly leaders like Bin Laden have nothing to use to brainwash their foot soldiers into thinking if they blow themselves up they get 99 virgins in the afterlife.

Ask any intelligence person, or anyone that knows anything about terrorist organizations, and all of them will say that the one and only end goal for all these groups is the same.... establish a Caliphate. A state in the middle east under the guise of Islam where they will have real power & wealth. If not, Bin Laden would have flown the plane himself into the Twin Towers.

 

He did, the terrorist version of it. If this is what you have only become aware of concerning Islam, he did win you over.

 

The fear, the outrage, the anger... the outpouring of compassion and love toward the US. So much strong emotion. Our reaction was so key to our future. We unfortunately, failed.



Rest In Peace

by Thich Nhat Hanh

I am a World Trade Center tower, standing tall in the clear blue sky, feeling a violent blow in my side, and
I am a towering inferno of pain and suffering imploding upon myself and collapsing to the ground.
May I rest in peace.

I am a terrified passenger on a hijacked airplane not knowing where we are going or that I am riding on fuel tanks that will be instruments of death, and
I am a worker arriving at my office not knowing that in just a moment my future will be obliterated.
May I rest in peace.

I am a pigeon in the plaza between the two towers eating crumbs from someone's breakfast when fire rains down on me from the skies, and
I am a bed of flowers admired daily by thousands of tourists now buried under five stories of rubble.
May I rest in peace.

I am a firefighter sent into dark corridors of smoke and debris on a mission of mercy only to have it collapse around me, and
I am a rescue worker risking my life to save lives who is very aware that I may not make it out alive.
May I rest in peace.

I am a survivor who has fled down the stairs and out of the building to safety who knows that nothing will ever be the same in my soul again, and
I am a doctor in a hospital treating patients burned from head to toe who knows that these horrible images will remain in my mind forever.
May I know peace.

I am a tourist in Times Square looking up at the giant TV screens thinking I'm seeing a disaster movie as I watch the Twin Towers crash to the ground, and
I am a New York woman sending e-mails to friends and family letting them know that I am safe.
May I know peace.

I am a piece of paper that was on someone's desk this morning and now I'm debris scattered by the wind across lower Manhattan, and
I am a stone in the graveyard at Trinity Church covered with soot from the buildings that once stood proudly above me, death meeting death.
May I rest in peace.

I am a dog sniffing in the rubble for signs of life, doing my best to be of service, and
I am a blood donor waiting in line to make a simple but very needed contribution for the victims.
May I know peace.

I am a resident in an apartment in downtown New York who has been forced to evacuate my home, and
I am a resident in an apartment uptown who has walked 100 blocks home in a stream of other refugees.
May I know peace.

I am a family member who has just learned that someone I love has died, and
I am a pastor who must comfort someone who has suffered a heart-breaking loss.
May I know peace.

I am a loyal American who feels violated and vows to stand behind any military action it takes to wipe terrorists off the face of the earth, and
I am a loyal American who feels violated and worries that people who look and sound like me are all going to be blamed for this tragedy.
May I know peace.

I am a frightened city dweller who wonders whether I'll ever feel safe in a skyscraper again, and
I am a pilot who wonders whether there will ever be a way to make the skies truly safe.
May I know peace.

I am the owner of a small store with five employees that has been put out of business by this tragedy, and
I am an executive in a multinational corporation who is concerned about the cost of doing business in a terrorized world.
May I know peace.

I am a visitor to New York City who purchases postcards of the World Trade Center Twin Towers that are no more, and
I am a television reporter trying to put into words the terrible things I have seen.
May I know peace.

I am a boy in New Jersey waiting for a father who will never come home, and
I am a boy in a faraway country rejoicing in the streets of my village because someone has hurt the hated Americans.
May I know peace.

I am a general talking into the microphones about how we must stop the terrorist cowards who have perpetrated this heinous crime, and
I am an intelligence officer trying to discern how such a thing could have happened on American soil, and
I am a city official trying to find ways to alleviate the suffering of my people.
May I know peace.

I am a terrorist whose hatred for America knows no limit and I am willing to die to prove it, and
I am a terrorist sympathizer standing with all the enemies of American capitalism and imperialism, and
I am a master strategist for a terrorist group who planned this abomination.
My heart is not yet capable of openness, tolerance, and loving.
May I know peace.

I am a citizen of the world glued to my television set, fighting back my rage and despair at these horrible events, and
I am a person of faith struggling to forgive the unforgivable, praying for the consolation of those who have lost loved ones, calling upon the merciful beneficence of God/Yahweh/Allah/Spirit/Higher Power.
May I know peace.

I am a child of God who believes that we are all children of God and we are all part of each other.
May we all know peace.

 

Same here. What I became aware of was that passenger jets full of innocent people could be used as missiles.

 

...that was news to me, too...