To paraphrase this ISIS document - 'Make Western governments turn against their Muslim citizens so they come to us.' https://t.co/32CcsEFYXf
— Andrew Hibbard (@andrewhibbard) November 14, 2015
Ben Carson said Sunday that he believes Islam to be inconsistent with the Constitution and therefore he could not support a Muslim candidate for president. “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,†he told NBC’s Chuck Todd. “I absolutely would not agree with that.â€
This rancid sentiment was on display at Trump’s town hall meeting in New Hampshire last week, at which a questioner began by stating a premise: “We have a problem in this country, it’s called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know, he’s not even an American.â€
(…) They've got some pretty good reasons: Calling it the Islamic State helps ISIS sell its message, and helps insult Muslims to boot.
The name "Islamic State," as opposed to ISIS or Daesh, is at its heart a propaganda tool. By claiming to be the caliphate, ISIS is implying that it's the only state true Muslims should obey: Around the world, they should pledge loyalty to the one and only Islamic State. This message is part of how ISIS recruits and thus keeps fighting.
Hence why British and French authorities are moving to the more derogatory Daesh, which doesn't imply that the group is either a real government or an authentic representation of Islamic thought.
"Islamic State, ISIL, and ISIS [give] legitimacy to a terrorist organization that is not Islamic nor has it been recognised as a state," 120 British MPs wrote in a letter to Lord Tony Hall, the director-general of the BBC.
Any time there is an attack on civilians in the post-9/11 West, demagogues immediately blame it on Muslims. They frequently lack evidence, but depend on the blunt force of anti-Muslim bigotry to bolster their accusations.
Actual evidence, on the other hand, shows that less than two percent of terrorist attacks from 2009 to 2013 in the E.U. were religiously motivated. In 2013, just one percent of the 152 terrorist attacks were religious in nature; in 2012, less than three percent of the 219 terrorist attacks were inspired by religion.
The vast majority of terrorist attacks in these years were motivated by ethno-nationalism or separatism. In 2013, 55 percent of terrorist attacks were ethno-nationalist or separatist in nature; in 2012, more than three-quarters (76 percent) of terrorist attacks were inspired by ethno-nationalism or separatism.
(snip)
Clampdown on Muslims and refugees
Every time Islamic extremists carry out an attack, the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are expected to collectively apologize; it has become a cold cliché at this point.
Who benefits from such clampdown on Muslims and refugees?
Two primary groups: One, Islamic extremist groups themselves, who use the clampdown as “evidence†that there is supposedly no room for Muslims in the secular West that has declared war on Islam; and two, Europe’s growing far-right, who will use the attacks as “evidence†that there is supposedly no room for Muslims in the secular West that should declare war on Islam.
Meanwhile, in a brown part of the world, as the attacks began in Paris, Lebanon was just emerging from a National Day of Mourning, after 43 people were killed and 200 more were injured during a series of coordinated suicide bombings in Beirut.
(snip)
The sad reality is that these attacks will increase. You can’t stop five or eight people with a gun and a twisted ideology, just as you can’t stop an American or Australian military with a commercial, strategic and political interest in slaughter.
Westerners are finally being given just a small taste of the constant fear that people from other nations have endured for generations. So solidarity with, and compassion for, the French is a good thing.
But solidarity and compassion for the victims of terrorism everywhere is even better, in particular those who’ve fallen victim to the terrorism sponsored in all our names.
The sad fact is, that in the places mentioned, the populace have been bombing and killing each other for so long we have become numb to its tragedy. In addition, the people of these places often ignore or even condone the terror perpetrated against their fellow citizens unless it is an attack that inflicts collateral damage from one of the western military powers fighting to end the work of terror groups that the locals do not fight against.
For example, in Pakistan or Afghanistan an errant bomb or drone strike brings hundreds, even thousands of locals to the street to protest callous western violations of their sovereignty and murder by the west. Meanwhile, when the Pakistani Taliban attack a school and kill dozens of Pakistani children who happen to be the progeny of Pakistani military officers, there was no commensurate outpouring. The attacks on shia muslims in Pakistan are perpetrated by sunni Pakistani extremist groups from inside Pakistan.
We all have a hard time understanding why Pakistan's government doesn't do more to bring those people to justice. In Lebanon we have a decades old conflict of inter-faith warfare between the various faith groups--sunni, shia, druze--who are supported by various foreign powers for their own reasons. It is difficult for those of us in the west with pluralistic societies where we try to accommodate our diverse populations--even when we fall short it is our ideal--to understand how these groups across the middle east, south asia, and Africa continue to thrive and populations do not demand more of their governments to bring peace.
Simply put, when Muslims condemn acts of violence from extremists, and they get asked again and again why don’t they condemn terrorism, I wonder if is because some of us are not listening. And perhaps that we don’t want to listen. There is a sad place deep in my soul that has to admit this: there are some in our midst who do not want to believe that faithful, pious Muslims could find and do find acts of violence morally repugnant. That attitude, as common as it is, tells me nothing about the humanity of Muslims that I know, or about Islam. It does tell me a lot about a xenophobic spirit of ignorance that is rampant in our society.
Ultimately, this spirit of ignorance and racism is a common enemy, just as much as state-sponsored violence and violence committed by groups like ISIS is an enemy. All of these stand in opposition to the dignity of all of us.
I don’t know how to say it more directly than this: Yes, the members of ISIS come from Muslim backgrounds. No, their actions cannot be justified on the basis of the 1400 years of Islamic tradition. Every serious scholar of Islam has confirmed this clearly, and unambiguously. ISIS is about as Muslim as the KKK is Christian. If you don’t look to the KKK to tell you about God’s message of love as expressed through Jesus, don’t look to ISIS to tell you about God’s mercy as expressed through Muhammad.
Quote by trojanrabbit:
Actually the first thing we should do is drop Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Pelosi, Blair and a bunch of others in a courtroom in The Hague and prosecute for war crimes. No one will believe we really care about changing things in the ME until the for-profit motive puts you behind bars or in a noose.
Quote by Raine:Quote by trojanrabbit:
Actually the first thing we should do is drop Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Pelosi, Blair and a bunch of others in a courtroom in The Hague and prosecute for war crimes. No one will believe we really care about changing things in the ME until the for-profit motive puts you behind bars or in a noose.
I agree about the prosecution — however I don;t think that will begin to placate the monsters that are now carrying out these attacks. That would go a long way to heal the western world but I don't think Daesh gives a fuck about them at all right now, they actually Thrive on people who think like the Neo-cons and the GOP in General. .
Quote by Scoopster:
Mornin' all..
It seems that sentiment is all over the place today. I'm glad, but I know certain elements will refuse to see it this way. All they see is hate and blood, just like the people who orchestrated this attack.
Quote by TriSec:
France can't catch a break- did you hear about the TGV crash yesterday?
What use is prayer, God? A Prayer During a Terror Attack in Paris
© Rabbi Menachem Creditor
What use is prayer, God,
while Your children are killing each other?
Your images are erasing each other,
right now, on the streets of Paris,
in markets and thaters and stadiums in Paris.
Dear God,
What can prayer accomplish
when hate and fear fill human hearts,
life interrupted by global concern,
all of us tweeting, reposting,
images of flags, incomplete reports,
sick to our hearts?
Dear God…
Dear God…
If only there were a way
to reach out beyond space,
to connect one heart to the next
until we remembered
that we belong to each other…
If only our hearts’ ache
for a world without hate
could reach Yours….
If only…
There is a way,
even during this moment of terror,
through a deeper prayer
than we’re used to making.
God, we need You
and we know
our fate isn’t up to You.
God, we pray,
but not for You to save us.
That won’t work.
God, we pray that You strengthen us.
Help us pray,
Help us rage,
Help us cry,
Help us rescue each other,
Help us change this broken world.
Help us transform our tears into resolve,
rage into constructive passion,
trauma into healing.
God,
may we learn
not only to stop each other
from killing each other…
May we also learn
to stop killing
in the first place.
Amen.
Cats break through #G20's tight security. pic.twitter.com/XuT7IgZX7T
— Şükrü Oktay Kılıç (@soktaykilic) November 15, 2015
Quote by BobR:Quote by BobR:
Now DAESH is threatening to come into my backyard
And Anonymous is getting into the act
Quote by BobR:
Is it just me, or does the "flower" on the "G" look like a laser-guided missile?
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by BobR:
Is it just me, or does the "flower" on the "G" look like a laser-guided missile?
Nope not to me. A stylized tulip.
Quote by Mondobubba:
No, Jindal, Abbot and you other ass-clowns. You can't say no to Syrian refugees. Because, Constitution. I swear to fuck I am tired of these ass-ignorant fckwits trying to nullify the bits of Federal law they don't like. It didn't work in the early 1830s and it won't work now. YOU ARE NOT HELPING, STOP. Just STOP.
Quote by Raine:Quote by Mondobubba:
No, Jindal, Abbot and you other ass-clowns. You can't say no to Syrian refugees. Because, Constitution. I swear to fuck I am tired of these ass-ignorant fckwits trying to nullify the bits of Federal law they don't like. It didn't work in the early 1830s and it won't work now. YOU ARE NOT HELPING, STOP. Just STOP.
Virginia Conservatives want to take it one step further…
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:Quote by Mondobubba:
No, Jindal, Abbot and you other ass-clowns. You can't say no to Syrian refugees. Because, Constitution. I swear to fuck I am tired of these ass-ignorant fckwits trying to nullify the bits of Federal law they don't like. It didn't work in the early 1830s and it won't work now. YOU ARE NOT HELPING, STOP. Just STOP.
Virginia Conservatives want to take it one step further…
Governor Penis Head doesn't want them either.
Quote by Raine:here is an unbroken link so you can see what they are suggesting.Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:Quote by Mondobubba:
No, Jindal, Abbot and you other ass-clowns. You can't say no to Syrian refugees. Because, Constitution. I swear to fuck I am tired of these ass-ignorant fckwits trying to nullify the bits of Federal law they don't like. It didn't work in the early 1830s and it won't work now. YOU ARE NOT HELPING, STOP. Just STOP.
Virginia Conservatives want to take it one step further…
Governor Penis Head doesn't want them either.
In essence they are asking for the USA to create dentition camps or start having the state borders checked for people coming in.
Quote by Mondobubba:
The next plug ignorant redneck who says we need to close the border like France did is going to going to be slapped by my while I say, "France did that keep people in, ijit!" Think the Batman slapping Robin meme.
Quote by Raine:Quote by Mondobubba:
The next plug ignorant redneck who says we need to close the border like France did is going to going to be slapped by my while I say, "France did that keep people in, ijit!" Think the Batman slapping Robin meme.
Or you know, mention that the attackers were largely French who WENT to syria to train and came back….
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:Quote by Mondobubba:
The next plug ignorant redneck who says we need to close the border like France did is going to going to be slapped by my while I say, "France did that keep people in, ijit!" Think the Batman slapping Robin meme.
Or you know, mention that the attackers were largely French who WENT to syria to train and came back….
That too, even.