It is perfectly true, of course, that most Muslims are not like the Islamists. The problem is that while this premise is true, it simply does not follow that Islam is not a threat to Europe (and the world), or that Islam is not backward and barbaric, or that the west is not at war with it.
You see, the fact that only a minority is extremist was trivially true for EVERY SINGLE AGRESSIVE NATION OR VIOLENT POLITICAL MOVEMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. But it simply doesn't matter: what matters is what the goal of the NATION OR MOVEMENT is, not the goal of every particular individual in it.
Consider, by analogy, Nazi Germany. Were most Germans fanatical Nazis? We most Nazis openly in favor of the holocaust? No. Most Germans supported Hitler for emotional or other reasons having little to do with the jews; even most Nazis didn't think he really "meant it" when he talked about their extermination. People joined the Nazi party for reasons as prosaic as getting a better job, without the slightest thought of what Hitler had in mind.
Does this mean that the Nazis and Germans--as a body--didn't commit the holocaust? Does this mean that in 1942 the USA was not in war with Nazi Germany because not all Nazi Germans hated it and many were opposed to Hitler's declaration of war against it? Of course not. Why? Because what matters is that the holocaust and WWII were the goal of those who who led, educated, financed, politically motivated, etc., Germany and Nazism at the time.
Same here. The goal of Islam--the "green", political, Sunni Islam, in particular--is a worldwide Muslim Chalifate. The Muslims regimes in the world openly say so, and educated their people for it. In particular, the goal includes the destruction of israel (sorry, the "zionist entity" in "occupied Palestine") and the taking over and establishment of Sharia law in Europe, in stages.
That this is the goal of ISLAM, of the Islamic governments and religious leaders, does not mean that this is the goal of every single Muslim. It does not mean it is the goal of MOST Muslims, either. But that is as irrelevant as saying that it wasn't the goal of all Germans to kill the jews. It IS the goal of those who lead, educate, finance, and propagandize for Islam; it is supporters of this goal that their people and troops take orders from.
What, then, WOULD matter? What can Muslims do to change this? Again, let's use Nazi Germany. The Nazi resistance to Hitler mattered not because they merely disliked Hitler--many Germans did--but because they acted to take POLITICAL control of Germany from the Nazis. Had they succeeded, then war with Germany and the holocaust would have surely quickly stopped, since the new leaders and educators and fianciers of Germany would have stopped both.
Similar movements DO exist in the Muslim world, and are a reason for hope. I could name, offhand, at least half a dozen political leaders of this anti-radical-Islam movement. But let us not kid outselves: they are NOT represnetative of the Islamic world's politics and power. They are much closer to what the German resistance was. Unless they win (and it seems unlikely, unfortunately, that they will) then Islam will continue to be a threat and will continue to try and take over the west (and massacre the jews in the bargain), because this is what political Islam wants.
In the meantime, we face a choice: either realize the danger and do somethign about it, or not.
I agree that it is difficult to decide what to do: it is hard to encourage the moderate political movements while fighting radical Islam. I am offering no magic solution; indeed, the allies faced a similar problem when dealing with the German resistance--do they give assurance about Germany's future? But what if it's a trick? Isn't this against the "total war against Hitler" principle? etc.
But to say that there is no threat--to say it's just "a tiny minoriity of extremists" or that they "are not representative of Islam as a whole" is cowardly self-delusion. While they don't represent Islam as a whole, they sure DO represent POLITICAL AND MILITARY ISLAM as a whole, and it is this Islam that is threathening to take over the west.
That most Muslims in, say, Indonesia or Kuridstan do not agree with this political Islam is of little relevance if in London its leaders and followers can call for the death of all those who insult Islam... while the foreign minister is worried sick about how the cartoonists were "insensitive".
Sorry, but, I think, this is the situation.
You see, the fact that only a minority is extremist was trivially true for EVERY SINGLE AGRESSIVE NATION OR VIOLENT POLITICAL MOVEMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. But it simply doesn't matter: what matters is what the goal of the NATION OR MOVEMENT is, not the goal of every particular individual in it.
Consider, by analogy, Nazi Germany. Were most Germans fanatical Nazis? We most Nazis openly in favor of the holocaust? No. Most Germans supported Hitler for emotional or other reasons having little to do with the jews; even most Nazis didn't think he really "meant it" when he talked about their extermination. People joined the Nazi party for reasons as prosaic as getting a better job, without the slightest thought of what Hitler had in mind.
Does this mean that the Nazis and Germans--as a body--didn't commit the holocaust? Does this mean that in 1942 the USA was not in war with Nazi Germany because not all Nazi Germans hated it and many were opposed to Hitler's declaration of war against it? Of course not. Why? Because what matters is that the holocaust and WWII were the goal of those who who led, educated, financed, politically motivated, etc., Germany and Nazism at the time.
Same here. The goal of Islam--the "green", political, Sunni Islam, in particular--is a worldwide Muslim Chalifate. The Muslims regimes in the world openly say so, and educated their people for it. In particular, the goal includes the destruction of israel (sorry, the "zionist entity" in "occupied Palestine") and the taking over and establishment of Sharia law in Europe, in stages.
That this is the goal of ISLAM, of the Islamic governments and religious leaders, does not mean that this is the goal of every single Muslim. It does not mean it is the goal of MOST Muslims, either. But that is as irrelevant as saying that it wasn't the goal of all Germans to kill the jews. It IS the goal of those who lead, educate, finance, and propagandize for Islam; it is supporters of this goal that their people and troops take orders from.
What, then, WOULD matter? What can Muslims do to change this? Again, let's use Nazi Germany. The Nazi resistance to Hitler mattered not because they merely disliked Hitler--many Germans did--but because they acted to take POLITICAL control of Germany from the Nazis. Had they succeeded, then war with Germany and the holocaust would have surely quickly stopped, since the new leaders and educators and fianciers of Germany would have stopped both.
Similar movements DO exist in the Muslim world, and are a reason for hope. I could name, offhand, at least half a dozen political leaders of this anti-radical-Islam movement. But let us not kid outselves: they are NOT represnetative of the Islamic world's politics and power. They are much closer to what the German resistance was. Unless they win (and it seems unlikely, unfortunately, that they will) then Islam will continue to be a threat and will continue to try and take over the west (and massacre the jews in the bargain), because this is what political Islam wants.
In the meantime, we face a choice: either realize the danger and do somethign about it, or not.
I agree that it is difficult to decide what to do: it is hard to encourage the moderate political movements while fighting radical Islam. I am offering no magic solution; indeed, the allies faced a similar problem when dealing with the German resistance--do they give assurance about Germany's future? But what if it's a trick? Isn't this against the "total war against Hitler" principle? etc.
But to say that there is no threat--to say it's just "a tiny minoriity of extremists" or that they "are not representative of Islam as a whole" is cowardly self-delusion. While they don't represent Islam as a whole, they sure DO represent POLITICAL AND MILITARY ISLAM as a whole, and it is this Islam that is threathening to take over the west.
That most Muslims in, say, Indonesia or Kuridstan do not agree with this political Islam is of little relevance if in London its leaders and followers can call for the death of all those who insult Islam... while the foreign minister is worried sick about how the cartoonists were "insensitive".
Sorry, but, I think, this is the situation.
