What do a billion Muslims really think?

[wayneL]

For discussion:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0517/p12s01-wogi.html

 

[juw177]

Interesting that they did such a survey and nice change to the usual tone of Muslim related articles.

Although they assumed a few fundamental things that I dont agree with:

-Democracy and freedom of speech exists in the west, you just need to write up a constitution and presto! I feel the question "Is Islam compatible with democracy?" comes across as a bit condescending. They might as well say "your government sucks, will you ever have the same high values as us?"

-Muslims radicals are behind terrorist attacks like 7/7 and 9/11 and the west simply needs to understand that not all Muslims are violent and fly planes into buildings.

I was hoping there will be the question "why do you think the west is like this towards Muslims?"

It is not that simple. For one, the west manufactured and exploit the image of the Muslim radical to spread fear in order to justify a resource war.

The ones that benefit from terrorist attacks are the defense contractors, oil companies and the Bush administration. Not the terrorists. I think there is a conspiracy thread already about the holes in the official versions of the attacks.

 

[Kimosabi]

Interesting that they did such a survey and nice change to the usual tone of Muslim related articles.

Although they assumed a few fundamental things that I dont agree with:

-Democracy and freedom of speech exists in the west, you just need to write up a constitution and presto! I feel the question "Is Islam compatible with democracy?" comes across as a bit condescending. They might as well say "your government sucks, will you ever have the same high values as us?"

-Muslims radicals are behind terrorist attacks like 7/7 and 9/11 and the west simply needs to understand that not all Muslims are violent and fly planes into buildings.

I was hoping there will be the question "why do you think the west is like this towards Muslims?"

It is not that simple. For one, the west manufactured and exploit the image of the Muslim radical to spread fear in order to justify a resource war.

The ones that benefit from terrorist attacks are the defense contractors, oil companies and the Bush administration. Not the terrorists. I think there is a conspiracy thread already about the holes in the official versions of the attacks.

It disturbs me how people waffle on about how great Democracy is without even knowing what a Democracy is.

Definition of Democracy

1 a: government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
2: a political unit that has a democratic government
3: capitalized : the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the United States <from emancipation Republicanism to New Deal Democracy— C. M. Roberts>
4: the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority5: the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy

Now most of the ignorant out there think the United States is a Democracy, but nothing could be further from the Truth. The United States is a Constitutional Replublic where the primary objective ot the Constitution and Bill of Rights was to "Protect the Privacy and Secrecy of the Individual", not the Government.

The Founders knew democracy would inevitably degenerate into despotism. There is a great line in Mel Gibson’s move The Patriot about there being no difference between one tyrant 3000 miles away and 3000 tyrants one mile away. Tyranny is tyranny, whether it is imposed by one person or by millions. Voting does not guarantee freedom. Voting for evil does not legitimize evil.

Neither the United States declaration of Independance or the Constitution contain one reference the Democracy. In a democracy, the majority rules and individual rights are irrelevant. If the majority votes that half of your income be confiscated before you can even by groceries, oh well. If the majority votes that you must educate your children in a certain location because you live on a certain side of an arbitrary line, oh well. If the majority votes that you must be disarmed and defenseless against violent criminals, oh well. If the majority votes that your religion be designated an “outlaw religion” and that you and all other practitioners be committed to mental institutions, oh flipping well.

Now for the question of whether Democracy is compatible with Islam is therefore largely irrelevant. The question should be, will Islam protect the Rights of the Individual or project the power of the Majority.

Oh, and if you bother to go some some research into the events of 9/11, 7/7, etc, you might discover that cave dwelling Muslims may not have had anything to do with the attacks.

Time for wakey, wakey, sheeple, the government doesn't appear to love us...

 

[Santob]

OH MY GOD..

MUSLIMS..are..

Just like the rest of us

 

[tigerboi]

OH MY GOD..

MUSLIMS..are..

Just like the rest of us

You got absolutely no idea what you are talking about...

just like us...get real...tb