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Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by Founding
That would be an impossible scenario to envision, but if by that you mean that the Muslims advanced to the point of a Western Society and Democracy while the Christians and Jews remained in countries ruled by their religions?
I think the system of governance we live under has far more effect on who we are than the religion of our Fathers.
Edited to say:
I know the above is a tortured answer and I hope you get my real meaning.
[edit on 1/5/2009 by Blaine91555]
Originally posted by worldwatcher
reply to post by VinceP1974
I ask again how many Muslims were polled or asked how they felt? Have you ever been to a Mosque, sat down to eat or just talk with Muslim? Have you spoken to Muslims from other parts of the world and not just watch them on TV? You're all viewing a very one sided view of Islam, same way some of them have a very one sided view of let's says Americans, or Jews, or Hindus. Painting an entire culture and religion and it doesn't matter which one it is with one singular brush is very wrong but it's being done on both sides and it's being done here on ATS with words that people choose to use. We are all guilty of this, example this thread alone should serve that purpose. Yet we know, that if we really knew each other on a personal level, no matter or religion or beliefs we have, we wouldn't and we couldn't kill or hurt each other the way those who instigate this religious war wants us to.
[edit on 1-5-2009 by worldwatcher]
Originally posted by neformore
Well...if we're talking statistics.
I think this is more relevant.
Actually it's completely irrelevant to the topic. Let me guess. you're college educated?
Originally posted by Skyfloating
reply to post by worldwatcher
I actually have been to Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and talked to many average people there. Sat with them in Cafes. Argued with them. Shared laughs with them. As mentioned earlier, I have taken on the Muslim POV. Do you think they'd ever consider the Jewish/Israeli POV? Not a chance.
Originally posted by Skyfloating
reply to post by worldwatcher
Do you think they'd ever consider the Jewish/Israeli POV? Not a chance.
Originally posted by neformore
Actually it's completely irrelevant to the topic. Let me guess. you're college educated?
How I'm educated is irrelevant to the topic.
Who exports the weapons, who uses them, and where and how they are used is particularly relevant to the topic, because thats the root of the worlds problems, not any particular religion.
Or let me put it another way, how much ordnance has the "West" expended in the middle east in recent years, either directly or by proxy in arms sales to "favoured nations" and allies?
And when that ordance has been used, how much of it was expended out of "fanaticism", be it religious or otherwise?
Wasn't the "crusade" to remove WMD's from Iraq "fanatical" in the sense that the Neocons pursued the issue with particularly excessive zeal? I think the wargasm induced by the TV coverage of that conflict proved that to be the case. Don't the Israelis respond to fanaticism with fanaticism of their own? It certainly seems that way.
Labelling one side of a debate is pointless. It take two people/sides to have conflict, not just one, and in this case neither the "free world" or the "fanatics" are innocent one little bit.
Originally posted by KilgoreTrout
Originally posted by Skyfloating
reply to post by worldwatcher
I actually have been to Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and talked to many average people there. Sat with them in Cafes. Argued with them. Shared laughs with them. As mentioned earlier, I have taken on the Muslim POV. Do you think they'd ever consider the Jewish/Israeli POV? Not a chance.
You were pretty marred by that experience though weren't you? Both sides in this conflict are conflicting, as in it takes two to tango and two armies to wage a war.
As I recall you stayed in Bethlehem during that visit, on the Palestinian side and were amazed at the contrast between the 'forward thinking' clean and advanced Israeli side by comparison. That culture, Israeli culture was imported from Europe, it doesn't or didn't belong there, it suited you because it was more along the lines that you were used to.
It is similar, I imagine to visiting the US and staying on an Indian Reservation, poor example but I hope I give the gist. The people of Palestine have been driven to extremism, they weren't born that way.
When all hope of a peaceful solution is lost, when you continue to be pushed into a smaller and smaller hole, when all means to forge a life and living is removed from you, tell me what do you do? Do you die or do you fight for your survival?
Islamic radicalism only exists because Islam has been radicalised by circumstances and it had also been supported in the same way as Christian and Jewish radicalism has been. The Madrassa system was funded by the Saudis, right from the word go. If you study the rise of Islam, from the early 1800s you will see a clear and distinct path. When the Anglican church launched their own Jihad at the turn of that century, because of concerns that the British Empire would be usurped by free-trade, the British forces systematically hunted down all muslim intellectuals and in doing so removed the beauty from that religion and replaced it with hatred. It now serves a purpose, divisions keep the military-industrial complex in profits. The fanatics, christian, jewish, muslim, whatever, keep wars going, so the warmongers keep the fanatics going.
It is important to remember to try on everyones shoes, whether they fit or not, even if they stink, you cannot possibly understand the world today until you have at least attempted to see it from every conceiveable angle.
Originally posted by VinceP1974
And so we seeing the Founder's theory about what happens to a society that forsakes its religion right before our eyes.