Just when you thougt Islamic Extremists were nice folks?

namelessfly wrote:http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-forum/popcorn.gif

Surely you meant to do this.

You forgot to use the "img" tags.

Moving on...

One huge problem here is that unless the peaceful muslim majority make it clear that the Islamist Jihadists are not representative of their religion and are in fact attempting to promote a backwards, barbaric and perverted version of it, Islam itself may become synonymous with actions similar to those associated with Nazism. This will be a massive kick in the guts to those who wish to live their lives peacefully according to the tenants of Islam.

The "If you die in the service of Islam you will be rewarded with 72 virgins" thing doesn't help, especially considering that it's a transcription error. It should actually be "If you die in the service of Islam you will be rewarded with 72 pieces of dried fruit". This dates back to when only rich people could afford dried fruit due to how expensive it was and thus they offered some to their honoured guests to show how much they valued them.

Thought-provoking, isn't it...

What about the leader of the worlds most populous muslim country declaring ISIS an extreme embaressment and setback to the muslim community, and calling on his countrymen to do the right thing and stay moderate?

Michael Everett wrote:

namelessfly wrote:http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-forum/popcorn.gif

Surely you meant to do this.

You forgot to use the "img" tags.

Moving on...

One huge problem here is that unless the peaceful muslim majority make it clear that the Islamist Jihadists are not representative of their religion and are in fact attempting to promote a backwards, barbaric and perverted version of it, Islam itself may become synonymous with actions similar to those associated with Nazism. This will be a massive kick in the guts to those who wish to live their lives peacefully according to the tenants of Islam.

The "If you die in the service of Islam you will be rewarded with 72 virgins" thing doesn't help, especially considering that it's a transcription error. It should actually be "If you die in the service of Islam you will be rewarded with 72 pieces of dried fruit". This dates back to when only rich people could afford dried fruit due to how expensive it was and thus they offered some to their honoured guests to show how much they valued them.

Thought-provoking, isn't it...

Spacekiwi wrote:What about the leader of the worlds most populous muslim country declaring ISIS an extreme embaressment and setback to the muslim community, and calling on his countrymen to do the right thing and stay moderate?

Mea culpa.

Missed that bit of news (don't watch that much news, working on one of my stories).

Which country was it?

I'm sure he means Indonesia. While a large diverse Muslim country they put in a lot of effort cracking down on the fringe idiots. When there was a nasty night club bombing aimed at westerners a few years back they hunted the perpetrators down. Only concession was that they were allowed to be buried in their own villages.

Michael Everett wrote:

Spacekiwi wrote:What about the leader of the worlds most populous muslim country declaring ISIS an extreme embaressment and setback to the muslim community, and calling on his countrymen to do the right thing and stay moderate?

Mea culpa.

Missed that bit of news (don't watch that much news, working on one of my stories).

Which country was it?

Daryl wrote:I'm sure he means Indonesia. While a large diverse Muslim country they put in a lot of effort cracking down on the fringe idiots. When there was a nasty night club bombing aimed at westerners a few years back they hunted the perpetrators down. Only concession was that they were allowed to be buried in their own villages.

I just checked and apparently in 2010 Indonesia had approx 12.7% of the world's Muslim population (88.1% of their own population).

If they oppose the violence, then they have my respect.

If only they had more of a diplomatic presence on the world stage...

Hey Michael.

Yeah it was indonesia, and although they may not have much of an impact outside australasia, they are reasonably well known down here.

Michael Everett wrote:

Daryl wrote:I'm sure he means Indonesia. While a large diverse Muslim country they put in a lot of effort cracking down on the fringe idiots. When there was a nasty night club bombing aimed at westerners a few years back they hunted the perpetrators down. Only concession was that they were allowed to be buried in their own villages.

I just checked and apparently in 2010 Indonesia had approx 12.7% of the world's Muslim population (88.1% of their own population).

If they oppose the violence, then they have my respect.

If only they had more of a diplomatic presence on the world stage...

Just so we remember who nurtured the rise of ISIS.

http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/08/27/ho ... aused-isis

A young Obama spent his formative years living in Indonesia. I suspect that his exposure to a far more benign version of Islam encouraged the nearly fatal naïveté that misinforms his policies.

Michael Everett wrote:

Daryl wrote:I'm sure he means Indonesia. While a large diverse Muslim country they put in a lot of effort cracking down on the fringe idiots. When there was a nasty night club bombing aimed at westerners a few years back they hunted the perpetrators down. Only concession was that they were allowed to be buried in their own villages.

I just checked and apparently in 2010 Indonesia had approx 12.7% of the world's Muslim population (88.1% of their own population).

If they oppose the violence, then they have my respect.

If only they had more of a diplomatic presence on the world stage...

namelessfly wrote:A young Obama spent his formative years living in Indonesia. I suspect that his exposure to a far more benign version of Islam encouraged the nearly fatal naïveté that misinforms his policies.

I do think that is part of the problem. Compounded by:

1) His stepfather wasn't a particularly observant Muslim. The Christian equivalent of attending on Christmas & Easter only. So his most direct influence would have been secular Islam.

2) Indonesian Islam of 40 years ago was a whole lot more benign than it is today. While the overwhelming majority of the population still adheres to the benign version of Islam, there has been enough infiltration of radicals financed by Saudi $$$ to make sure that every Indonesian has personal experience of some sort with the vicious version. And for the most part they are NOT happy about it. Most of the people that I've talked to from that part of the world demonstrate a wariness about the radicals and a hatred toward the Saudis that would make a Neocon proud.

Hmm.... Maybe they could orchestrate a grade school reunion and let Obama get the real story from a few old friends. Perhaps that would break him out of the bubble he's trapped himself in.