Re: Why does that streak of blood, rip the petal of your cheek?

teraknowledgesystems_at_yahoo.com wrote:

Totally off fricken topic.. but seeing as this is the usual Middle East political bullshit, let me respond. Very bluntly.

> >By Nurit Peled-Elhanan International Women's day,
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Islam. Winning the hearts and minds of the people of the West. One bomb at a time.

That is the reality of the Western perception of Islam. The only way to fix that perception, is to fix the problem called Islam.

Rusdie wrote an excellent article on it after 9/11 called "Islam versus Islamism". It was published in the Guardian on Saturday November 3, 2001.

To qoute a paragraph from it:
Let's start calling a spade a spade. Of course this is "about Islam". The question is: what exactly does that mean? After all, most religious belief isn't very theological. Most Muslims are not profound Koranic analysts. For a vast number of "believing" Muslim men, "Islam" stands, in a jumbled, half-examined way, not only for the fear of God - the fear more than the love, one suspects - but also for a cluster of customs, opinions and prejudices that include their dietary practices, the sequestration or near-sequestration of "their" women, the sermons delivered by their mullah of choice, a loathing of modern society in general, riddled as it is with music, godlessness and sex, and a more particularised loathing (and fear) of the prospect that their own immediate surroundings could be taken over - "westoxicated" - by the liberal, western-style way of life.

He ends his piece by saying
"If terrorism is to be defeated, the world of Islam must take on board the secularist-humanist principles on which the modern is based, and without which their countries' freedom will remain a distant dream."

An excellent piece that goes to the core of the problem. Despite it being politically "uncomfortable" (to say the least) for Western leaders to admit.

The ball is in the Muslim and Islam court. Recue thyself by taking back your religion from the mad nuttters, the fundamentalist mullahs and crazy radicals. Treat your women and children and us kafirs (unbelievers) with the respect they, and us, deserve.

And then let's talk again. About real peace, real understanding and a true acceptence of each others' differences. (and it is heartening to see the UK Muslim community doing exactly this by creating a task force to combat radical Islam in the UK)

--
Billy