Monday, April 18, 2016

FEAR OF ISLAM?

Islamophobia is term that is thrown around a lot, with many folks claiming that being fearful of Islam is unjustified, biased, bigoted, and lots of other accusatory terms. But take a look at the data published by the Pew Foundation here, some of which are copied below. It seems to me that the data indicate there are justifiable reasons for being very wary of Islam. It also appears to be that the peaceful moderates are very much in the minority. A phobia is an unreasonable fear, but being aware and concerned about the negatives of any situation is not unreasonable. These data represent hundreds of millions of Muslims, and thus I find that using the term 'radical Islam' to describe a small minority is disingenuous. It would seem to me that moderate Islam is the minority position. In all fairness, I would also say the moderate Christianity is also a minority position. Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 7.41.25 AM

Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 7.42.53 AM


Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 7.43.34 AM


Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 7.43.52 AM
Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 7.45.12 AM

18 comments:

Bizzy Brain said...

No comments? Guess no one wants to get their head sawed off. Lol!

hoosierdaddy said...

Bizzy - I hear that DES is missing!!! :-0

Bizzy Brain said...

Not to worry, he will be offered the choice to convert or die. He will choose to convert, then when he is out of their clutches, will claim that he had his fingers crossed.

Headless Horseman said...

Islam is not a religion like any other. It is a violent, totalitarian, political-social-economic creed which abhors independent thought, sees women as essentially worthless, murders gays without a thought, and sees non-believers as worthy only for conversion, enslavement, or death. There is no tolerance, no peace, no love for the other preached or practiced in Islam. It has had no enlightenment and what reformation it has had has pushed it back ever closer to its 7th century origins in the Arabian peninsula. A person born in a Muslim culture has the choice of becoming either a good Muslim or a good person. The two sets do not overlap. Where Islam establishes itself, freedom disappears. We need a total ban on these Muslim "refugees." We need to treat Islam as we have treated Communism, Fascism, Nazism in the past: a totalitarian threat to our national security. Practitioners of these totalitarian creeds, including Islam, should not get security clearances, certain jobs, and certainly not immigration visas.

And Furthermore said...

Ann Barnhardt had this to say: "Islam is a political system, NOT a religion, and unless and until humanity wakes the hell up and STOPS referring to it as a religion, there is no hope. Islam is a hyper-aggressive, militaristic, expansionist, totalitarian political system designed to create a super-rich micro-oligarchical ruling class with a massive, destitute, genetically handicapped underclass below. The paper-thin faux-religious facade was a conscious, specific con from the very beginning – much like Mormonism and Scientology – a pure racket using borrowed and piggy-backed religious motifs to lend credibility to a massive, loosely-knit network of crime syndicate cells."

DES said...

Good news - I am no longer missing!! It was actually quite simple - I converted my captors to my religion. Rather that a measly 27 virgins [or olives as the case may be], I pointed out that my religion promises them a new virgin every day for eternity. They immediately renounced Islam, joined my church and blew themselves up.

DES said...

I am sure that for many, Islam is a religion not unlike it is for Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc. What I find amazing is the retrograde tenets of the faith. For example, why there are Muslim women is beyond me. Most religions have a misogynistic component, some more than others, by traditional Islam is beyond the pale.

Bizzy Brain said...

Headless and Furthermore, you make good points and offer the truth, but what about that sweet Muslim girl in the office?

Nostradumbass said...

Not on topic, but urgent. Trump lost the election today! On September 15, 2008, candidate John McCain lost his bid for the Presidency. On that day he interrupted his campaign to return to Washington to vote in favor of bailing out the banksters and other big business interests with taxpayer money. Conservatives loathed him for that. Today, Donald Trump said he believes no laws should be passed to prevent mentally deranged male perverts from peeing in front of little girls. No conservative in his right mind will vote for a man with that conviction. Thus, I predict that Trump's insane position on bathroom laws will cost him the election, that is if he now gets nominated in the first place.

DES said...

Well, N, indeed not on topic but also not urgent! Your comments are generally very Nostra-like but this one is hugely dumbass. All of this bathroom legislation is nonsense - unenforceable laws for a non-existent problem. First, nearly all women's bathrooms have stalls with doors, so your hypothetical pervert would only get to see women washing their hands, and he would have to pee in the sink. Second, if your hypothetical pervert went into the women's room, most of the women I know would bum-rush the fellow right on out. The real perverts in this whole sham are the people who think that transgender folks like Caitlin Jenner should use the men's room rather than the ladies room. Personally I don't want to see Caitlin in the men's room! Are we going to require birth certificates at the restroom door? And a shout out to ESPN for canning Curt Schilling :-)

Nostradumbass said...

Good points, DES. They don't call me dumbass for nothing. Lol!

Grafenberg said...

Maybe the fear of Islam stems from the fear of certain of its practitioners, e.g. fanatical Arabs. Could it be that Muslim jihadists have shortened or dysfunctional MAOA genes. It is my understanding that the gene can come in the form of 2, 3, 3.5, 4, or 5 allele. A 3-repeat allele is considered dysfunctional and is what is referred to as the “warrior gene.” A 2-repeat allele is considered very dysfunctional. People with a 2-repeat allele MAOA gene have a permanent chemical imbalance in their brain making the person more likely to be agitated, aggressive, and impulsive, i.e. a murderer. Perhaps Muslims entering this country could be screened for the MAOA genetic dysfunction and those with that dysfunction refused entry.

DES said...

Grafenberg - that would make for a most interesting study; however, hard to imagine how it could be pulled off. Maybe start at Guantanamo.....

Lou Siefer said...

Congratulations, DES, on your "shoutout" to ESPN on the Curt Schilling firing. The liberal lynch mob is on the march! Bring on the Stalinist purge of free thinkers!

Lou Siefer said...

I love these cultural clashes when the tiny tiny minority of evil-doers triumph over common sense, decency, and the will of the vast majority. Mwha-ha-ha-ha-ha...

hoosierdaddy said...

Well, well, Mr. Devil - very interesting! I gather that if ESPN is doing your work, then Mr. Shilling is doing Yahweh's work. I suppose that given some of the less-than-edifying commands attributed to Yahweh in the Hebrew bible, it is not too far-fetched that Shilling speaks for God. Not keen on tolerance for folks whose sexual identity does not match their birth identity: "A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.” Or Muslims: retweeting "It's said only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How'd that go?" Or Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton: "she should be buried under a jail somewhere."

Now, Mr. Shilling is certainly entitled to his opinions. However, ESPN was his employer and they also have the right to expect certain types of behavior from their employees. On some issues, Mr. Shilling certainly appears to be a judgemental bigot, and if ESPN wishes not to employ judgemental bigots, so be it.

Also "the will of the majority" does not necessarily make something right. Slavery comes to mind as do other majority opinions that are simply wrong.

Lou Siefer said...

Curses! Foiled again by hoosierdaddy's logic! Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh and harrumph!

Snidley Whiplash said...

Lou - that's my line!!!