Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Radical Islam explained (sort of)
The best analysis I ever came across is from Pat Buchanan's book Where the Right Went Wrong (Thomas Dunne 2004) in the chapter "Is Islam the Enemy?" This short and very readable chapter (without footnotes thank God) gives a quick history of Islam from the Prophet Muhammed to the various caliphs which followed his death, the Crusades and the Ottoman Empire. Minority view on the Crusades here: they were originally the Catholic Church's response to the original aggressive and conquering behaviour of Islamic warriors (e.g. retaking Jerusalem from them). That's the history here's the theology. Islam along with Judaism and Christianity is a monotheistic and Abrahamanic faith system. Muhammed greatly revered Jesus as a great prophet and held in high regard His mother Mary but Islam fundamentally rejects Trinitarianism (big deal you say) so at first glance this presents a major puzzlement as to the radical Islamists' hostility to Christians in general as shown in that recent mass beheading of those 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians. Buchanan sheds light on this. Early in their history both Islam and Christianity were gaining millions of followers and so it wasn't the minor religions that presented the greatest threat to Islam's hopefully worldwide influence and dominance but Christianity. This is like a theological business model if you will where one major brand hates the competition and attempts to drive it out and would certainly explain why they focus on the Pope and Rome so much. Lest this become too long a dissertation we'll save everything else for the Comments section.
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It is a complicated issue and goes back, as you note to the Hebraic roots and the
ReplyDeleteoffspring, Christianity (in its various flavors) and Islam (with its varieties). Throw in
modern instant communications, and things that used to be on simmer, now tend to
be on Bake/Boil. IMO, the solution, if there is to be one, is that the Islamic countries
recognized the ISIL/Taliban terrorists types are as much a threat to their sovereignty as they are to foreigners and Christians. Another underlying factor is political, we and the Europeans have been meddling and scheming in the middle east and environs for the last couple of centuries, and are not trusted, with some reason.
Why the beheading and burning of innocents is such an attraction to ISLI recruiting
remains a mystery to me, however.
Obama seems part of the problem. At his anti-extremism summit yesterday he can't seem to precisely identify the threat, can't seem to put his finger on it.
ReplyDeleteYou think McCain/Lindsey could? Obama seems like one of those types that needs
ReplyDeleteto think things through, the school of 'find root cause' approach. Sort of like doctors that treat symptoms without interest in their cause.
Seems to me even his "find root cause" approach is deeply flawed. If I understand him correctly wannabe jihadis need more job opportunities. I'm not saying this is not a good thing but this is it???
DeleteI caught Bill Donahue on Fox yesterday, decrying the abomination of Obama. He
ReplyDeletehad ashes on his forhead. Probably not in honor of the ancient Viking practice in
honor of Wodin (Wednesday) from whence the practice derives. From the standpoint of humanity and decency, methinks ornery old Bill may be delayed at
his pearly gates, ya know?
I'm guessing his beef with Obama talk had partly to do with the Crusades. I'm not entirely against criticism of Obama on this point. First off it's not historically inaccurate what he said but how long ago did this happen? In terms of relevance to what's happening today was it worth even bringing up? It's like he always has this perfessor's cap he puts on while the world is burning.
DeleteAnother cougar came into the valley this week. Fish & Game says the young males
ReplyDeletego out this time of year seeking to establish their territory. The best places are held
by established older males, so a little town with some fast food places seems like a
lure. It got into a fight with some lady's dog and had to be put down.
Let's talk herpetology for a minute. What kind of rattlers you got over there? Western Diamondback I'm guessing.
DeleteYes, those are the only type around here. My experience with them was
Deletemostly when we built a new explosives processing plant atop a flat space
on the bluffs above town. Odd combination, the rock drilling and blasting
plus the area was infested with rattler dens. Snakes are very sensitive to
small vibrations, but blasting drives them nuts. One security guard killed them and hung the skins in the guard kiosk, which made the women workers happy and the higher ups upset.
One day, the maintenance lady, Delores, sought me out about a 'big
snake' out in the storage area. We drove over in a pickup, and in the
corner of two tin buildings was the huge ugly thing all coiled up. I didn't know if it was a diamond back or the other common snake, the bull snake,
so hollered over to Pete, another maintenance person. Dolores and I
stood by the pickup, and Pete poked it with a long pole. The sound of
rattlers is greatly magnified when it is in the corner of two tin buildings.
To the extent that Dolores and I took off running -- but right into each
other. As the operation matured, snakes generally kept away..I am sure I passed by many and never saw them. We had a Nez Perce guy that would pick them up by the tail and throw
them over the fence, an agreeable environmental practice that pissed off all the other workers, of course.
What is that weird Christian offshoot sect where the pastors handle live rattlers in front of enthralled congregations? Ah freedom of religion!
DeleteTheoloherpetology? If they get bit and die, it proves they were sinful?
DeleteISIS seems bound and determined to get boots on their ground .
ReplyDeleteIMO they're committing these atrocities and continue to do so precisely because there are no boots on the ground as of yet.
DeleteWell, among other things, they are making the Taliban look like good guys.
DeleteImagine being too radical for even your al-Qaeda types!
DeleteYou would think the advance of civilization would make the world more civilized.
ReplyDelete...and now we have ISIL smashing the archeological artifacts of that old land:
DeleteFertile Crescent-birthplace of civilization.
Again no allied boots on the ground so they pretty much do what they want.
DeleteOur 'boots on the ground' history hasn't been all that successful. But, at
Deletesome point (perhaps when Netanyahu takes over our foreign policy) it
may be inevitable.
Well here's the thing. Now that Mr. Emwazi has been identified everyone acts like all we do now is haul him before a U.S. court? HOW pray tell do we do that without putting boots on the ground?
DeleteA drone with his name on it?
DeleteThe ones who say haul him before a U.S. court, even if we could you think that his face was all covered up amounts to some kind of reasonable doubt or lack of evidence? Just sayin'.
DeleteHe'll confess to anything once Cheney has him waterboarded a dozen times.
DeleteCameron too says he'll do everything in his power to bring him to justice. Without boots on the ground is he just supposed to turn himself in and hire Alan Dershowitz?
DeleteWe note that ISIL has a squad of guys with sledgehammers destroying the artifacts
ReplyDeleteat ancient Nimrud. In the vernacular of Mideast culture, "May the ghosts of Sargon,
Nebachanezzar and Hammurabi hunt them down and administer perpetual colonoscopies upon them"
They're not big on culture. One wonders what an ISIL library or museum must be like.
DeleteI'm thinking maybe rows of shelves with heads on them?
DeleteCertainly how-to guides for young readers that cover aspects like what knife to use.
DeleteOl Saddam would have gassed the bunch.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Obama would prefer it if we refer to IS as the Non-Islamic State.
DeleteRumor- ISIL has been trying to enlist Edward Snowden and Jody Arias.
ReplyDeleteWell is the Jody Arias sentencing/punishment phase kind of at an end now? we hope.
Delete