Cure for Radical Islam?

[bfp]

Exposure to it:

After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach. In two months of interviews with 40 young people in five Iraqi cities, a pattern of disenchantment emerged, in which young Iraqis, both poor and middle class, blamed clerics for the violence and the restrictions that have narrowed their lives.

“I hate Islam and all the clerics because they limit our freedom every day and their instruction became heavy over us,” said Sara, a high school student in Basra. “Most of the girls in my high school hate that Islamic people control the authority because they don’t deserve to be rulers.”

Atheer, a 19-year-old from a poor, heavily Shiite neighborhood in southern Baghdad, said: “The religion men are liars. Young people don’t believe them. Guys my age are not interested in religion anymore.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/wo.../04youth.html?


ME: Who will be the first to say that if the religious here in this country had their way we'd be in the same place as them? Come on, let's hear it!

[reason]

you sound like hitler

[PETA]

wow - 1st reply and Godwin's Law violated

[reason]

let me retract the hilter statement, and replace it:



a cure?

you sound like my old baptist minister

[PETA]

hmm.... I think the article was saying that the exposure to senseless violence in the name of Islam has turned many young people away from radical Islam.

how's that like a baptist minister?

[tricky]

A much better cure is Islamophobia.

[umalak_]

a cure for radical Islam: a bullet in the head of the radical Imams like Al-Sadr who choose to not only kill Americans but also innocent Iraqis

[reason]

the article is not like the minister.. just the statement "cure for radical islam"

like it is a virus that can be eradicated

[umalak_]

we're not talking Islam here, we're talking RADICAL Islam... the Islam that justifies killing innocent people in the name of Allah. the Islam praising people for committing suicide while killing massive numbers of people.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by reason

the article is not like the minister.. just the statement "cure for radical islam"

like it is a virus that can be eradicated

well, jihadist muslims, those adhering to a radical set of violent principles are a problem. The problem requires a solution. A solution is often referred to as a cure... as in I got a fever....and the only prescription (cure) is more cowbell

[zerojunkie]

It's still an enticing proposition for the youths in a country of little to no other options. There are notable exceptions to the rule (like the 7/11 bombers) but it seems as though a lack of economic opportunity in countries like Iraq are nearly singularly responsible for the radicalization of area's youths. It seems as though there's an easy and hard way of stamping out radical Islam. The article speaks to the hard way, kill so many of the people you're recruiting from and they'll start to dislike you.

[transparentaura]

Originally Posted by bfp

ME: Who will be the first to say that if the religious here in this country had their way we'd be in the same place as them? Come on, let's hear it!

O.K.....
First, Iraq wasn't a theocracy before we invaded. Saddam was the only one terrorizing the people. By ousting him and disbanding the army we created a vacuum that radical Islamic groups were only too happy to rush into. So your question should be "If the US was plunged into anarchy would fundamentalist Christians be among those trying to seize control? " Yes, I believe they would.
Radical Islam always rears its ugly head where there is an impoverished populace
oppressed by a powerful minority, be it dictatorial, theocratic or whatever. Look at Saudi Arabia, pre-911 Afghanistan, Chechnya,Gaza and the West Bank..etc
Iran, a Theocracy with a less economically and educationally polarized population was beginning to chafe at its Islamic rule before Iraq. Pro-western demonstrations by students and young Iranians were becoming more common until Bush decided to shit in the neighbors sandbox.

[Keith P]

Atheism, it cures fatwas, jihads, and crusades.

[reason]

lol.... i feel bad for threads that get derailed by useless banter over definition of terms


(from dictionary.com)

solution = a particular instance or method of solving; an explanation or answer

cure = to relieve or rid of something detrimental, as an illness or a bad habit

my point is that this is something that cannot be cured.
it is a problem that needs to be addressed, but it wont be going away

[PETA]

Originally Posted by transparentaura

O.K.....
First, Iraq wasn't a theocracy before we invaded. Saddam was the only one terrorizing the people. By ousting him and disbanding the army we created a vacuum that radical Islamic groups were only too happy to rush into. So your question should be "If the US was plunged into anarchy would fundamentalist Christians be among those trying to seize control? " Yes, I believe they would.

why?

I believe that many would step in to offer services that became scarce; hospital, food, clothing etc but I doubt you'd see many Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics etc strapping bombs to children with downs syndrome and sending them into a market to get blown up by remote control in an effort to control a population through terror. You think they would?

Originally Posted by transparentaura

Radical Islam always rears its ugly head where there is an impoverished populace oppressed by a powerful minority, be it dictatorial, theocratic or whatever. Look at Saudi Arabia, pre-911 Afghanistan, Chechnya,Gaza and the West Bank..etc

Iran, a Theocracy with a less economically and educationally polarized population was beginning to chafe at its Islamic rule before Iraq. Pro-western demonstrations by students and young Iranians were becoming more common until Bush decided to shit in the neighbors sandbox.

The arab world is, as a hard and fast rule, improverished. So, your claim is facile.

Iran is more economicly chafed now than before. Iranians haven't decided that because Iraq they now love the Imams.