Quote:
Originally Posted by duga
I don't think you are looking at the bigger picture. Persecute a group of people and of course that will galvanize their beliefs. Muslims who are engaged and accepted into mainstream society are just as peaceful and understanding as the next person. The Arab Spring happened as a result of western meddling. Every society has a group of uneducated and downtrodden people who are only looking for someone to lead them to a better life - in the west, the Republicans took advantage of that. In the middle east, it was Al Qaeda, ISIS, whatever extremist flavor of the month it is today. Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan - take a look at people from the 70's before the Islamic Revolution. I would say they were meshing just fine with contemporary society. I've been to Turkey, and while they are proud of their culture, it's not the oppressive wasteland people like to paint it as.
You don't think violent Christians willing to wage a war in the name of god exist? They do...and there are quite a few of them. The difference is, they currently have an outlet for their frustrations in the form of Donald Trump. If you think Christianity is beyond what is happening in the Muslim world, then again, you are kidding yourself.
If we ignore that frustration in the middle east is taking the form of religious zealotry, we can see that the real problem is just that these people want to be LEFT ALONE, free from western meddling. Just like anyone would want. Pinning this on the inherent violence of Islam is, as I said, ignorant and narrow minded.
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1. I agree the west should have just left the Middle East alone as opposed to meddling circa WW2 and beyond. We are part of the problem too, but the fundamentalist ideology existed in Saudi Arabia and beyond for centuries before now. We woke a sleeping dragon, so to speak.
2. You must have missed it when I said "Yeah you have some minority nutjob denominations, but they generally keep to themselves and have no control over society, culture, etc." It isn't impossible for Christianity to become violently galvanized at the scale we're discussing in the Middle East, but now we're in "what if" territory which is a waste of time.
3. Everything we're talking about predates Donald Trump. Clinton and Bush fit the bill just as well (among others we've had in the past).
4. They don't like Western meddling for sure, but they're committing acts of terrorism in countries that have nothing to do with "Western" culture as well. Pulling out completely would be an interesting option, but you are naive if you believe that's the only motivation they have. Violence is a fundamental face to their belief system just as certain aspects of the Old Testament prevail in various Christian ideologies (and don't get me started on Calvinism lol). Difference is, fundamentalist Christians aren't strapping bomb vests on children and sending them out into the streets. If you really believe the violence isn't cultural or ingrained to some degree then you are deluding yourself. It is completely inexcusable.