Finally a Muslim with the guts to say it

[xoxoxoBruce]

You're right, anything but all non-muslims must die. That's exactly what we want to hear.

[DanaC]

Maybe you're just not listening to the right people. Maybe the media doesn't find some bloke in a mosque, in a small town, telling young men to respect their elders and look after their mothers that interesting.

Islam is big. Bigger than Wahabism. Bigger than the Sunni-Shia divide. Bigger than Saudi Arabia and their oppressive regime. Bigger than Turkey, or Indonesia.

There are about 25 majority moslem countries in the world, and Islam is the second largest faith in many European nations. Altogether, probably a billion and a half of the world's population is Moslem, do you really think the only people speaking about Islam in a way that 'we' approve of, are the ones that get attention in our media?

Think about the sheer number of people we're talking about, and then try and imagine getting 20 of them in a room to agree completely with each other on everything. People aren't like that. People have varying views and interpretations. Some are likely to follow the literal word of the qu'ran, some are more likely to wear jeans and work in IT and go to the mosque on a friday afternoon.

Generally speaking, the media hasn't found the jeans wearing IT guy half as interesting as the mad mullah with a hook for a hand. (see British tabloid coverage of the Finsbury Mosque).

[Rexmons]

I'm not debating the fact that the media receives more ratings by knowingly portraying the majority of Muslims as terrorists. However, don't expect me to stand idly by as people criticize my religion as if it is some kind of affliction waiting to be cured.

[yesman065]

Wow - where was that Rex? People were expressing views on the current situation.

[DanaC]

I'm not debating the fact that the media receives more ratings by knowingly portraying the majority of Muslims as terrorists. However, don't expect me to stand idly by as people criticize my religion as if it is some kind of affliction waiting to be cured.

Was that aimed at me? Because I don't recall ever suggesting that you stand idly by.

[Cloud]

er . . . I don't think the media portrays the majority of Muslims as terrorists, only a small, but terrible, minority.

[DanaC]

Depends what media. I know there's a tendency in Britain for the newspaper press in particular to focus an undue amount of attention on stories relating to Islamic extremism. Often this is done with caveats stating that most moslems do not agree with the extremists. But, even with the caveats, the focus is such that it distorts the picture of Islam in Britain.

[Rexmons]

Dana, my last comment was to you regarding Bruce's comment. Yesman, your post is weak as well as your kung-fu.
Cloud, do you watch fox news at all?

[yesman065]

Originally Posted by Rexmons

Yesman, your post is weak as well as your kung-fu. Cloud, do you watch fox news at all?

I thought you were referring to people here, not the media in general, so don't get on me about it, I have said nothing derrogatory with respect to "your religion." Oh, and my kung fu is actually Ken Po and it is rather good, thank you. Earned my brown belt years ago.

[Rexmons]

yesman, i was actually referring to the grammer of your last post, it looks as if you stopped typing mid-sentence. No need to take out the brown belt.

[DanaC]

Ohhh are people using belts in this thread? interesting development....

[yesman065]

Originally Posted by Rexmons

yesman, i was actually referring to the grammer of your last post, it looks as if you stopped typing mid-sentence. No need to take out the brown belt.

Corrected - tx - as usual I had a thought and it passed. hence the extra "not"

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Rexmons

I'm not debating the fact that the media receives more ratings by knowingly portraying the majority of Muslims as terrorists. However, don't expect me to stand idly by as people criticize my religion as if it is some kind of affliction waiting to be cured.

Your religion is no more or less an affliction than any other, but it does have the extremist affliction more than most. And that needs to be cured.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Depends what media. I know there's a tendency in Britain for the newspaper press in particular to focus an undue amount of attention on stories relating to Islamic extremism. Often this is done with caveats stating that most moslems do not agree with the extremists. But, even with the caveats, the focus is such that it distorts the picture of Islam in Britain.

Well duh, most muslims are not news. They cover the dangerous ones because they are the ones people are concerned with. Joe Muslim with the wife and two kids, that goes to work everyday and mows his lawn regularly is not news.
However Joe Jihad, that's bitching about the infidels and is trying to round up some buddies, with the means to kill people in the name of Allah, certainly is.

Discussing Joe Jihad, as a muslim extremist, for a long time, and because the Joe muslim is not discussed at all, after a while the "extremist" gets dropped as a matter of convenience. Then Joe Muslim gets all pissed off when it's not about him at all.

[Cloud]

I'm not a newshound, by any means, so maybe it's not the media--it's me. If a particular newsprogram, or website, or newspaper were to say, "all Muslims are terrorists" or imply that ... I guess I just would not believe it. It's contrary to common sense.