Usually this sounds like a bit of a disheartening phrase - really, what can you expect everyday Muslims to do about it? It sounds about as ridiculous as when some fringes said that whites need to do something about terrorism after the Charleston shooter. That was, of course, something they mostly said tongue in cheek, like asking how it feels when the shoe is on the other foot. There have been reports in multiple media sources around the world of rising incidents of Islamophobia. One source, though likely inflated, suggests that the number of attacks on Muslims in London alone increased more than 300% in just a year. The little thing that no one seems to want to talk about is that the rise of Islamophobic incidents seems to have correlated with Islamic terrorist attacks, and a certain direct fashion: Islamic terrorist attacks increase, Islamophobia increases. Many Europeans have been told after incessant Muslim attacks that they should go on like it didn't happen. "Don't look back in anger" was a frequent song chanted at memorials, but after the attack on a Mosque? The response to a rare anti-Muslim terrorist attack, by someone who was not connected with any organized group, has been entirely different. There have been no "don't look back in anger" chants sung, no statements by public officials saying, "get used to it, this is the new normal." Suddenly, terrorism is a real thing and treated as such, but only when it's a non-Muslim targeting Muslims, and not the other way around. Media sources have said that this was the result of the right wing extremization, but is it? Do we really think that it is right wingers teaching non-Muslims to hate Muslims, or is it the acts of Muslims alone teaching them that? We've looked on in disbelief, and so many of us have for so long pretended like it wasn't the problem that it was. We didn't have a clear policy that could address these issues that wouldn't make us highly uncomfortable, so we tried to ignore it, and hope that it would go away. Many of us hoped that a message of love and peace would do good, but it hasn't - it hasn't made a dent in the growing tide of Islamic terrorism. Islamic terrorist attacks have become a daily occurrence in Western Europe. We can't pretend anymore. This is a problem, and not one we can ignore. There have been Anti-Muslim protests in Poland with hundreds of thousands in attendance. Brits are have had rallies in the many thousands speaking out against Islam. France had a candidate rise from near obscurity to be a contender almost solely because of terrorist attacks - and those attacks are getting worse as the French people are being told it's the new norm. And now the backlash has begun - we've seen one attack on Muslims, which was very dliberately targeted at a Mosque where much of the hate speech and prior Islamic terrorist attackers came from. This wasn't just some random Mosque - the attacker picked it specifically, and for a reason. The response to Islamic terrorism is going to get stronger. I say that Muslims have to do something about Islamic terrorism, because if they can't, others will. I've heard people in the West who aren't even conservative entertain the idea of banning Islam. Muslims have to do something about Islamic Terrorism - because if they don't, reactionaries will, and it won't just be extremists who are harmed. This is coming to a boiling point, and I have no idea what can be done to prevent it.
How about the US stop supporting islamist terrorists? Isn't that kind of a nice starting point? Because let's be very clear here; it's the US's damn fault. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the only reason why those are such hotspots of islamist terrorism is that the US has ****ed those countries up, either by completely destroying any stable governments that existed at any point, or by actually backing islamist terrorist groups like the mujaheddin. Everything the US touches turns to ****. The muslims are trying to sort this out, but it's damn hard for them to do when the US insists of ****ing everything up. Even now, the US uses domestic terrorist groups as their proxy against the syrian regime. No way that can ever end badly, eh? Stop cocking things up, dammit!
I found a nice article on Reuters about some "women only" beauty parlor in Brooklyn busy decorating hands and feet with henna tattoos. The owner, a Muslim woman animatedly explains the process, the setting and stories of the clients all getting ready for Eid (big celebration tomorrow). It's a nice "feel good" article, but it left me wondering, could a gringo open a "men only" barber shop in Brooklyn (or anywhere else)? I expect gynecologists would be the only ones who could lawfully discriminate based on gender (and maybe not even them with LGBT rights).
How does one defeat an extreme ideology such as the ideology ISIS follows when the extremists believe that they are following the will of God and all who oppose them need to die... including moderate Muslims?
I can't agree more. Various verses in the Quran emphasize violence against all non-believers and are used by thousands upon thousands of Islamic extremists. Some say they are taken out of context. That hardly matters. The fact remains Muslim governments sponsor Islamic terrorist organizations, so do wealthy sheiks, and many madrasas preach Islamic extremism. While the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and declare theirs is a religion of peace, they do little to rein in those who misinterpret Islam. That makes them as guilty as the terrorists themselves. Why do I emphasize that point? Western armies will never destroy Islamic extremism. Americans who think that will happen are living a pipe dream. We can take land away from them. We can destroy a lot of their weapons. We can kill them, but for everyone we kill there is another to take his place. We can do all that, but we can't destroy them. When will Islamic extremism be destroyed. When Islamic governments and the vast majority of Muslims who think theirs is a religion of peace decide to destroy Islamic extremism. Western armies fighting terrorist organizations should be withdraw because we know from decades of sad history that such armies cannot do the job for them, meaning Muslims. They must do it for themselves. Makes sense, too. Islamic extremism kills more Muslims than any other ethnicity.
I was referring specifically to Islamic terrorism in western countries. If it continues on its current pace, then a massive backlash from non-Muslims in western countries is inevitable.
Since the first Muslims set out to kill or enslave the non believers, there has only been one effective measure used to defeat them and end their violent jihad. So far the West has been reluctant to use that method ... in fact they are inviting them into their countries with open arms. Therefore, at the moment, the peaceful Western nations are currently losing this latest war with Muslim jihadis.
