Two kinds of Islam

Submitted by P.K. (United States), Dec 29, 2009 at 17:11

IMO, referring to those Muslims that are apparently non-violent as "moderate" is not correct. The very first sentence in this essay, questioning the compatibility of "liberal-democratic notions of human rights and democracy" with a "truly moderate Islam" is extremely verbose and redundant: we all know what "democracy" is and we are learning fast that after 1500 years "Islam" has almost nothing in common with democracy.

If there were ever two opposite philosophies, democracy and Islam would be a good example. Simply look at their philosophy and acceptance of slavery: While democratic societies fight civil wars to remove it, Muslims start and still fight civil wars (in Sudan) to keep it. And not simply white against black, but Muslims against Christians and animists. Africa is gradually being re-enslaved. And how many indentured servants work in petrorich Muslim countries, where their passports are locked up by their owners?

Nor is Islam itself is the problem for which the West has no solutions. The problem is not Islam, but the recent empowerment of just one of many pre-existing, ancient, and anti-democratic political philosophies, as a result of the West's sudden dependence on thier natural resources, in this case oil. Combine Islam's sudden wealth of dollars with their cultural attitude of superiority over older religions, over other races, over their women, and over literate populations (i.e. "people of the book") , and the problem changes so that it may become manageable: get the price of oil back below $40, and quickly. At that range the Islamic nations will stay focused on their own infrastructure and maintenance and will not be able to afford investing in external wars - although martyrs and madrassas are not an expensive weapon it seems.

And the West should stop play-acting as if we're auditioning for a geopolitical version of "Dumb and Dumber." When a martyr is captured, we shouldn't be just calling a shrink to find out if it was just a "depressed," or "lonely" Muslim with a "sudden Jihad" reaction from an OD of hate. Maybe it's warfare with a new kind of "guided" missile with a philosophical address. Pretending we don't know the profiles of potential terrorists by scanning nuns and gray-haired ladies is just one scene from the "Dumb and Dumber Two," now playing to long lines at your nearest airport.

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