Agreed - No longer will criticism of Islam be ingored as it has been in the past

Submitted by Aztecwarrior-TC (United States), Sep 8, 2010 at 18:27

Hello Dr Pipes,

Several steps post 9/11 led to the present awakening of mainstream America to the threat of Islamofascism (or Islamism). Today with almost all media circles have covered the Park 51 mosque, the burning of Quran in FL, Geert Wilders in Europe, and most importantly the repeated attempts of home brewed Jihad - via Awlaki, Ft Hood shooter, Christmas bomber, Najeeb Zazi, Times Square bomber, David Headley Gilani, Detroit Imam, etc. They covered it because if they didnt, people would flock other websites that DID cover them. (Fox and friends) and loss of viewership = death for media.

All these events happened while Obama was president, and this meant that America was not to blame (had it been happening in Bush regime, people would have blamed Bush for inciting these terrorists). All events happened when America was relatively not on a killing spree in Muslim lands while the war was mostly few skirmishes here and there so provocation was not the cause either. So it had to be Islam what else would drive such a diverse set of men to commit acts of terror against unsuspecting innocents!

This windfall of sudden awakening is also the success of the Internet as a mass media counter weapon against biased mainstream media. At the mercy of TV channel, radio station or newspaper/magazine coverage and expansion of the issues like those highlighted in blogs like honor killings, terror camps, brainwashing, stoning, sharia , etc would never be possible but for the internet. The counter channel that the internet provides will lay a foundation of equal justice and the design of the internet disallows a single kill switch making it as ubiquitous and essential for humans as electric grid is today. The newspapers and channels today who do not keep up with the internet are already dead in UK, US, Canada, Scandinavia and western Europe. It wont be long before Newspapers and controlled information dies a tame demise at the hands of the internet.

I am hopeful that from this point onwards 9/11/2001 an awakened western world will never take any Islamist activity for granted and peaceful Muslims will follow line and adopt better ways - and who knows Baghdad may turn into a vibrant world cultural hotspot in a peaceful Iraq as a model for tolerance and prosperity in an otherwise divisive hateful Muslim World ...

Tom Clarke

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