I'm not so confident, sorry

Submitted by Olivia M. (Australia), Feb 1, 2005 at 01:46

I would think that many of the Moderates would come from the 2nd and 3rd generation Muslims in Western countries. After all, they have rights, opportunities and freedoms they wouldn't have had in their parents' and grandparents' homelands. They see all varieties of non-Muslims living together in relative harmony and equality, they see what can be accomplished, what is possible. However, it seems the 2nd and 3rd generation Muslims, particularly the males, seem to be more violent and radical than their parents. What makes them stubbornly stick to Dark Ages' attitudes and hatreds? What makes them murder critics of Islam, a la Theo Van Gogh? And gang-rape non-Muslim girls brutally and without remorse? And gang-rape and murder their own females who act "too French" in Parisian banlieues, like they were the French version of the Taliban or something? What makes them act like thugs while attending Western universities, bullying speakers who want to exercise their freedom of speech? This is not moderate behaviour, and it seems to be getting more prevalent, even amongst Muslims born, raised and educated in the West.

The radicals wouldn't have so much influence if it weren't for our PeeCee-addled governments and justice systems. Our governments will stand by and do nothing, out of fear of looking like they're racial-profiling (shock! horror!) and being insensitive and unfair to Muslims, or of offending their Saudi friends. When you silence criticism, you kill off any hope of moderation, yet there are countless examples of how Western governments and institutions silence or abandon critics of Islam.

I believe that moderate Islam could exist, but only if it's encouraged and protected, while the radicals severely condemned and dealt with. With the way things are going these days, I see the moderates being silenced by the radicals, abandoned by our governments, and eventually fading away.

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