The intellectual Power Vacuum in the West

Submitted by Ron Thompson (France), Jun 18, 2014 at 05:14

Why was I (if only momentarily) surprised to read in this article that the Islamic government of Turkey and many individual Turks are supporting the barbaric behavior of the ISIS group in Iraq? Of course any killing, In The Name Of Islam, even if those being killed are also Muslims, will be supported by other Muslims who identify with the particular interpretation of Islam being used to justify the indiscriminate slaughter.

The most telling quote in Pipes' column is about the "ideological uneasiness with accepting that Islamists can do terrible things". This in spite of an unending stream of stories over the last 13 years (stopping arbitrarily at 9/11) documenting the inability of Muslims to solve political problems without resorting to indiscriminate murder In The Name Of Islam. In the face of daily proof of this reality, what accounts for the continuing Power Vacuum in the Western Mind to question the ideology which underpins, legitimates, and even sanctifies this behavior? Why this continuing self-censorship among all establishment Western leaders and public intellectuals when it should be crystal clear that all the most fervent Muslims, whether of Sunni or Shiite beliefs, or any shade thereof, openly express their desire to bring the same behavior to the West?

Until we have some leaders who can get up and say that Muslims are NEVER going to know peace, either among themselves or with the rest of the world until they rid themselves of this terrible religion of hate, intolerance, and rejection any version of the golden rule, we are condemned to watch the steady growth of this nihilistic violence in the Middle East, south Asia, Africa, and its increasing likelihood of erupting in the West.

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