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To John, Continuing the ThreadReader comment on item: Islamophobia? Submitted by Rakshas 10 Anan (India), Dec 4, 2005 at 07:47 Yes, it was a direct compliment. You are a very patient and fair man. You gave a very long rope there for them to hang themselves with. Without doubt.As a Hindu, I follow the Tao as my path; I love Jesus and the Sikh Gurus, especially Srichand and Gobind Singh. Buddha and Mahavir are ideals in Yoga, in addition to the Hindu Gods and Goddessess (the living energies), as the mood gets me. There are practices when I'm completely rational and even iconoclastic. Among men and women I love Rumi and Meera. Its the freedom to be all things and nothing that matters a lot to me. If anyone or anything wants to snatch that freedom away, I have to plan to make my own rules and follow them. So can others! I cherish individuality in self and others. No judgments there. As God's creatures, we can be what we like, and we can stay connected and experience Love too. People try to be dogmatic about their faith, that is fine with me. One man's salvation is another's poison. Groupism, getting into and following herds can only get us thus far, and no more. Where God is concerned, in the end, it is only a one-to-one relationship. At that level, we are alone in his presence. The problem comes in when there is goal-setting, materialism, greed and over-attachment to religion, which brings in all the separatism, competitiveness, oneupmanship and politics. Debasement is the only result. Protecting your freedoms is one thing; attacking the faith or cultural practices of others, and basing your dogma upon it, is quite something else! I agree with your 10-criteria about Satanism; it is fairly convincing. Most religious followers are human enough to display self-control, self-doubt, express guilt and shame when they go beyond humanism; there's others who prey upon that guilt, with ulterior motives. There are still others, who are like zombies -- the walking dead! They must express no normal human failings, being utterly brainwashed; it is not possible to attribute ordinary human motives for their actions. They're like programmed robots in defense of inhuman dogma. Moreover, the same must be imposed on others, come what may. In that event, we must unitedly do what must be done, to save ourselves in practical ways, and to save humanity, in a rather detached, non-egoistic way. By constantly questioning ourselves, our actions, staying connected with others -- helps overcome that sense of 'special mission' and all accompanying grandiose delusions. It is important to stay humble and honest, without trying to impose our designs on unsuspecting others. Otherwise, we become mirror images of the mindless robotniks. Religion and politics are two separate things, mutually exclusive. One fosters letting go, and the other emphasises garnering, manipulation and aggrandisement at the cost of others. Where Islamofascism is concerned, it is important to set down a universal law at this point, related to freedom and liberation. Since we are all connected in today's world, more and more, we cannot ignore its strong negation of human values that have evolved over millennia of positive human enterprise. We don't even have that choice any longer. Like Nazism in the 1930s, something very evil has erupted out of the collective at this point in the name of Islamofascism, and it is very important to draw the lines very clearly. We must develop worldwide consensus about it. The perpetrators of jihad, and especially their State-backers must be isolated and warned off sternly. This also involves economic audits, defense audits and judicial audits, without any room for appeasement or geopolitical vested interests. There will of course be other zombies from within, in axis with the unspeakable evil of terror and violence; they must also make a choice. They can't have it both ways. The so-called demographic bomb must be neutralised by cutting off aid, period! In India, we are struggling with a possible one-child / two-children norm for contesting elections and job promotions, etc. You cannot get away with the 'more children - hence greater need for aid' vicious cycle. These are complex issues, but they must be straightened out for the safety of all. I think we have been sufficiently pushed to the wall at this point, and the jihadis have gone bankrupt doing it, without even realising it themselves. What keeps them going, however, is the philosophy of appeasement, even among nations. They can hardly stand on their own -- not one of them can do so! Tomorrow, if we were to tighten our belts a little bit and ask them to get lost, they would all fall apart like nine pins. There is little sanity displayed by the Islamofascists, and the very decentralised machinery of jihad implies that soon we will reach a point of no-return! At that point, we will have nothing to lose, and they will have lost all, just like the Nazis. We must also stop them from taking the whole world civilisation down with themselves, as they are hell-bent on doing. They will certainly not be offered a walkover, that much is certain. This very robust debate indicated how even the reasonably intelligent among them are functioning from within the blindspot of unreasoning Quranic injunction! History means nothing to them. They are completely shielded from acknowledging the extent of human misery this single destructive doctrine has caused worldwide since its beginning. We discovered total stonewalling, right? So what are the options before us? The time is fast approaching when these options will have to be clearly set out and executed, worldwide. Ruthlessly and without appeasement, since they bank on our internal divisions, our gullibility, our self-doubt, our guilt and shame, and our democratic values, without yielding an inch from their very inhuman polarised positions. They speak with a forked tongue. We have to understand this strange mindset and defeat it. The lessons of history have not been lost on all of us. The end is very near. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (441) on this item
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