Waheed is wrong

Submitted by Ted (United States), Jul 1, 2003 at 16:48

How can you justify that violence? I agree that America and Britain and other European powers have made a mess out of some situations in the Middle East. You have a legitimate gripe. The US has supported dictators and terrorists in the Middle East and many other parts of the world to further the governments own interests.

However, your argument for jihad is fallacious because it can be taken to absurdity. Should the gays and lesbians start bombing policitical buildings because they feel oppressed and are discriminated against? Should black men and women start randomly killing whites because their ancestors were held as slaves for hundreds of years? Should grownups who were picked on as kids now bomb schools and blow up government buildings? Of course not. These examples are as ludicrous as Muslim jihad is.

Also, are you sure it is foreign interests (specifically American and Britain) that are causing the murders, rapes and pillaging of Muslim communities? In Muslim nations, many of the worst purveyors of these actions are the Muslim governments themselves. Many of the rulers of these countries are dictators with no desire to allow their citizens civil liberties beyond the right to possess a bit of property.

Also, there is a reason why violence begets violence. It is because that violence needs to be perpetrated upon a victim. No one likes to be a victim. You obviously don't like it and neither does anyone else. I am not a pacifist, but there is a time for self-defense and a time to find a more rational way to resolve issues. This is one of those times. Jihad is not the rational solution you need.

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