Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Very Interesting

This Was Brought To My Attention By John

Here's an article from Townhall that talks about myths as to why the Muslim world hates America. Not a very long piece, but still worth a read.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually they are myths the Libs everywhere clamor to believe as gospel everyday; then come to sites like this one a regurgitate in your comments section.
Za, Murphy..I'am looking at you again.

Anonymous said...

It's very good, for a blind and one-sided article. Without actual research-based knowledge on the subject it would be quite persuasive. Let's take them by points:

1) The Crusades.
The Middle East wasn't pre-dominantly Christian in a cohesive sense. There were various disparate Christian groups, which had nothing to do with the Catholic church. On the whole, the Middle East was still tribal, and had various disparate religions all across it when the Muslims conquered it. It wasn't "the heartland" of Christianity by any stretch of the imagination, except in propaganda.
It's also worth noting that it was the Muslims who first instituted a humane system of warfare, where only combatants were to be attacked and women and children were to be left alone. Of course, regardless of how well they followed it (and feel free to debate that if you wish), it's still ahead of the Crusaders.

The Crusades were also not motivated by religion, but rather by politics and economic gain. Religion was an excuse for British lords who had too many sons to go off and gain more land so they'd have an inheritance. It also helped secure trade routes to the Orient.

However, facts aside, the article raises a good point - in that Muslims today would not be too pissed off about something that happened a thousand years ago. What they WOULD be pissed off about is that Bush has actually referred to his current war as a crusade.

2) Colonialism.
Yep, America did not particularly involve itself in colonialist practices. However, the post-colonial Middle East has a lot of political factors that the US has actively ignored. On top of this, there's a little thing called "neo-colonialism", which America IS actively involved in.

3) The killing of Muslims.
Yep, all the points he raises are true. He's just missed a few, and contradicted a previous argument he used about the Crusades.

Firstly, let's tackle that contradiction. If Muslims aren't going to be angry about wars that happened a thousand years ago, why would they be angry about the Muslim v Muslim deaths that happened over the centuries?

Secondly, the US made a lot of promises to various Muslim groups which it failed to keep. This is generally seen as dishonourable.

Thirdly, the US has had major influences in the politics of the Middle East, most of which have been detrimental to the people there. They've perpetuated the Saudi regime, they put Saddam into place to begin with, they helped topple all the progressive groups during the Cold War, and so on.

In other words, the US's political and economic influences, along with really bad rhetoric by the current government all put the US in a very bad light from the Middle Eastern perspective, regardless of religion. Without a knowledge of history, this article would be very convincing, but any in-depth study of America's actions will show you why it's wrong.

Anonymous said...

Yep..there is that regurgitation I was talking about. Using incomplete and re-written Liberal Views of history
and the suppositions made from them. Chomsky no doubt.

Anonymous said...

Uh, no actually. History classes. You should try them.

But hey - at least you continue to prove yourself unable to argue!

Anonymous said...

I dont need to argue. I'am right and your wrong. Nothing to argue about there.

Anonymous said...

Wow, your intellectual superiority continues to astound.