Quote:
Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
As to telling other people what to say and when to say it, well, good luck with that. You've been trying to get Hank to have a non-trolling conversation here for years, and if you can't do that, I'm not sure how you're going to get the NYPD or the larger Muslim world to start singing from your hymnal. But keep trying, I'm sure some day you'll find someone somewhere in Islam who can just order it all to stop and tell the religious terrorists to get in line, and, of course, they'll listen, as they always do.
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I have no illusions about being able to get people to say what I want them to. Nor that there is any grand figure in Islam who can direct everyone to behave in any particular way.
I don't think it's a coincidence that so many people find justification in Islam for violent action -- whereas, any commonality in the color of car they drive is a coincidence (honestly I never considered that anyone could say that the color of car was as important a factor, but Ty did, and I'll leave it at that). While I recognize that there is enormous variation in what people say and believe within Islam -- 2 billion people, after all -- there is still enough of a discourse that a significant number of people, from very different places and backgrounds, are hearing a message that their religion justifies killing.
I think that Muslims, particularly Muslim leaders, are the ones who are going to change that discourse. I don't think I'm alone in that view, and over the weekend saw a number of things such as a letter from various Muslim leaders in the NYTimes that echoed this. Over time, those developments will change the discourse.