When the majority chooses not to resist and stay silent..

[third eye]

I am sharing a write up I recieved from a friend describing a Germans political view on Islam. I find it to be relevant hence am sharing this.

I feel Edmund Burke's lines to be relevant..‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’


A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'


We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of **** victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.


The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.


Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

1. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
2. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts--the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

 

[EjazR]

It seems your firends German friend is probably deaf or blind because it is a surprise that he hasn't heard the silent majority of muslims become vocal and reject terrorism. Thousands nay millions of muslims, religious scholars average people and even former collegues of terrorists like OBL and Zawahiri some of whom were their mentors have rejected their tactics.

What this person should do is to look over the blindfold of Mainstream media and see what is happening in the muslim world against terrorism. Infact, it is the MSM that has prominence to people who have no religious scholarship like OBL (a bussinesman) or Zawahir ( a doctor) as comapared to coverage of actual religious scholars across diffrent school of thoughts from various countries ranging from Indonesia, India, Alegeria, Turkey, US, Pakistan and so on who have organised confrences some upto 0.5 million people at a time as well to condemn terrorism theologically and unequivocally.

But yes, muslims will still continue to speak out against this temporary anomaly that was created and supported to basically fight the communist threat in the80s and the reality is that the ideology is basically defeated.

What still needs to be seen is the average european or german standing up and speaking up against the waves of Islamphobia that are still at the fringe right at present. This was a country where a women who was wearing a headscarf (who happened to be studying in a medical profession) was stabbed to death IN COURT. And her husband was shot by the security forces there when he went to protect her.

 

[Developereo]

It is the fanatics who [...] are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.

I stopped reading at this point.

 

[Ahmad]

I stopped reading at this point.

We might not agree with everything the article says, but dont you think it is for our own good to recognize the problem of fanatics in our societies? I am sure they are growing in number and their influece is getting stronger.

 

[Developereo]

We might not agree with everything the article says, but dont you think it is for our own good to recognize the problem of fanatics in our societies? I am sure they are growing in number and their influece is getting stronger.

We should engage with moderates in host countries to enhance integration and interfaith dialog, and to curtail extremism.

The writer of the above piece is not a moderate. Moderate Europeans do not rant about Eurabia; only bigoted extremists do. We need to curtail extremism within Islam, and the Europeans need to do likewise to their extremists. Europe has strict laws against racial and religious vilification but, curiously enough, they only get applied against anti-Semites and Holocaust-deniers, not Islamophobes.

 

[Ahmad]

We should engage with moderates in host countries to enhance integration and interfaith dialog, and to curtail extremism.

The writer of the above piece is not a moderate. Moderate Europeans do not rant about Eurabia; only bigoted extremists do. We need to curtail extremism within Islam, and the Europeans need to do likewise to their extremists. Europe has strict laws against racial and religious vilification but, curiously enough, they only get applied against anti-Semites and Holocaust-deniers, not Islamophobes.

I dont disagree with the points you raised. But our extremists have done the greatest damages to us, both in our adpoted countries and the countries of our birth, this should be our focus, instead of taking a defensive postion, we have to sometimes think about things deeply.

 

[Developereo]

I dont disagree with the points you raised. But our extremists have done the greatest damages to us, both in our adpoted countries and the countries of our birth, this should be our focus, instead of taking a defensive postion, we have to sometimes think about things deeply.

We can't possibly control the thoughts and actions of every single Muslim. In any sizeable group of people, you will always have nutjobs preaching all sorts of things. The only thing we can do is to deny them publicity (which they seek) and to report them to the police. Unfortunately, the Western media has an agenda to depict Muslims as violent and alien, so they deliberately focus on the fringe extremists and portray them as mainstream. If 9999 Muslim clerics condemn a terrorist act, but one guy praises it, guess who will get the cameras?

 

[third eye]

Why can we not raise our sights and look beyond the immediate vicinity.

The underlying idea is that all religions like any other body of persons / nations run the risk of getting hijacked by a minority who by their sheer aggression and evident mass appeal succeed in either sway the rest or subjugate them . In most cases the pacifist attitude of the masses who naturally are too engrossed in running their lives and staying afloat adds to the buoyancy of the ‘ hijackers’.

By the time the folly is realized, the horse has the bit in its teeth and the rider has little else to do other than try & remain in the saddle knowing fully that he must fall if the horse does not stop.

 

[Ahmad]

We can't possibly control the thoughts and actions of every single Muslim. In any sizeable group of people, you will always have nutjobs preaching all sorts of things. The only thing we can do is to deny them publicity (which they seek) and to report them to the police. Unfortunately, the Western media has an agenda to depict Muslims as violent and alien, so they deliberately focus on the fringe extremists and portray them as mainstream. If 9999 Muslim clerics condemn a terrorist act, but one guy praises it, guess who will get the cameras?

lets forget about bigoted right wingers of west and focus on ourselves. How many of us have reported a suspecious activity of the terrorits to the police in our own countries? Look at them, how easily they kill us in large numbers in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and elsewhere? dont we have countless number of these people among ourselves in this forum at least? let alone the country or countries.

 

[Developereo]

a minority who by their sheer aggression and evident mass appeal succeed in either sway the rest or subjugate them

That is the furphy. Islamic extremism is a fringe phenomenon. It does not have "mass appeal" as you suggest.

In my opinion, home grown terrorism is much better dealt with silently and quickly by law enforcement without media hoopla over every incident. The media attention only encourages the terrorists whose primary aim is to get media attention to their cause.

How many of us have reported a suspecious activity of the terrorits to the police in our own countries?

I am pretty sure most people would report it to the police if they heard someone advocating mass murder.

 

[third eye]

That is the furphy. Islamic extremism is a fringe phenomenon. It does not have "mass appeal" as you suggest.

In my opinion, home grown terrorism is much better dealt with silently and quickly by law enforcement without media hoopla over every incident. The media attention only encourages the terrorists whose primary aim is to get media attention to their cause.



I am pretty sure most people would report it to the police if they heard someone advocating mass murder.

It does not appear to be a furphy .

What appears as a fringe phenomenon has engulfed nations like Af and some african nations while there are others who either cut deals with the extremists to stay afloat . Pak is a example of a nation held by its neck on its W borders and willing to make compromises to stay relevant in those parts.

Germans, Japs , Soviets are all examples of nations getting hijacked by a party/ group.

 

[Ahmad]

I am pretty sure most people would report it to the police if they heard someone advocating mass murder.

then how it happens? there must be good amount of help to enable them carry out these attacks. the abolute marjority of death in Pak/Afg are the civilians.

 

[Developereo]

Germans, Japs , Soviets are all examples of nations getting hijacked by a party/ group.

All those countries succumbed to extremism only with the support of the mainstream media to spread their message.

That is not the case in any Muslim country. In Pakistan, despite the anti-Pakistan media's hype, no religious party has ever come close to winning elections. Many people pay lip service to religion, but very few would fundamentally change their life for Islam's sake. Most Muslim countries are rife with sham piety and Western Muslims are even less religious.

then how it happens? there must be good amount of help to enable them carry out these attacks. the abolute marjority of death in Pak/Afg are the civilians.

I doubt those terrorist attacks are planned or talked about in mainstream mosques; these are fringe elements. Also, how hard is it in a poor country like Pakistan or Afghanistan to evade or bribe law enforcement? The bribed officials need not even know that a terrorist act is being planned. These attacks don't require a huge team.

 

[Illusive]

More than half the world problem would have solved if there were no religion, the future be better without religion, since every one would have a similar mindset towards faith, and that faith should be directed towards well being of our species.

 

[Chogy]

More than half the world problem would have solved if there were no religion, the future be better without religion, since every one would have a similar mindset towards faith, and that faith should be directed towards well being of our species.

Respectfully disagree. People of genuine (merciful) faith do more good, charitable works, than those who profess no faith. There is no "Atheist Charity International". Secular Humanists do not feed and clothe the poor.

The greatest crimes in the history of humanity have their basis in Nazism, Maoism, and Marxism, not religion.

One place to examine to see what happens when a tyrannical and vicious minority has a stranglehold on peaceful and honest people is the actions of the major drug cartels in Mexico. Their tentacles are dug so deeply into local and national governments that "calling the police" will probably get a line to a group who is being paid off by the cartels. Instead of arresting cartel members, there'd be a good chance the police would come and visit you.

I am not saying this is the current state of affairs; it is an example of what can happen when fear takes hold, corruption is vast, and people live their lives with their eyes averted, as is happening in parts of Mexico. ANY resistance to the cartels is met with torture and death. At a certain point, it becomes too late to ever do anything constructive.