Not just the Middle East, but throughout the Islamic world.

[Richard Wiig]

A superb opinion piece by Raymond Ibrahim that highlights just how insane things are - including at this site, where honest examination is termed "hate speech" and exposing it is considered more important than solving the problem.

Destroying One Koran vs. Destroying Many Christians

Which is Worse?by Raymond Ibrahim

FrontPageMagazine.com

April 8, 2011

http://www.raymondibrahim.com/9394/koran-christian-persecution

Muslims protesting.

The now infamous Koran burning by Florida pastor Terry Jones has created hysteria in the Muslim world. In Afghanistan alone, some twenty people, including U.N. workers, have been killed and beheaded to screams of "Allahu Akbar!" Western leaders around the globe—including Obama and members of Congress—have unequivocally condemned Jones' actions (without bothering to point out that freedom of expression is a prized American liberty). Many are even blaming the deaths in Afghanistan directly on Jones; Bill O'Reilley says he has "blood on his hands."

Yet, as Western leaders rush to profess their abhorrence at what one American did to one inanimate book, let's take a quick look at what many Muslims are doing to many living and breathing Christians around the Islamic world—to virtually no media coverage or Western condemnation:

•Afghanistan: A Muslim convert to Christianity was seized and, according to sharia's apostasy laws, awaits execution.

•Bangladesh: A Christian man was arrested for distributing Bibles near Muslims. Since Wednesday, thousands of Muslims have been rioting, injuring dozens—not because of Jones, but in protestation of women's rights.

•Egypt: A Muslim mob burned down another Coptic church and dozens of Christian homes; when Christians protested, the military opened fire on them while crying "Allahu Akbar," killing nine. Another mob cut a Christian man's ear off "according to sharia."

•Ethiopia: Muslims went on a rampage burning down nearly 70 churches, killing at least one Christian, and dislocating as many as 10,000. Christians living in Muslim majority regions are being warned to either convert to Islam, abandon their homes, or die.

•Malaysia: Authorities detained and desecrated thousands of Bibles.

•Pakistan: Two Christians were shot to death as they exited church; a Christian serving life in prison for "blasphemy" died in his cell under suspicions of murder.

•Saudi Arabia: An Eritrean Christian has been arrested for sharing his faith with Muslims and is facing the death penalty; other missionaries continue to languish in Saudi prisons.

•Somalia and Sudan: Christian girls—including a mother of four—were recently abducted, raped, and killed for embracing Christianity.

It should be borne in mind that none of these atrocities were performed in retaliation to Jones' Koran burning; they're just business as usual in the Muslim world. Moreover, the above list is but a quick and cursory sampling of the very latest in Christian suffering under Islam. Were one to include persecution from just a few months back, one could also mention the jihadist attack on a Baghdad church, killing 52 Christians; the New Year's eve Coptic church explosion, killing 21; Muslim rampages that destroyed several churches in Indonesia, Nigeria, and the Philippines; Iran's "round up" of some 70 home-worshipping Christians; and Kuwait's—a nation that owes its very existence to U.S. war sacrifices—rejection to build a church.

Then there are the countless atrocities that never make it to any media—the stories of persistent, quiet misery that only the victims and local Christians know.

One would have thought that all this was at least equally deserving of media attention and Western condemnation as the burning of a Koran. Worse, whereas only Jones is responsible for his actions, many of the aforementioned savageries—arresting and executing Christian missionaries and Muslim apostates, destroying or outlawing churches, seizing and desecrating not one but thousands of Bibles—are carried out at the hands of Muslim authorities and governments deemed U.S. "friends-and-allies."

Such is the surreal and increasingly irrational world we live in, where irate Muslims and groveling Westerners obsess over the destruction of one book while ignoring the destruction of many human lives; where a guaranteed and hard-earned American right—freedom of expression—receives a lot of condemnatory huffing and puffing from those charged with protecting it, while murderous and barbarous—in a word, evil—behavior is devoutly ignored.

[BaalChatzaf]

A superb opinion piece by Raymond Ibrahim that highlights just how insane things are - including at this site, where honest examination is termed "hate speech" and exposing it is considered more important than solving the problem.

Destroying One Koran vs. Destroying Many Christians

Which is Worse?by Raymond Ibrahim

FrontPageMagazine.com

April 8, 2011

http://www.raymondib...ian-persecution

Muslims protesting.

The now infamous Koran burning by Florida pastor Terry Jones has created hysteria in the Muslim world. In Afghanistan alone, some twenty people, including U.N. workers, have been killed and beheaded to screams of "Allahu Akbar!" Western leaders around the globe—including Obama and members of Congress—have unequivocally condemned Jones' actions (without bothering to point out that freedom of expression is a prized American liberty). Many are even blaming the deaths in Afghanistan directly on Jones; Bill O'Reilley says he has "blood on his hands."

Yet, as Western leaders rush to profess their abhorrence at what one American did to one inanimate book, let's take a quick look at what many Muslims are doing to many living and breathing Christians around the Islamic world—to virtually no media coverage or Western condemnation:

•Afghanistan: A Muslim convert to Christianity was seized and, according to sharia's apostasy laws, awaits execution.

•Bangladesh: A Christian man was arrested for distributing Bibles near Muslims. Since Wednesday, thousands of Muslims have been rioting, injuring dozens—not because of Jones, but in protestation of women's rights.

•Egypt: A Muslim mob burned down another Coptic church and dozens of Christian homes; when Christians protested, the military opened fire on them while crying "Allahu Akbar," killing nine. Another mob cut a Christian man's ear off "according to sharia."

•Ethiopia: Muslims went on a rampage burning down nearly 70 churches, killing at least one Christian, and dislocating as many as 10,000. Christians living in Muslim majority regions are being warned to either convert to Islam, abandon their homes, or die.

•Malaysia: Authorities detained and desecrated thousands of Bibles.

•Pakistan: Two Christians were shot to death as they exited church; a Christian serving life in prison for "blasphemy" died in his cell under suspicions of murder.

•Saudi Arabia: An Eritrean Christian has been arrested for sharing his faith with Muslims and is facing the death penalty; other missionaries continue to languish in Saudi prisons.

•Somalia and Sudan: Christian girls—including a mother of four—were recently abducted, raped, and killed for embracing Christianity.

It should be borne in mind that none of these atrocities were performed in retaliation to Jones' Koran burning; they're just business as usual in the Muslim world. Moreover, the above list is but a quick and cursory sampling of the very latest in Christian suffering under Islam. Were one to include persecution from just a few months back, one could also mention the jihadist attack on a Baghdad church, killing 52 Christians; the New Year's eve Coptic church explosion, killing 21; Muslim rampages that destroyed several churches in Indonesia, Nigeria, and the Philippines; Iran's "round up" of some 70 home-worshipping Christians; and Kuwait's—a nation that owes its very existence to U.S. war sacrifices—rejection to build a church.

Then there are the countless atrocities that never make it to any media—the stories of persistent, quiet misery that only the victims and local Christians know.

One would have thought that all this was at least equally deserving of media attention and Western condemnation as the burning of a Koran. Worse, whereas only Jones is responsible for his actions, many of the aforementioned savageries—arresting and executing Christian missionaries and Muslim apostates, destroying or outlawing churches, seizing and desecrating not one but thousands of Bibles—are carried out at the hands of Muslim authorities and governments deemed U.S. "friends-and-allies."

Such is the surreal and increasingly irrational world we live in, where irate Muslims and groveling Westerners obsess over the destruction of one book while ignoring the destruction of many human lives; where a guaranteed and hard-earned American right—freedom of expression—receives a lot of condemnatory huffing and puffing from those charged with protecting it, while murderous and barbarous—in a word, evil—behavior is devoutly ignored.

There goes your Muslim. Different mountain, different god.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Are you, reader, a "groveling Westerner"?

Mr. Ibrahim apparently thinks so. That's how he concluded his article.

And by extension, Richard probably agrees since he posted this article here without commentary.

That's the kind of thing I call propaganda.

It's a shame, too, because this propaganda crap covers over with hatred some stuff that should be discussed. But I won't be discussing this with people who call me a "groveling Westerner" right off the bat. The reader will have to decide if he or she feels differently.

All I, personally, see is an irate propagandist bitching about irate Muslims and calling people who don't hate like he does names. Who wants to talk about anything with someone like that?

Incidentally, Front Page Magazine is owned by David Horowitz, who is a pretty good scholar when he wants to be (like his work in the Discover the Networks site). But he was trained as a left-wing propagandist and it shows in many or his efforts (even on that site at times). He believes you have to fight propaganda with propaganda.

This makes me take everything he says and does with a grain of salt. I just can't believe he will tell me the truth in an objective manner without twisting things around, so I need to verify his stuff before I can adopt it on a serious level.

That's another shame, too, because he is so intelligent. But I reject propaganda as a tool of cognition. And Horowitz constantly cloaks his information as propaganda, so you don't know what is real and what is manipulated.

Michael

[Richard Wiig]

Are you, reader, a "groveling Westerner"?

Mr. Ibrahim apparently thinks so.

How ridiculous. He didn't conclude his article that way at all.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Well, there's one way the reader can make sure he or she is not a "groveling Westerner" according to the propagandists, isn't there?

Just hate. Hate Islam is what they say, but if you hate Muslims in general, that will do.

Hate and say you hate.

Voila.

Now you're on the right side. Now you're no longer a "groveling Westerner."

Why does that feel like manipulation?

Hmmmmmm?

Because it is?

Yup.

(That one was just too easy. )

Michael

[Richard Wiig]

It perhaps feels like manipulation to you because somewhere he touches something inside of you. Hell, the last thing I feel about that article is manipulated, and I'd hazard a quess that most people don't. The fact is, plenty of people are grovelling to be sensitive to other cultures. He doesn't assume that his reader is a one of the grovelling ones at all. He points out something very concerning about the state of the West. That you are more concerned that you feel manipulated than you do about that obvious condition, speaks volumes to me.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

That you are more concerned that you feel manipulated than you do about that obvious condition, speaks volumes to me.

Richard,

Close, but no cigar. Frankly, that's just more games you are playing.

I stand with Israel and America against fundamentalist Islamists, as I have posted often.

I just don't stand with Israel and America alongside haters. On the contrary, I expose them.

Actually, I don't know which I am concerned with most, probably exposing haters. The hate epistemology (putting hate of something specific in the place of identifying it for cognition) is the root of the problem Israel and America faces from hating fundamentalists.

I do know that haters are like hecklers and you are acting like that. Notice, you are here on my site. I am not where you are. So I have to give the expose-the-propaganda point more attention when you are around. When you are not, I usually post stuff analyzing the real problems with Islamic fundamentalism and trying to see what can be done about them.

I do hope that speaks volumes to you.

To repeat, I stand with Israel and America.

I don't stand with Israel and America alongside you. I reject your hatred and your own brand of fundamentalism.

Michael