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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| West slammed over failure to communicate with Muslim world |
| 2008-07-03 |
| Western governments should engage those Muslims who matter, instead of simply pretending that no differences exist between Muslims and others, according to Islamic scholar Genieve Abdo. She criticises those in the West, especially the growing number of scholars and politicians engaged in “interfaith dialogue”, who rather than deal with extremism, avoid the discomforting work of addressing global conflict that in hindsight makes the Cold War look like a small ethnic squabble. Those who emphasise the commonalities between Islamic and Western societies and among the three Abrahamic faiths, downplay or avoid completely the very real differences as if they don’t exist and make Westerners feel comfortable by convincing them that extremism is a temporary phenomenon that exists only on the fringes of Islamic societies. “Happier narratives” about Muslims help large institutions as well as smaller organisations that focus on the benign and irrelevant exercise of “interfaith dialogue” raise millions of dollars from US foundations and governments in the Persian Gulf. The Saudi royal family has a great interest in downplaying the divide between Muslim and Western societies. “Merely embracing Muslims who are already converted to a Western school of thought while shunning and alienating those who have influence over the very extremists who challenge the West’s vision of the world is not only misguided, it is dangerous. By avoiding the fact that there are profound differences between Muslims in the East and non-Muslims in the West, we are hindering solutions that could prevent the next terror attack in London, Madrid or Washington, Abdo argues. “Mythical” idea: Abdo who worked on a report for the United Nations for the Alliance of Civilisations, also faults Muslim-American activists who try to tell Muslims in the Islamic world that their grievances against America are misplaced. When addressing American audiences, they promote the “mythical” idea that Muslims from Egypt to Pakistan actually have favourable notions of the United States. By deceiving the American public into believing that the “threat” is exaggerated, this Muslim-American lobby hopes to create more favourable views of Muslims in the eyes of Americans. She also calls interfaith dialogue another “culprit”, pointing out that a few dozen professors have signed letters to the Pope in an attempt to show that the Pontiff’s derogatory remarks about Islam have all been forgiven, when that is not true on the Muslim “street”. Abdo is of the view that interfaith discussion distracts from uncomfortable but necessary questions and should be considered a hindrance to concrete and effective foreign policy approaches to counter extremism. A far more effective effort would be to appeal to the disaffected youth in Europe and the Muslim world who “loathe the US and much of what it represents.” Official negotiations should also be begun, she recommends, with groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood, since they are the future leaders in the Middle East, who must not be ignored. “Despite the overwhelming evidence of a decline in the West’s relationship with the Islamic world, it still has no effective foreign policy strategy for engaging Islamist leaders and Muslim societies in a meaningful way,” Abdo maintains. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #11 "What we have here is a failure to communicate"__ Boss |
| Posted by: Phealet Johnson7479 2008-07-03 12:55 |
| #10 You got it right, Schwarz. Cut off immigration and visas. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2008-07-03 11:35 |
| #9 The Pope has communicated with the dirty dogs. They just don't like and refuse to consider what he has told them. I suggest that the talking is over. Next action should be bright light from the skies. |
| Posted by: Ulogum the Fat1701 2008-07-03 11:27 |
| #8 Our first communication wtih the Muslim world should be to cut off all visas and immigration. No travel or student visa's. None. Instead we (well Canada at least) sent the message that Muslims can silence their critics with no cost or hassle. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-07-03 10:38 |
| #7 Amerika Akbar!!! It doesn't get any clearer than that. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-07-03 10:28 |
| #6 Pretty clear communication: "Quit trying to kill us, or we'll kill you back harder." |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-07-03 10:15 |
| #5 She thinks the Western government are intending to communicate with Muslims. Instead, what they are doing, intentionally or not, is educating their own western populaces about Muslims. They started out with the ROP crap which more and more westerners now see as ROPMA. It is necessary for western governments to educate their people about Muslims, because, they need the support of the people to open the really big cans of Whupp-Ass. Whether or not this happens is ultimately up to the Muslims because what they do is what gets on the news, sooner or later. The real failure to communicate is with the Muslims. They don't understand that they have failed to make the exit to the 16th century and that without oil they would merely be whagt they will be in a century, Zimbobwayans with a melanin deficiency. |
| Posted by: Punky Ebbique 4-5789 2008-07-03 08:57 |
| #4 In the immortal words of Josey Wales, "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining". |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-07-03 03:04 |
| #3 "it still has no effective foreign policy strategy for engaging Islamist leaders and Muslim societies in a meaningful way” Oh, I'm not so sure. I find the thousands of dead jihadis in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria, Somalia, Sudan, Uzbekistan, and the Philippines a very meaningful, and decisive, sort of engagement. "Islamic World Slammed Over Barbarism, Injustice, Insane Violence, Hatred, Bigotry, Ignorance, Generally Being a Blight on Humanity and an Embarrassment to the Species" sounds more like a reasonable headline to me. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2008-07-03 00:56 |
| #2 West slammed over failure to communicate with Muslim world failure to communicate... ROLF! Geeer'Unn'TeaD... Nothing that J-Damns and 30 Mike Mike won't help. |
| Posted by: RD 2008-07-03 00:54 |
| #1 I communicate with members of the terror cult, all the time. I tell them to disregard that vulgar murder manual, the Koran. And I say that their so-called "prophet" was a pedophile and a fraud. Reminder: the phony "prophet" was a sex-toy to an heiress to a wealthy trade family. When she turned 55 - Muhammad was 40 - he was so depressed at his lack of young booty that he went on a cave retreat. When he returned home he claimed that an angel began passing "revelations" to him. He had no success in recruiting people until he organized a robber gang. Happy with the "division of the spoils" (Anfal; a chapter of the Koran), the con-man promised his pigeons heavenly rewards if they fought to the death. Of course, the "angel" assigned him 20% (khums tax) of the booty, and allowed him unlimited wives (he took 13; one at 6 years of age). His lies have resulted in the mass murder of at least one half billion people, and the extinction of ancient cultures. Anyone who believes the Koran fiction, is the human equivalent of a mad dog. Respecting a Muslim is to debase yourself to their wretched level. So here's my communication to cultists: GET CIVILIZED! There are no CLASH deniers at Rantburg. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-07-03 00:44 |