| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Thoughts on Woolwich |
| 2013-06-01 |
| by Thoeodore Dalrymple [CityJournal] Lee Rigby's murder tells us as much about contemporary society as it does about radical Islam. What these cases show is that it is not Islam that makes young converts violent; it is the violence within them that causes them to convert to Islam. The religion, in its most bloodthirsty form, supplies all their psychological needs and channels their anger into a supposedly higher purpose. It gives them moral license to act upon their rage; for, like many in our society, they do not realize that anger is not self-justifying, that one is not necessarily right because one is angry, and that in any case even justified anger does not entail a license to act violently. The hacking to death of Lee Rigby on a street in Woolwich tells us as much about the society that we have created, or allowed to develop, as it does about radical Islam preached by fat, middle-aged clerics. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #5 Dalrymple is spot on: the entire Koran sets up a moral bar considerably lower than what is posed in the Sermon on the Mount. The Mosaic law was kinder to aliens in the land than the Koran is to "people of the book." The majority of people conquered by Islam knew this and at least resisted assimilation passively. The Only people who embraced Islam willingly and enthusiastically were the MONGOLS. What sort of "recommendation" is THAT? |
| Posted by: Ptah 2013-06-01 21:52 |
| #4 It is significant that these alienated rage-filled young men seek out Islam. It's the only "people of the book" religion that welcomes them with open arms. It shows that Islam is not a transformative religion, but one that celebrates the most execrable aspects of human behavior. Not only that, it teaches that this murderous conduct is pleasing to "Allah". Allah is not the Christan God, but his enemy. |
| Posted by: Sgt. D.T. 2013-06-01 15:55 |
| #3 There is something to this. To convert to a new religion one has to be passionate about it -- otherwise why bother? The passionate new convert to Islam may well be more incited by the hadiths and passages of the Koran that demands that (s)he kill the infidels. A person who has lived his/her entire life as a Muslim, on the other hand, likely has reached an accommodation with the same texts, much the same way as a lifelong Christian doesn't take too seriously the more bloody parts of the Old Testament. I'm not making excuses here: I don't care what religion you are, if you decide to get blood on your hands I'm going to want you put down, preferably before you hurt anyone. But I do get the argument that the convert is passionate, and that passion leads to action. Mix in a little mental instability, some 'education' by a fat, middle-aged, evil holy man, and so on and you can have a brand new terrorist or, at least, a gullible splodydope tool. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2013-06-01 13:45 |
#2 [From the City Journal Comment Section] 'What these cases show is that it is not Islam that makes young converts violent; it is the violence within them that causes them to convert to Islam.' Not fully true because Islam does encourage it and even justifies it if it's in the name of Islam. Just go to sources themselves in the Koran, the hadiths and Islamic history to see it clearly. If we keep on ignoring the facts then we should be prepared for more violence that is definitely going to unfold yet. This unfortunate beheading is just the beginning of what is yet to come. These guys are not stupid of unintelligent that they don’t understand the Koran and its teachings but they express it exactly like how it's supposed to be. I would only add; Many, if not most, Jihadists aren’t necessarily “crazy”. But they are all fanatical. There's a big difference. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2013-06-01 10:35 |
| #1 Seems to me , that admission to Muslinism, is an automatic death sentence, any person can carry it out. I'm A Muslim, BANG, they're dead. Hey they do it to us. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-06-01 02:19 |