Re: Islam
\"There for a minute I could have sworn Pauli was the corporate news media. Pauli, you are directly associating a religion with a group of cultures who have adopted that religion. That is a leap in logic.\"
Shane, I recognize that my comments have generalities in them. And, I also recognize that there are exceptions to the rules. I have heard this accusation in the past. However, while it is not always prudent to judge something only by the rule, it is also a logical flaw to say that generalities do not exist. We all know they do and can bring across many examples to make our point.
Islam is a way of life, a way of thinking and a way of expressing oneself in the world. It is a system of philosophy, thought and politics. The governments based upon this philosophy have many similarities. For example, they live under Islamic law - aka Sharia Law. The Sharia is a codified set of laws, or rules about how an Islamic society is to be constructed. It is based upon Islamic theology. As a result, though the expression of a certain community - or region of the Umma - may be more or less different in non-important details, the general thrust of the society is based upon the Sharia.
You can see something similar in other systems of thought. For example, Communist countries have had more similarities in the ways they functioned than differences. Democracies also have many similarites, based upon the general rule.
When I make my statements, I am not parroting the words of the corporate media. I have taken the time to read up about the subject, from multiple sources researched by scholars. The problem with current Western society is that we tend to not learn about history. We view the people of the past as being simpletons who did not understand the nuances of cultural variance. We think that we in the present are somehow so much more enlightened. From whence comes this arrogance? Is it not possible that there were smart people back then who had a little more understanding of their neighbors that we? Santayana was correct. We all mouth his phrase and use it to our benefit; but we don't really put it into practice. Man very rarely learns the lessons of history. I am saying we need to learn from our history. We need to learn why things were the way they were. We need to sift through that history without making pre-concieved assumptions. And, when we find that those in the past were wrong, we need to throw out the things that didn't work. Then we need to cautiously move forward, like scientists, figuring out what will work.
From what I can see, Western society is on its own suicide course. Like the ancient Romans, we very well might be the generation that will see the barbarian hoards coming through our lands. And this, because we no longer stand for anything, except political correctness and multi-culturalism. We have no roots, something that Western Europe is going to learn is vital in order to survive. They are in the process of learning this very difficult lesson. Those on the outside, are looking toward our downfall with glee.
Also, don't be too assured of your thoughts that this is corporate media thinking. There are a number of people in Holland and France who voted against the recent EU constitution because of their concerns about the immigrants in their midst. People in Europe are seeing that their Muslim neighbors don't want to mix. Well, unless there is something in it for them, such as promoting Islam or whatnot. The Europeans want to mix with the Immigrants - or have the Immigrants be a part of their communities - but the feeling is not mutual. There are even comments that make it to the news media in Europe that lets people know how some of the Immigrants really feel. I am posting a recent comment made to one of the Archbishops at an Islamic-Christian dialogue meeting. It is not an isolated comment.
The Archbishop of Izmir, His Exc. Giuseppe Germano Bernandini, summed up the political dilemma of the West in relation to Islam by quoting an authoritative Muslim spokesperson that he had encountered during an Islamic-Christian dialogue meeting. The man calmly stated with assurance, \"Thanks to your democratic laws we will invade you; thanks to our religious laws we will dominate you.\"
http://www.islamreview.com/articles/theroad.shtml .
So, if you want to believe I am the voice of the corporate media on this site, so be it. I am more interested in learning about the truth than worrying about sensationalism.
btw, I know of a number of people on the cultural left who share similar concerns. This is a problem that is not going to go away and may be the basis for the next world war.
