As you know, I’m sure, religious division gives not only psychological support to the needy and envious, but power to those with the lust to lead. Christians did it to the Jews in past centuries, during times when the Muslim world honored them. Now Muslims do it to the Jews while the Christian world takes a breather.
Here is a cut from page 23 and 24 of the best book every written on the subject- in both enlightenment and style, “The Trouble With Islam Today”, by Irshad Manji that best illustrates how a people, as good as any, can be kept in the bondage of hate, and fear, by those with the need to hate, as well as fulfillment of personal ambition:
“…In the late 1990’s, Israel volunteered to share farming technology with Egypt, living up to the biblical imperative to turn your swards into plowshares. Ah peace. Except that the Egyptian press ran stories of toxic seeds and carcinogenic cucumbers being handed out to unsuspecting farmers. The rumors got a lift from a homegrown campaign that accused Israelis of hawking two wicked products: chewing gum that threw ladies into spasms of lust, and genetically modified fruit that sapped their husbands’ sperm. All this from an Arab country that has had a peace treaty with Israel since 1979! ”
It would do you well to read this women’s book.
As for Muslim antagonist’s sales pitches to the naïve that they will be rewarded for their suicide with 70 virgins in heaven, I have questions no human has considered: 1) Virgins with bodies? 2) Dead terrorists take their torn-up bodies with them? 3) What if their weanies were disintegrated in the blast?, will they permitted to do oral sex on these virgins with bodies? Etc;
Answer: Mohammad has new bodies waiting for them, with twice the length and width of their former toy. Now *that’s* a promise I could go for!
Islam is for the Bedouin mentality, not the modern mind.
The leaders, and rabid believers, have no doubts that their religion is the correct one, and no other must be permitted to exist; the fact that Allah allows other religions to exist does not enter their minds ( or any other!). This is made clear in their expression, “Death to the Infidels, or unbelievers, which has been the cry Mohammed promoted at an appropriate time; our time is certainly *not* appropriate.
Also, As you know, Islamic leaders dictate both social and governmental ways of life; how to dress, and how to control women, ( after all, Muslim men are incapable of keeping women happy in a competitive world, you understand), and to hate music; some take to it and others reject it. In contrast, other religions that are meant to, and used to do so, give us emotional stability. We don’t demand Muslims change their religion, but they do demand that we change ours.
There is no Chief of Religion, no one leader of all Ayatollahs and Imams, so Imams, or Ayatollahs, can, and do, lead in their own fashions, and personal ambition. Every Muslim leader gives his own interpretation of the Koran, even proud American Imams, when asked for one. So, Islam is *not* a single religion, it is anything a believer wants it to be.
This is the unchangeable reason why the Eat and West will *never* enter into peaceful relations. Our program for East/West relations must keep that in mind; trying to self-righteously sell Democracy to them is no different than they demanding we go Muslim. And that‘s a fact!!!
We need to break from them, and simply trade with them, with guns at the ready, and hold each others hands during all negotiations. (That’s how the handshake came about: preventing another from reaching for his weanie! Uh! Sorry!, weapon.
I HAD A DREAM…
...last night: Infidels from the West had relocated their military from all Moslem countries to a new base consisting of aircraft carriers, battle ships, supply and hospital, ships, etc; surrounding, and connected to, a new type of ship designed to serve as the command facility; another, an aircraft refueling depot, and another providing a golf course ( 3 or 4 holes, played in multiples ), and other recreational activities that constitutes the R&R portion of a base.
The entire mass floats in international waters; our planes reach all places of interest without having to operate from countries where we don’t belong, whose populations just barely tolerate us, and we, them.
These parts of the mass interconnect with each other by attachments that hold the separate ships as a single flat surface, easily separated and brought together with the push of buttons; any ship could join the mass, once fitted with the connecters and extended surfaces. The potential size of this military base is unlimited. Well. . . .
I see no reason why our allies can’t link to the mass when appropriate.
All American military and civilian personnel assigned to a very large area of the globe live on those ships, and we no longer have the grief that comes with our presence among people who hate us; a hate that grows every hour we are among them.
We also save on rent, and overhead for separate bases, and military women no longer have to live under conditions they find intolerable.
I imagined so many improvements in life with this creation - for both Moslems, and us - that my heart sang with joy as I dreamed this “impossible dream,” only to sink to the depths of depression when I awoke.
I wonder what would happen if this idea came to the attention of the Pentagon, the President, and your CongressMember; as insurance, your favorite newspapers, and talking heads.
Sure you will!
WHAT DO I THINK OF MOSLEMS, AS A THREAT TO US
A question posed by a visitor to this site
I think it is not Moslems who are a threat to civilization; religion itself is not, *people* are threats!
There are Christians who kill in the name of the Prince Of Peace, to save lives in the womb of women they don’t know, and had never breathed the same air as them; there are Christians who roar in indignation at the way others live their own private lives, demanding adherence to a code not their own, and of course, there are Moslems who cannot - truly *can not* - make the effort to refrain from proving the Pope’s ill-advised quotation absolutely correct, when it is not.
It is not the Koran that, though it does - as intended, order hostility, but the people who interpret a particular order, and react to outside influences, using that order, which is long out of “style“, to establish legitimacy, just as Jews and Christians choose which chapter of their Books they will follow, according to what they had been conditioned to believe, or what they want to conclude. As the Old Testament was written thousands of years ago, when certain instruction was necessary among small tribes in a hostile world, those words are no longer appropriate; the world has grown, so have people; the world of Islam must change, but it doesn’t, because of the people it serves, at the command of their religious leaders who are no different in their motivations than those of any political leader bent on the action he can create - for his own power. It is not really the words of our Books, but the need of some to interpret those words to satisfy their own temperament.
An example is one given by the prototype for the character Rambo, Lt. Col. James “Bo” Gritz, ret, on his web-site, that in a certain section of the Old Testament, the Hebrews were ordered never to cheat a fellow Jew, but feel free to cheat Gentiles to their heart’s content. On this basis, “Rambo” castigates Jews, and calls them filth. Why? Because he needs a reason to hate a people he needs to hate, for a reason that has nothing to do with the Bible.
( But he *does* celebrate Passover, which is for the Survival of the Jews! Which proves that he is able to kill very efficiently, but not to think with any degree of intelligence. )
A Jewish friend of mine commented after a hearty laugh when I had told him about Gritz that lasted fifteen minutes and three seconds, “Nah! He said, “We changed that years ago; now we give only ten points for cheating a gentile, and five thousand for cheating a Jew. Where is the challenge in a Jew cheating a Gentile?”
He pointed out his belief that very few Jews probably know of that order, he certainly didn’t, and “99.9% of Jews don’t take the stories of the Bible as anything other than short stories by story-writers; mostly fiction. Jews, as a people, have grown, ( apart!) as all other people‘s have, the count of Moslems who interpret the Koran with intelligence is no doubt large, and it is upon them the responsibility lies to modify the attitudes of other Moslems. But it will do no good! There are too many Imams who feed on hostility; it is nourishment for leadership. ( How does one become an Imam? )
As I had said, if a person is attracted to hostility, what you read as an order to kick the ass of certain people, he will read as, “kill them.“ when attacked, respond aggressively with Jihad - which means retaliation - is taken by some as, “kill” at every opportunity because people of other persuasions are enemies; “Death to the Unbelievers.“ And we must not forget that every wannabe political leader, no matter the religion, will use it aggressively to achieve his goals. Remember, Mohammed was both a military, and religious leader, therefore Islamic Clergy are so.
When Moslem leaders chastise and call Christians and Jews names, there are no temper tantrums, but every time a Westerner says something possibly bad about Islam, or Mohammed, millions of Moslems, many undoubtedly acting to be seen among the crowd, throw a tantrum, and explode like a flock of pigeons, thereby proving the truth of the Pope’s quote. ( All religious leaders should refrain from commenting on others because chauvinism rules!)
A point: Mohammed established a religion to stop Arab tribes from killing each other, and make them a people, like the Jews, and Christians, so he gave them a Book, like the others had. He had instructed them to think of themselves in the highest regard as a people, and to grow as a people, and to stop attacking each other’s camp. He instructed them to not make him, Mohammed, a Savior, for he was just a Messenger. So why do the Moslems react as if their Savior is being attacked? Because they are of that temperament! Nothing will change that. It is not Islam that is the problem, it is people predisposed to make it so.
It is a people with little to draw them from needing to react, just to maintain a sense of pride. ( which is exactly what Mohammed had designed Islam to do, which, in the current age of technology, and universal knowledge, is no longer necessary, or valid, just as an anthropomorphic God is.) >/I>
It is a people without a sound economy, large enough to support so many, and see another world very different from their own, living a life forbidden by the book they so much need, and draining them of pride by using their only asset: Oil, and considering themselves otherwise worthless. All this fed by those among them with lots to gain from that belief.
I need to mention here the abuse heaped on the Arab and Central Asians by the West after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and the saturation of their countries by the Western empire’s attitudes of chauvinistic superiority; there‘s nothing more natural, empires do that sort of thing. I won’t go further into this, except to say that I think many Moslems have a basis for resentment. But they have got to let it go - and grow.
At this point in my analysis of the Moslem problem, I can only say, that I think there will be no reduction of hostilities between the East and West for at least another century, and as long as the United States elects our leadership with the system we now have. There is an excellent chance that the Moslem/Israeli/American stress will bring about a third world war. President Bush is working very heard to make that happen - egged on by his Vice-President - and the next one will probably be inadequate to the challenge created by “Batman Bush, and his Robin”; and will keep it political, not humanistic.
I know you-all wanted to hear my opinion on this, including those of you who think I’m an egoistic horse's ass. Every one who wrote to me in opposition on any topic, had landed on a single point - each a different point, and saw nothing else; those in agreement saw more; those in opposition wrote pages of comment, supporters wrote a single, short, paragraph. Amazing!
One more observation (I’m behaving like Columbo!): The Arabs are still killing each other, so Mohammed has, in effect, wasted his time. Which is what human bombs, and other attackers, as in 9/11 do, waste their time and effort, because the West will simply get up, clean up the mess, rebuild, and go on; though we lose loved one‘s, most of us become economically, and socially, healthier for it.
I believe we should require all who enter this country to sign a statement that they respect the natural existence of many faiths, and races other than their own, or be denied entry. Anyone known to believe otherwise should be turned away. This includes tourists and visiting relatives of residents or citizens. We should also, when it is reported and proved, expel clergy who promote hatred for this country, without having to prove personal criminal behavior. The constitution needs modification which, of course, will never be made.
Until Moslems persuade their clergy to rewrite the Koran and S’haria, and join the modern world, they are the ultimate threat to the world in this era where a single automaton carrying a satchel-bomb to Times Square, the Kansas Cities, or Grauman’s Chinese Theater, could set off a holocaust. Yes! We must treat traveling Arabs differently, and that‘s a shame!
We are a nation who pride ourselves on showing respect for religions not our own, even we who are chauvinistic about our own. Well!, one of our own. Difficult as it is to do, I think our very survival depends on self-defense; the above is how I think we should do that, without going too far.
What I believe, and what you will permit, are entirely different things, though you probably believe it as well. Because of this, we will see our own destruction at the hands of our own rules.
About “Arabia,” my program to eliminate the automobile as we know it, will, over fifty years, slowly destroy the economic life of all oil producing countries (See my brief on “Cities“). We must, on the decision to initiate the cities program, have to establish a committee to address the question of how to face the gradual deterioration of their economies, and work with the U.N. to deal with it many years before the world will be faced with the first sign of the future being the present.
WE INVITE YOUR COMMENTS. But please be civil.
What is your opinion of this web site?
© 1997 burtonridgeway@yahoo.com
A better way to secure our benefits:
Social Security
*
Another idea on:
Taxation
*
“Political leaders everywhere have come to understand that to govern they must learn how to act . . . who are we really voting for? The self-possessed character who projects dignity, exemplary morals, and enough forthright courage to lead us through war and depression, or the person who is simply good at creating a counterfeit with the help of professional coaching, executive tailoring, and that the whole armory of pretense that the groomed president can now employ? Are we allowed anymore to know what is going on, not merely in the candidate’s facial expression and his choice of a suit, but also in his head? Unfortunately. . . This is something we are not told until the auditioning ends an he is securely in office. . . As with many actors, any resemblance between the man and the role is purely coincidental.”
Arthur Miller, playwright.
A proposed end to the spectacle we tolerate
”The FECMA Conspiracy.”
*
Who’s body is it, anyway?:
Abortion
*
We need a better approach than:
"A War on Drugs"
*
Our kids are in trouble:
Public Education
*
Are we destined to go on and on about the right of an
individual to own an arsenal?
Guns and the 2nd amendment
*
Is it really a threat?
A National ID Card
*
The solution, finally!:
Paying for Health Care
*
Our cities are terrible!
*
Proposed changes in the Constitution
*
A commentary on miscellaneous issues and questions:
Misc.
*
Rev./Rab./Fr. Burton
at the pulpit
*
For your funny bone:
Thoughts too minor for serious people
*
Home page