I'm going to try to weed out parts of our discussion that don't appear to be going anywhere. Let me know if I miss a part that you believe warrants further discussion. Please let me know if you feel insulted by me at any point. Certainly not a goal of mine. Try to imagine me talking evenly while reading this or perhaps imagine me petting a fuzzy bunny while meniacally laughing and staring out a window. Either way is good as long as you don't imagine me angry at you or something.
Azahul said:
It's funny that you mention that, because you're basically agreeing with my main point. Indeed, with Rath's first argument. That Islam does not equal a predisposition towards hating the US. Your suggestion, that they should exclude any "peaceful regions" and just focus on those nations with, well, a history of war with the US... you clearly see that that would lead to different results. And it would. Not because the people being polled are Muslim, but because they have a history of violence with the US that would predispose them towards seeing that those actions are somewhat justify.
Note that even then, it's still "somewhat justified". We're only talking a small percentage that believe it's fully justified, and it's my view that regions like Palestine and Pakistan would massively skew those results due to the widespread distrust and history of fighting Americans and American allies.
I did not say that Islam equals any kind of predisposition for or against the US. I was just remarking on how many stated that the attacks were warranted. It was surprising to me because I anticipated a lot more Muslims would have been against attacks on civilians/non-combatants. Then again, perhaps if they had been pressed further to distinguish between the Pentagon attack and the Towers attack that they'd answer differently to each. While I don't agree with the attack at all, I can at least percieve the attack on the Pentagon as an act of war while the attack on the Twin Towers would be purely an act of terrorism.
As I said a few posts back, nearly every country in the world with a predominantly Muslim population condemned 9/11, just as you say they should. Even terrorist organisations like the Taliban and Hezbollah condemned it. Iran, which you bring up, condemned the attacks on a massive scale.
This 55% number you're bandering around is misleading. Answering "somewhat justified" (another 20-something %) does not equal the same level of support that the 7% of "completely justified" responses indicate.
55% said they were not justified. It's less than half that said the actions were at least somewhat justified but 8% gave no response. So less than half believe that the 9/11 attack had some merit at least. This number is still higher than I expected. Ant that's all my comment was for. I was surprised that so many people thought that 9/11 was justified in any way.
I would have liked to see that data split up by country. I would anticipate Muslims in regions that are not at war with the US presently to have a very different take on things. We don't seem to disagree.
First of all, these questions were phrased in the local languages. Now, in the context of an opinion poll of this sort, "qualified" pretty clearly means that they have the physical and mental capacity, along with the requisite skills and experience, to perform the job required. As we're talking about an experienced polling group with an in-depth knowledge of the regions they are conducting the poll in, I think it's best to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they actually know how to phrase their questions correctly.
Pretty clearly? What are you basing that assumption on? Our useage of the term qualified? Why do you assume that? You're projecting English linguistics on how an unknown translation would have been recieved. Surely you can understand why this warrants finding out? You can't just go into another country using similar dialect and assume everything will translate perfectly. All your base are belong to us and all that.
Never let it be said that I'm shrugging off the degradation of women. So we're clear, I find it despicable, repulsive, and insane. All I am arguing is that it is ludicrous to portray Islam as a whole as oppressive towards women. It's not something inherent to the religion. It's something inherent to a lot of developing nations, regardless of their religion. Islam is used to justify it in parts of the Middle East, just as Christianity is used to justify it in parts of Africa and Hinduism used to justify it in parts of India.
And this is where I disagree. It is inherent to the religion. Everything from Muhammad marrying a 6-7 year old girl, wife beating being recommended and being an action of the Prophet (he is cited as having beat his young wife in the chest), and a clear establishment of women as inferior. It even directly says that a woman's testimony is half that of a man. Imagine a court system where it takes two women testifying to equal just one man's testimony. It's literally the equivalent of Jim Crow laws being put into religious text. Don't get me wrong, other religions have them too but Islam is a lot more blatant and discriminating against women than most others. This is why I said these are the things that would clash with Western thinking moreso than violence that isn't expressed in the way people think.
It's just ludicrous to portray Muslim women as passive victims, their usual role in Western media. It dismisses the amazing women's rights movements in Islamic countries right across the world. That is a great insult to all the women actually involved in fighting back against the oppression or focused on trying to bring equality to their regions.
Saying that Islam as a faith is against gender equality diminishes the fact that women are having to fight for equality? I'm pretty sure that just establishes cause and effect more than anything else. I'm sorry, but you appear to be unaware of Islamic tenets regarding women. If you knew them and had studied them you would likely not disagree here. I have a feeling some of our disagreement is out of the feeling that you need to defend Muslims when I'm mostly just defining accepted beliefs. Interestingly enough, your defense against these beliefs may actually be more offensive to some than me just referencing beliefs.
...Did you watch the video? They went to peoples' houses. They mostly used women to interview women and men to interview men. They went deep into rural areas, even conflict zones, in order to gather opinions.
I watched it, yes. I just feel like this would be a really difficult study to actually get a random result. I'd like to know their rejection rates and I'd also anticipate some individual surveyor bias (if you can indeed call a surveyor not going up to certain scary looking individuals to ask questions, biased...). I'm sorry if I seem like I'm just disagreeing in the face of numbers. But this is quite an undertaking that warrants skepticism on face value. Having worked in marketing where surveys were our main job, I have to say that there's almost no end to the number of ways a random sample size can be compromized in its randomness. I just feel like I need more information and I need it not to filtered through them. Do you have a link to the actual text study?
This entire paragraph just seems to be trying to imply that the study is inaccurate without actually saying as much. If you do think that, say so and why.
It's not saying as much because I actually don't know. This study could be a random sample done well enough to have valid answers and the questions may have been translated in a way that completely side stepped cultural nuances that would prevent accurate translations.
The entire point of anything I've been saying about the study is just to get more information. Not to say its false. I also pointed out that these people are jumping to conclusions that do not mean what they're saying they mean. That I'm seeing assumptions made in the video doesn't bode well for how competent they were in conducting the study but I also have to admit that it doesn't necessarily negate it. You have to understand that this is how any person who has studied and even performed statistical analysis looks at studies. We look for the cracks and holes FIRST before concerning ourselves too much with the data. You'd be surprised how many studies had a sample size of 13 that wasn't even randomized properly.
A well done study is a refreshing cool oasis after dragging one's ass through a desert and practically just as rare.
The legality holds in, what, five or six countries? With optional sharia law in a few others. And even in countries like Iran and Pakistan, which do have it written into law, the interpretation varies by region and they sometimes outright ignore it. One of those countries, for example, has a theocratic head of state while the other has a democratically elected one. In Nigeria, Sharia Law is used to justify harsher punishments, but they flout that parts that actually require a great amount of proof first. And for the vast, vast majority of the Muslim world, Sharia Law is not actually the legal system that they live under. That affords most Muslims in the world just as much ability to flout the parts of the Qur'an advocating the oppression of women as it gives Christians the right to not stone homosexuals to death.
I'm sorry but you're likely just unaware of the extent of Sharia laws in governance. Consider this, how many laws in the US were originally from the Bible in some way? These other countries are basically the same way but based on the Qur`an. Except where modern laws have done their best in America to divorce us from religion, Sharia-based systems aren't typically moving away from religion. I'll give you some examples from ol' wiki answers regarding just the countries that enforce blasphemy laws:
Death for Blasphemy:
1. Afghanistan
2. Bahrain
3. Iran
4. Mauritania
5. Oman
6. Pakistan
7. Yemen
8. Saudi Arabia
9. Gaza
Imprisonment for Blasphemy:
1. Algeria
2. Bangladesh
3. Egypt
4. Iraq
5. Kuwait
6. Libya
7. Malaysia
8. Maldives
9. Morocco
10. Somalia
11. Tunisia
12. United Arab Emirates
Some specific examples of Sharia law in other nations (the honor killing bit is regarding reduced sentences for honor killings):
1. Jordan (2 years or less for honour killings)
2. Eritrea (Girls as young as 8 can be married, spousal rape is not recognized)
3. Syria (1 year or less for honour killings)
4. Niger (girls can be married off before they reach puberty)
Basically, there are many nations where Sharia law is at least partially enforced at the government level as well as plenty of nations where it is summarily enforced. That's not including countries where the local tribal level carries out the law that would otherwise not be enforced at the government level.
If you honestly believe that Sharia is not widely practiced in Muslim countries then you're sorely mistaken. You're also unaware of more recently successful groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood whose goals are to actually install Sharia law at the state level.
I'm simply explaining the situation. It is what it is.
I didn't say there weren't any. My point is that there are Christians that don't follow those parts of their holy book, just as there are Muslims that choose not to follow that part of their book. It's not a problem inherent to Islam. It's a problem widely found in developing countries that are still working on getting their equality and general acknowledgement of human rights up to scratch.
I fail to see why Christians not following tenets that are merely meant to be enforced by the individual and no one else would apply to tenets of a religion that is specifically enforced at the state level. Also, lifestyle and belief are two different things. Hopefully those pedophilic priests don't think that what they're doing is good or ok.
No, but being as a sizeable portion of my extended family is Muslim (and living in the Middle East), and that a lot of the Muslim women I know have no problem harassing, badgering, or mouthing off to their husbands without getting beaten, I can honestly say that I've never seen this one in effect.
Two things:
1. Where in the Middle East? It makes a difference.
2. Husbands are not commanded to beat their wifes. It is a recommended way of "handling" them. It's cool that you have Muslim family members who are merciful in that area. That doesn't mean it isn't what Islam teaches. Again, I cannot attest to the individual expression of the faith. All I can tell you is what the religion itself teaches. You presenting personal evidence only tells us your experience. Not how everything else is. As a man, I enjoy lady drinks. Those sweet and colorful drinks that men scoff at other men for drinking. Therefore all men everywhere enjoy lady drinks. Experience equaling truth just doesn't follow.
Again, I'm not saying this stuff doesn't happen. It does, and it's appalling. But it's not a universal part of Islam and it's not as widespread as western media would have you believe. It's a problem that needs to be changed, but not an indication of a root problem in the religion. It's far more of a cultural and social issue that needs to be dealt with using a knowledge of local culture, rather than a widespread condemnation of the religion they all happen to be part of.
I personally think that Islam is a beautiful religion and have been allured by it in the past. I'm merely bringing up legitimate points of contention that require a significant change before the west would deem it appropriate in actuality. Islam does have some pretty troubling tenets that can't just be overlooked that easily. If I come across as condeming of the faith altogether then that couldn't be further from my intention. My original post in this thread was to explain that the violence depicted isn't Sharia induced, that the examples of Islam that are harsh are the laws produced by Sharia law that Westerners wouldn't think are appropriate. Death for apostasy and blasphemy, significant inequality amongst genders, and even strict punishments for lesser crimes like petty theft.
Lightknight said:
Are you a female who successfully drove a car around Saudi Arabia without being properly attired and having a male escort? Were you a ten year-old female whose father was attempting to entice a 40-year old wealthy man into marrying you or something?
Two example of laws that need to be changed in those countries where they are in effect. But, again, the overwhelming majority of Muslims live in countries where women are allowed to drive and where child marriage is just as illegal as in the West. When it happens in those countries, and it does on occasion, it's a violation of the civic law and no different from the cases of child marriage we still get here in the West. More widespread, because a lot of the time we're talking developing countries with a more ineffectual legal system, but it's a part of the religion that most do not follow and not indicative of the culture as a whole.
There's usually a mix and match in most countries. Some areas are not oppressive while simultaneously being oppressive in others. Islam even allowed women to own land and property before western countries did with the small side law that women's inheritance is to be half that of their male counterpart's inheritance. But no, most Islamic countries do not have equality.
I will say that gender equality does appear to be getting better.
I'm confused now. I'm speaking from a mixture of personal experience with some supporting statistics and facts. I've also acknowledged that all the bad stuff happens, and shouldn't be forgiven. My main argument is that that is not representative of the religion. And now you're accusing me of projecting?
My apologies. I can certainly see how a claim of projecting your sensibilities would be offensive. My point remains that the Qur`anic verses, the hadiths, and the laws in these regions still actively discriminate against women. Even when the laws are taken down, local cultures continue to enforce those practices out of religious piety. There is no small difference in committing crimes in the name of a religion that the religion does not teach and simply following the commands of a religion that does teach it.
The religion, on the whole, is peaceful. Individual people, sometimes with the backing of a local cultural consensus, can do terrible things. Sometimes there are even whole countries that fall into this trap. But, and this is all I've been arguing, this is not a problem with the religion as a whole. I agree that prejudice is pretty much intrinsically evil, which is why we should stop being so damned prejudiced against Muslims in both video games and western media in general.
Let me clarify. The intolerance of Islam is what makes me think of it as violent. The idea that a person could lose the faith and be put to death for it cannot be reconciled with peace. Cultural practices have made things a lot more violent but I do not believe that to be necessarily the fault of the faith. As was my original intention for coming here to disagree with the person saying that Islam is just a violent and hateful religion bent on killing innocents. It isn't. It has significant problems, but not that. I thought mentioning those problems would lend credence to my saying that it isn't about killing all non-believers.