The F*****g F*****ts

[Dubious Dick]

Having indulged in beheading and burning people alive, ISIS (which in my book stands for I Seriously Idiotic and Stupid), now see fit to go about destroying cultural artefacts in a move reminiscent of the equally insane destruction of the Buddhas at Bamiyan by the Taliban.

The sheer philistinism of these acts makes me want weep almost as much as the barbarism of the killings.

No doubt we will hear even more of the ludicrous claims that this behaviour is not real Islam, though of course there is more than adequate support for it as following the example of Mohammed.

It would be good to see more vocal condemnation of these acts by so called moderate muslims. I have yet to see any.

[Croydon13013]

It would be good to see more vocal condemnation of these acts by so called moderate muslims. I have yet to see any.

This line is trotted out again and again.

The ruins at Hatra were restored and looked after by Muslims (although with some dodgy interference by Saddam H). Muslims were killed trying to defend Hatra. The vast majority of people fighting IS and killed by IS are Muslims.

I doubt that you'd be satisfied if every Muslim in the world apologised personally to you for something that had nothing to do with them.

[Dubious Dick]

It would be good to see more vocal condemnation of these acts by so called moderate muslims. I have yet to see any.

This line is trotted out again and again.

The ruins at Hatra were restored and looked after by Muslims (although with some dodgy interference by Saddam H). Muslims were killed trying to defend Hatra. The vast majority of people fighting IS and killed by IS are Muslims.

I doubt that you'd be satisfied if every Muslim in the world apologised personally to you for something that had nothing to do with them.

Fair point that not every muslim is responsible, and I do not expect every one of them to apologise to me personally or more widely. Just that, as with the terrorism and cultural vandalism, it would be helpful in a number of ways if more muslims who do not support such behaviour were more vocal, and more regularly so. First it would help to defuse the backlash against muslims that such acts cause.

Silence, or relative lack of criticism from within the muslim World has a similar effect to active support.

It is also true that I think the schisms in islam are of value in gradually eroding the worst of the excesses, and I would like to see more infighting over the various interpretations such that we see a meaningful reformation.

[chaggle]

If you compare it with the Northern Ireland situation, the vast majority of Christians would have condemned what was going on but not necessarily said so, probably because it was so obvious it wasn't worth saying.

TBH I've no idea really if the two situations are analogous..

[Dubious Dick]

Here's a good example of why the call out for more persistent, more vocal opposition from muslims is required:

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehous ... um=twitter

Of course, there is a subtext to this. Are enough muslims prepared to openly condemn the so called extremists?

Note the support from Rowan Williams. What a complete t**t that man is!

[Asthmatic Camel]

There are plenty of decent Muslims around, that's for sure but I tend to think it's despite their religion and not because of it. Islam is pretty fierce and the penalties for not obeying it/criticising it/abandoning it etc. etc. as set out in the Quran are severe, often terminal and there's no shortage of hardline Muslims prepared to enforce them. It's unsurprising that many are afraid to speak out, even if they would like to.