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Don't Be Fooled by Propaganda
Charley Reese
Lew Rockwell.com
Saturday May 05, 2007
There is an ongoing slander campaign against Islam, claiming that
it is a religion that promotes violence and hinting that it seeks
world conquest.
Before you buy the malarkey that is being produced by people with
their own agendas or prejudices or who are just plain ignoramuses,
follow these few suggestions:
Compare the history of Islam with the history of Europe, which
for centuries was called Christendom. An objective look will show
you that Christendom wins by a landslide when it comes to violence
and wars. After all, Europe and its offspring did not come to dominate
the world, including the Islamic countries, because they practiced
the gentle virtues of Jesus.
As for the common practice of cherry-picking Scripture from holy
writings and presenting it out of context, just check out what Christians
call the Old Testament. There you will find God advocating a double
standard of morality, condoning slavery, ordering the Israelites
to commit genocide and committing infanticide himself on a mass
scale. I don't believe you will find anything comparable in the
Quran.
The word "jihad," which is so over-used these days, has,
like a lot of words, more than one meaning. It means basically to
struggle, but this can be personal or spiritual, or a peaceful political
struggle. Only if Islam is attacked are Muslims required to defend
it. As for that obnoxious propaganda term "Islamo-fascist,"
just recall that fascism is a European invention by nominal Christians.
To my knowledge, the only fascist governments ever to exist on this
planet were all European and nominally Christian.
Another canard is that Islam promotes forced conversion. Not so.
Even when the Arab empire was expanding, rarely were any of the
conquered people forced to convert. The Quran even forbids it, as
I recall. Naturally, once Muslims were in charge, a lot of people
decided it was in their own self-interest to convert, but this is
just one of the sleazy aspects of human nature.
I remember when Florida elected its first Republican governor of
the 20th century. I saw plenty of people crawl out from under their
rocks and convert to the Republican Party, drawn by the smell of
patronage. With some rare exceptions, human beings always act in
what they perceive, rightly or wrongly, to be in their self-interest.
It was Christian Europe that slaughtered the Jews, and nothing
remotely resembling the Holocaust is to be found in the history
of Islam. In fact, during the past, when Jews were being persecuted
by Christian Europe, they frequently fled to and found sanctuary
in the Muslim countries. Until Israel was established, practically
every Muslim country had sizable Jewish populations dating back
centuries. And there are still Jews and Christians in some Muslim
countries.
A final suggestion is that when you hear some individual radical
Muslim being quoted, just remember he is one of a billion people
and speaks only for himself and his small following. And be wary
of the quotations he uses, for they are often deliberately fabricated
or distorted.
If Muslims really desired to conquer the world, don't you think
it's strange that we've been living in peace with them for nearly
a millennium and a half, except for those times when we attacked
them (the Crusades, the European colonial movement and our invasion
of Iraq)? Don't forget either that some of the countries the Bush
administration calls allies are themselves Muslim – Egypt,
Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc.
You have nothing to fear from Islam. The al-Qaida movement is a
tiny percentage of Muslims and wouldn't be the force it is except
for the fact that the Bush administration has gone out of its way
to make all of Osama bin Laden's propaganda become true.
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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