NorthOfNorth wrote on Mar 24
th, 2010 at 12:34pm:
Fear of Muslims is clearly the reason people are inclined to believe the more outlandish claims about Muslims and Islam. Something that is not helped by Muslims' demanding that cartoonists who dare to depict Muhammad should die, should be murdered.
Sure, but fear of Muslims has been carefully crafted. We didn't have this fear en masse before September 11.
The Danish cartoon thing is the biggest media hype there is. Doctors doing abortions in the US get more death threats than the Danish cartoonist. The cartoonist has no security and, from what he says, no fear. People are getting murdered every day, but this guy's doing fine.
But the outcry was profound.
The fear of Muslims has been propagated to create a climate where the US could directly intervene in the oil countries. The fear of Islam is a direct result of the world's dwindling oil supply.
That, and the vacuum created by the fall of the USSR.
It is no suprise that the biggest fear of Islam comes from the greatest proponents of US hegemony. They also scream the loudest (especially on this board).
Oh!
I agree with you that Muslims shoot themselves in the foot by fanning the flames. And many of them are more reactionary than Fox News viewers. More us-versus-them in world where real bombs get dropped.
Or detonated from within an explosives vest.
This whole Shariah law thing is complete hype - bought by the hapless consumers of News Corp publications and TV, and then filtered into the internet as rumours. Or even more likely, vice-versa: trickled into columns like Piers Akerman's from unchecked internet rumours.
Once, the news sought to give the facts - hold it right there - no it didn't!
The news is there to create consumers. The more fear, the more sales, the more advertising.
If a handful of Muslims want their own system to settle their own disputes, let them have it.
After all, until a cop or a civilian gets hit, we never interfere with the gangsters.