[KevinTheOmnivore]

Originally Posted by ziggytrix

Kevin, quit being such a faggot.

Calm down now, Ziggy. There are a lot of faggots in this world who would take serious offense to your use of the word faggot, and by making such a sweeping statement, you're implying that all faggots act in the faggy manner I have. That's just not right, and waaaaay too simplistic.


[quote]

The problem with this "aww shucks, all religion has its nuts" argument is that it completely overlooks some serious systemic problems not only in islam, but more specifically in the middle East. I won't get into them, because we've been there a million times.

First, that ISN'T anyone's argument. The argument is that you are GROSSLY OVERSIMPLIFYING the situation, putting everything into neat little "good" and "evil" boxes, and equating analyzing every possible aspect with being PARALYZED with inaction!

Uh, who's the one who CONSTANTLY feels compelled to remind us all that Christians have done bad stuff, too?

And who's making the neat little boxes? "Well see, there's these jihadists, who say they are muslims, but they certainly aren't. And then there's the rest of the muslim world, who loves gum drops and ponies and would never blow up a shopping mall."

I think it's more complicated than that, and if anything, YOU are the one trying to white wash things so as to not "generalize" things.

it's not merely about good vs. evil. But there is a clear enemy. This doesn't mean Islam is the enemy, nor does it mean that one particular nation is the enemy.

Terrorism is a tactic. It is one of the tactics adopted by Islamic fundamentalists.

I'm not critical of action being taken to combat terrorism. I am critical of stupidly lashing out at the most easily identified target and then patting yourself on the back and thinking that took care of that whole problem. And yesterday, it would actually seem this administration was doing something more than that, or rather letting the public know it can do more than that.

Huh? Please clarify this. What is an example of the government lashing out and saying that the problem was solved? When did that happen?

Second, we haven't been there a million times. What better time than now to outline what exactly are the systematic problems in Islam and the Middle East, and what should we, the great and mighty America, do about them?

Maybe you should catch up on your I-Mockery reading then. I'm not wasting a lot of time on this, maybe abc will go off on a rant about it.

Otherwise, I dunno, widespread preaching of hate and intolerance all throughout the Middle East? How are civil rights looking in the Middle East? How about the countries that allow the Koran to dictate their judicial system?

What about state sponsorship of terrorism? You think terrorism is bad, right?

Does this stuff really need to be spelled out for you, I mean, I know you aren't making a lame relativist argument, but it seems like you're setting up to make a really, REALLY lame relativist argument. Please, clear this up for me.

But why are we talking about this? There is so much more interesting news from yesterday. The fact that a member of Al Qaeda allegedly gave us a tip on finding Zarqawi's location, the effect of his death on the price of oil, or the reported reactions of Iraqis to the news of his death are all more interesting and relevant than PoliSci 101 babble about moral relativism or ABCD's inability to type the word 'terrorist' without hinting that as long are there's Islam, there will be terrorists.

Yeah, I mean, we should talk about all of these particular incidents rather than the big picture, right? You say you want to not "simplify" things, and that you'd prefer we not "lash out", but you then call a discussion about the root origins of Islamic terrorism "babble".

Zarqawi acted alone, Bin Laden? just a guy. Sadr? Just your average rebel. Al Qaeda? Simply a club of men with similar interests, like the Elks and Eagle Scouts. Their religion has NOTHING to do with this, not at all! DON'T SAY ISLAM!

And we're already talking about those things, so calm down, chief.