Escaped A.I.

For all of you out there who hate muslims, what do you suggest we do about this "problem"?

Styrofoamdeity

I suggest that we have nothing to do with the Middle East. The region has no ideas, no products (except ONE), no brands, and no philosophies, that contribute to European or Western society. If the West simply stopped buying oil from the Middle East, we would have no further need for interaction. I include Israel in this equation. We should cut off all support.

True, this would result in the collapse of many of the countries there, but in the long view, in a hundred or two hundred years, this would be best for them. They would then need to develop their education and human resouces, similar to what Asian countries have done in the past half century. Countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan simply cannot afford extremism.

We don't need the oil. If we consider the cost of wars in the Middle East, the cost of propping up governments there, and cost of our support for Israel, their oil is NOT cheap. Pull out of Iraq, cut down on immigration from those countries since the Moslem populations of Europe are not being well assimilated, then be willing to close businesses in the region should it be necessary. Something of a quarrantine of the whole irrational region.

If we did all of this, stories about the Middle East would perhaps make page 5 of your newspaper, mainly due to them fighting amongst themselves instead of killing us.

(just to be clear: I do not "hate Moslems", and it is a sad presumption on your part that people who dislike the religion hate the people)

Tristan Scott

Where did they go?

mga

i kinda took the same position: leave the ME alone, let them govern themselves as they seem fit and move on. sure, we have to buy their oil, but that's about it. if western nations took a "cold war" attitude and left the ME alone, i'm willing to bet the leaders there would re-think their policies. this would also include restricted travel to the US and european nations as well.

however, this won't happen. political boundaries are only for us idiots, because in the corporate world, there are none and all leaders in that world are all friendly and peaceful with each other. hell...the saudi family of bin laden call bush sr. "daddy bush". go figure.

all this other crap is our shit that they created and we are stuck with. so, in reality, we are no different than those muslims we see protesting in the streets.

Escaped A.I.

heh, i actually agree with most of what you say. i might say it in a slightly nicer way though.

it may be sad, but i believe it is accurate.

Booyakasha!

We should push for eduaction, democracy, freedom, prosperity, hope, and critical thinking in the Islamic world, with the hopes of ending literal belief in the Koran.

The same should be done with Christianity in the West. That is actually already happening as we speak, despite occasional setbacks, most notably in America.

Escaped A.I.

booya, what do you think about styrofoamdeitys post?

edit: i would say europe is ahead of the US, at least as far as atheism is concerned. way more athiests in western europe than in the US.

Booyakasha!

Well, AI, while I feel what styrofoamdeitys is saying, especially about cutting ourselves off from their oil, I don't think these Islamic fundies will go away just because we ignore them. Ultimately, the aim of people like bin Laden is to convert the entire planet to their dark religious views for humanity. Ignoring them will not make them go away. Educating them and giving the people of the region hope and knowledge and interaction with the free world will have a more positive influence on the region than just hanging them out to dry and hoping they go away.

Thor Q. Mada

A humanist doesn't hate people for their conviction. A humanist looks down and despises backwardness, a feature which is common throughout all religions.
The only gradation is the degree of backwardness fanatism, and senseless dogmatism (new word), which is more readily visible in islam (and judaism) than in most other religions presently alive.
I must admit that the Middle East has spawned for one or another reason, (and that even ante-dates the Abrahamic religions) some of the most repulsive religions still alive and well on this planet. (Ok maybe the Yucatan and South America was a bad place to, but that superstition didn't survive the times).
What is the way out?? I dont know but we should take the religion out of education immediately, because in their instinct for self perpetuation, they are sowing the seeds for radicalism and destruction.

Booyakasha!

True. It's one of the many things I love and admire about Europe.