How to combat Islamic extremism - not just "ISIS"

[samouraļ]

Here are a couple of clips that I found recently. The first is Sam Harris & Maajid Nawaz discussing Islamic extremism, and particularly the importance of recognizing that it does indeed have something to do with Islam itself:



The second is Maajid on Fox Nex news of all places discussing the strategy of how you actually combat ISIS and Islamic extremism in general:



A key point he makes is that - contrary to the insistence of a lot of people that we should focus our efforts almost solely on military action in Syria - the real problem is broader than that and needs to be defeated ideologically as well as militarily.

As evidence of this, he points out that ISIS really didn't do the radicalizing of the thousands of Europeans who left to join ISIS; this had been happening for decades prior, and ISIS merely came in and picked the low-hanging fruit.

I do hope that more on the left and the right come around to this more thoughtful view of how to combat this problem, as both sides have their share of bad ideas on how to deal with it.

[SouthPawHitman]

How diverse is ISIS race wise? That could be the bigger issue at hand. ISIS could be breaking affirmative action laws.

[Amazinger]

How diverse is ISIS race wise? That could be the bigger issue at hand. ISIS could be breaking affirmative action laws.

Some of their fighters are lodging complaint to the International court of justice for not getting paid for months. their COLA is below average as well as uniform allowance.
How could you win a war like that?.

[BKM-]

Get rid of Islam. This religion is a cancer to the world.

[samouraļ]

Get rid of Islam. This religion is a cancer to the world.

You can't rid the world of an idea by force. That's why Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz both correctly point out that the solution cannot be purely a military one.

[BostonGuy]

The first thing you do is admit there is a problem. Surprisingly (or not) most Dems, including Obama, Clinton, Kerry do not outwardly admit the reality. It's like a collective denial amongst mainstream liberals, that they cannot, or are unwilling to even discuss the notion that terrorism is linked to the principles in Islam. Moreover, libs also are quick to gloss over the many bad ideas and contradictions to liberal values, that arise from core principles in the quaran. Islam is intolerant of free speech, gender equality, ****sexuals, separation of church/state - these are all in direct conflict with Western liberal values. Yet, liberals (or "regressives") as Harris and others are rightfully calling them, are unable to even entertain a rational discussion about it. This is one of the big issues of our generation and pretending that it doesn't exist, is only gonna make matters worse.

[Dr Rumack]

Get rid of Islam. This religion is a cancer to the world.

ISIS, Al Quaeda, the 9/11 bombers, 7/7 bombers, Madrid bombers, Paris attackers all belong to a single stream of Islam known as Salafism, or Wahhabism.

This is the religion of Saudi Arabia, who have spent as much as $100 Billion supporting the spread of Wahhbism abroad over the past three decades - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-you...b_6501916.html

Wahhabism is a brutal, intolerant, fanatical cult and it is Saudi Arabia that has financed, and continues to finance its spread and campaigns of violence across the globe. To blame ordinary Muslims for this is just plain wrong.

If the US wants to fight Islamist terrorists, there are two clear courses of action:

(1) Stop arming them, as they did in Afghanistan in the 80s and Syria in the past five years.

(2) Confront Saudi Arabia on its financing of Islamist terror across the globe.


If Saudi Arabia stopped building schools and mosques that spread this depraved cult, and if they stopped financing and arming the likes of ISIS, then Islamism as global force would die.

[Phenom]

The first thing you do is admit there is a problem. Surprisingly (or not) most Dems, including Obama, Clinton, Kerry do not outwardly admit the reality. It's like a collective denial amongst mainstream liberals, that they cannot, or are unwilling to even discuss the notion that terrorism is linked to the principles in Islam. Moreover, libs also are quick to gloss over the many bad ideas and contradictions to liberal values, that arise from core principles in the quaran. Islam is intolerant of free speech, gender equality, ****sexuals, separation of church/state - these are all in direct conflict with Western liberal values. Yet, liberals (or "regressives") as Harris and others are rightfully calling them, are unable to even entertain a rational discussion about it. This is one of the big issues of our generation and pretending that it doesn't exist, is only gonna make matters worse.

Probably because they represent their self as the party of tolerance and probably Understand that generalizing over 2 billion people is not really a good idea and if you make this a war against a religion you're pretty much declaring a war on close to a third of the world population

You hear a lot of rhetoric in republican primary but believe that they will clean up their language if any of them actually win

[samouraļ]

Probably because they Understand that generalizing over 2 billion people is not really a good idea and if you make this a war against a religion you're pretty much declaring a war on close to a third of the world population

You hear a lot of rhetoric in republican primary but believe that they will clean up their language if any of them actually win

I don't think you understand what Harris/Nawaz are saying. This isn't "declaring war against a religion" - Maajid himself is a Muslim, though admittedly non-devout.

The point is to isolate Islamic extremism/Islamism within the religion of Islam as a whole and to fight it, rather than to pretend the religion has no such problem and that everything is down to socio-economic factors or Western meddling in the region.

[BKM-]

ISIS, Al Quaeda, the 9/11 bombers, 7/7 bombers, Madrid bombers, Paris attackers all belong to a single stream of Islam known as Salafism, or Wahhabism.

This is the religion of Saudi Arabia, who have spent as much as $100 Billion supporting the spread of Wahhbism abroad over the past three decades - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-you...b_6501916.html

Wahhabism is a brutal, intolerant, fanatical cult and it is Saudi Arabia that has financed, and continues to finance its spread and campaigns of violence across the globe. To blame ordinary Muslims for this is just plain wrong.

If the US wants to fight Islamist terrorists, there are two clear courses of action:

(1) Stop arming them, as they did in Afghanistan in the 80s and Syria in the past five years.

(2) Confront Saudi Arabia on its financing of Islamist terror across the globe.


If Saudi Arabia stopped building schools and mosques that spread this depraved cult, and if they stopped financing and arming the likes of ISIS, then Islamism as global force would die.

You are wrong. There is only one form of islam which is the true islam, the islam that was spread by muhammad with the sort of methods you described.

The difference is not which islam is taught, the difference is with the people who are following it to a certain extent. The less they follow ****lam to the core, the more you get these "moderate muslims" who don't pose much of a problem in societies.

The best muslims I've met were the ones who were damn near agnostic. Dudes who have fun drinking, smoking, partying(not saying that that's my lifestyle) but they don't eat pork and they go to the mosque a couple times a year. Massive hypocrites, but superior to their more extreme pedo worshipping brothers.

I've never met a good muslim who was very dedicated to the barbaric religion.