Paul E. Marek is a second-generation Canadian, whose grandparents fled Czechoslovakia just prior to the Nazi takeover. He wrote the following article in February of 2006.
He talks about how fanatics hijacked a largely peaceful majority who stood by in silence in cases such as Russian Communism, Rwanda, Japan, Nazi Germany. The parts in bold concern me the most. If the fanatics have really penetrated that high up the faith, we are looking at the prospect of very angry and dangerous children who will grow up with a warped view of the world.
If we (Muslims and non-Muslims) enjoy our peaceful and prosperous lives, we must weed out and destroy this fanatic disease.
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
Quote:
She misses the point: Her job is to prevent the fanatics from hijacking her faith.
I used to know a man whose family were German aristocracy prior to World War Two. They owned a number of large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.
“Very few people were true Nazis” he said, “but, many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”
We are told again and again by “experts” and “talking heads” that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unquantified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is, that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars world wide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is, that the “peaceful majority” is the “silent majority” and it is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The Average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a war mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of Killing that included the systematic killing of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving”.
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun. Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Bosnians, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others, have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Well, looks like it is not only in Singapore that ""The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" is being misused. This is Bush with-us-or-against-us redux.
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Democracy..tension between truth n half-truth and, ..of truth, there's no greater weapon than fact
how do you weed out the "fanatics" when they can just rise up anywhere in the world from among those peace-loving muslims ? it's like playing the "bash the mole" arcade machine - you bash one down, two come up
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PAP 真的施臭刀~几够力一虾
no matter how heavy is my feet, i will move out of this swamp..
The thread title is a bit misleading isn't it? This seems to be a case of nip the problem at the bud. By time we have to go to war, it's already too late...
Well, looks like it is not only in Singapore that ""The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" is being misused. This is Bush with-us-or-against-us redux.
Where'd you get that from?
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[i]"We are all at a table together, deciding which rules to adopt, free from any vague constraints, half-remembered myths, anonymous patriarchal texts and murky concepts of nature. If I propose something you do not like, tell me why it is not practical, or harms somebody, or is counter to some other useful rule; but don't tell me it offends the universe."[/i] -Jonathan Wallace
She [to the girl who says "it's not ok to bash muslims" and I am sure she was not referring to fanatics] misses the point: Her job is to prevent the fanatics from hijacking her faith......We are told again and again by “experts” and “talking heads” that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unquantified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. .......Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up....
Anyone who does not adopt his view on combating fanatics is irrelevant or his enemy.
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Democracy..tension between truth n half-truth and, ..of truth, there's no greater weapon than fact
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[i]"We are all at a table together, deciding which rules to adopt, free from any vague constraints, half-remembered myths, anonymous patriarchal texts and murky concepts of nature. If I propose something you do not like, tell me why it is not practical, or harms somebody, or is counter to some other useful rule; but don't tell me it offends the universe."[/i] -Jonathan Wallace
Does not by normal logic (I did note the OR word.... irrelevant or his enemy). But the general thrust of his message is that if you are irrelevant, you have no rights to object to my method of stopping the fanatics, including trampling on those rights I keep dear for myself and those who support me. Because in context of his article, he is contending the girl's request for her rights to be respected.
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Democracy..tension between truth n half-truth and, ..of truth, there's no greater weapon than fact
Does not by normal logic (I did note the OR word.... irrelevant or his enemy). But the general thrust of his message is that if you are irrelevant, you have no rights to object to my method of stopping the fanatics, including trampling on those rights I keep dear for myself and those who support me. Because in context of his article, he is contending the girl's request for her rights to be respected.
Bashing on her group =/= trampling / not respecting her group's rights.
I've bashed on every single social group I can remember and I don't recall ever actually infringing on their rights.
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[i]"We are all at a table together, deciding which rules to adopt, free from any vague constraints, half-remembered myths, anonymous patriarchal texts and murky concepts of nature. If I propose something you do not like, tell me why it is not practical, or harms somebody, or is counter to some other useful rule; but don't tell me it offends the universe."[/i] -Jonathan Wallace
Does not by normal logic (I did note the OR word.... irrelevant or his enemy). But the general thrust of his message is that if you are irrelevant, you have no rights to object to my method of stopping the fanatics, including trampling on those rights I keep dear for myself and those who support me. Because in context of his article, he is contending the girl's request for her rights to be respected.
Please allow me to clarify what I got from the article.
I think the author is suggesting that peace-loving communities (Muslims in the current environment) who do not agree with the fanatics should weed them out themselves.
I agree totally, I should not tell Muslims what is good or evil - its not my religion and not my place. However, if fanatics are bombing non-Muslims too, perhaps its time for Muslims to act to rein these guys in.
The solution should come from within, and not an external source like Bush. The external source cannot possibly be effective, and caused the girl to carry the sign in protest. Instead, avoid the whole thing by keeping your own community in check.
Examples:
The Catholic Church destroyed the Templar Knights as an internal house-cleaning measure.
The British dealt with the IRA internally.
Germany banned all Nazi symbols and gestures.
Japan did not allow any military action other than for the self defense of Japanese soil.
In the same way, the Muslim communities should work hard to draw out these fanatics and destroy them. Sadly, the Saudis are still supporting these terrorist activities, both financially and spiritually. It is time for Muslims to start taking these fanatic nutjobs out. This solves several problems:
1. It won't need an external (American) solution.
2. It makes everyone safer.
3. It will be a very directed effort, executed at the community level, instead of some big government political cluster-fxxx.
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Persistence in one opinion has never been considered a merit in political leaders. - Marcus Cicero
how do you weed out the "fanatics" when they can just rise up anywhere in the world from among those peace-loving muslims ? it's like playing the "bash the mole" arcade machine - you bash one down, two come up
I don't weed out the fanatics. You don't weed out the fanatics. The Muslims weed out the Muslim fanatics. The Germans weed out the Nazi fanatics.
Wipe out the fanatics that you can. Thats how you solve the problem.
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Persistence in one opinion has never been considered a merit in political leaders. - Marcus Cicero
unfortunately, middle-east countries will not wipe out these fanatics, because terrorism is so much a useful weapon which can be used by politicians against their enemies, and when terrorists are successful or captured, the country which secretly fund their attacks cannot be blamed
in what way is a terrorist better than a modern weapon of mass destruction?
- they dont cause too much destruction (like nukes) but sufficient enough to kill many
- they are stealthy and can infiltrate places
- they are unpredictable
- they cannot be targeted on sight because they cannot be regarded as hostile, untill the moment they ignite their bomb
- they need not be produced and need no factory
- they are mobile by themselves
- the country which secretly fund them cannot be blamed directly
- they can cause a town or an entire country to be in turmoil
- they are both the army and the weapons themselves
just like how pirates (another kind of terrorists in the sea) in 1800s were used by the governments in European countries against other countries
so there is no way terrorism can ever be rooted out
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PAP 真的施臭刀~几够力一虾
no matter how heavy is my feet, i will move out of this swamp..
Bashing on her group =/= trampling / not respecting her group's rights.
I've bashed on every single social group I can remember and I don't recall ever actually infringing on their rights.
This is not just "bashing a group" in verbal scholastic debates. If things are left to jaw-jaw, that would be fine. But that then would be opposite of what he's urging. ie because the "majority silent Muslims" are jaw-jaw with the fanatics, thereby they are irrelevant and therefore suffer the consequence of not opposing the fanatics the way he preferred (who-cares-about-the-irrelevants-as-longs-as-we-get-the-fanatics hence Bush). We non-muslims could get out of the way if folks like him wants a fire-free zone on muslim fanatics, but not the "majority silent Muslims". Bush had already done significant damage to American Muslims when he chucked aside their Rights in his search for the illusive American third column.
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Democracy..tension between truth n half-truth and, ..of truth, there's no greater weapon than fact
I think the author is suggesting that peace-loving communities (Muslims in the current environment) who do not agree with the fanatics should weed them out themselves.
If it was just that, I would agree. But the whole article, imho, taking into context suggests what I mentioned earlier about free-fire zone vis irrelevant.
One thing to be mindful is that (not just muslims) silent peace loving majority are just that. You do not expect the silent peace loving majority Germans to kill Hitler the first moment he stood up to expound his warp ideas? That already borders upon extreme censorship and you hardly see any silent peace loving tolerant majority doing that. Once they are organized into real killing machines, they would have gone underground where the silent peace loving majority no longer know where they are or hiding with. If the world's best Intelligence Services with world's best devices are having a hard time locating them (note I mention world class Intel -> meaning having reasonably civilian support in the first place), why would one think the clueless silent majority would know better.
The best contribution these true silent majority could provide to any efforts to prevent fanaticism from taking hold is .... being tolerant. Not tolerant of fanaticism but tolerant approach to life in general. If they happen to stumble upon info leading to fanatic groups, they should turn it over to the "world class" Intel Services, but I don't expect them to mass rally march daily beating their chest proclaiming that they do not support those groups in order not to be discriminated in any forms. That is so..ironically....Hitlerian.
* there's the big number of civvies who are in silent support of the fanatics but that is another story because the author seems to dwell only upon the SPLMs. He had already lumped those who march in support of the fanatics as fanatics themselves *
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Democracy..tension between truth n half-truth and, ..of truth, there's no greater weapon than fact
Nevertheless, the Muslims themselves can only do so much; for them to do the policing on their own community is somewhat akin to promoting vigilantism.
And TS seems to think that Saudi (govt?) are supporting terrorism. If only he'd read the news.
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This is Bush with-us-or-against-us redux.
