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GenrXr
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 1720
Location: Houston
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 Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 9:46 pm Post subject: Orson Scott Card: The Riots of The Faithful |
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This is a very well written piece concerning our news establishment.
The Riots of The Faithful...
Although, there are two points within the article which Mr. Card misses the mark on.
The first is his assumption,
| Quote: | Our country is at war. And it's a war in which victory absolutely depends on the Muslim world perceiving it as a war between the U.S and its allies on one side, and fanatical murderous terrorists on the other.
If it is ever perceived as a war against Islam, then we have lost. The world has lost. |
I believe our enemy in the war is broader then just a radical extreme, rather all Muslims who are orthodox and follow the Korans teaching. This encompasses a far greater number of people within the Muslim community. Furthermore, this religion must go through a reformation or else the western world will be forced to declare war on orthodox Islam.
As Paul Sperry explains his conclusion from the study of Islam,
| Quote: | | It is a religion of peace -- for Muslims. Everyone else is marked for punishment, as I explain in the chapter "Top 10 Myths of Islam," which your readers should read if they read no other chapter in Infiltration. Their holy book reads like a manual of war, and I've read two translations of it, including all the footnotes and commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, the most widely respected Sunni translator and interpreter. Another big lie we hear told out of Washington is that the Muslim terrorists are "perverting" the teachings of the Quran, as if they haven't read their holy book. No, they've memorized it, and they're getting all this terrible stuff right out of it -- the violent jihad, self-immolation, even the beheadings we've seen in Iraq -- it's all right there in the Qur’an. It's our leaders in Washington prosecuting this war on Islamic terror who haven't read the Qur’an, violating the first principle of war -- know thy enemy and what motives him. |
The second point which I have issue with is Mr. Cards movie review of Kingom of Heaven and how factually wrong he is.
Card says,
| Quote: | Seeing Kingdom of Heaven this week, I was sharply reminded of the fact that Islam has produced great leaders who accomplished great things. The portrayal of Saladin in that movie coincided very closely with the historical record. And if this movie were actually to be shown in the Muslim world, Saladin's words in the script could be read as a political instruction manual for political Islam today.
Instead, the Muslim world has turned its back on Saladin and embraced leaders who are exactly the kind of people shown in the movie as fanatical warmongering Christians. |
To counter this view I will defer to Thomas Madden, one of the leading historians on the Crusades.
Madden giving insight on Saladin,
| Quote: | | The real Saladin was, according to his biographer, filled with joy as he watched the decapitation of hundreds of Christians in 1187. Saladin preached jihad throughout his reign, making no secret of his desire to capture Jerusalem and massacre its Christian inhabitants. Both Baldwin and Saladin were, not surprisingly, men of their times, not ours. |
He further writes,
| Quote: | | The real Balian, faced with the inevitable conquest of Jerusalem, threatened to destroy the Dome of the Rock if Saladin did not abandon his plan to massacre the Christian inhabitants. That plan is airbrushed out of the movie. Indeed, the good and noble Saladin of this movie lets all of the citizens depart with a hearty, good-natured smile on his face. The real Saladin required them to pay a ransom. Those that could not — and there were thousands — were sold into slavery. |
Other then these two issues the article is a must read which I highly recommend.
_________________
"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy |
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I B Squidly
Vice Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 879
Location: Cactus Patch
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:59 am Post subject: |
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GenXr,
Orson Scott Card is always a good read. If he missed your two marks it's of no great moment. The Koran was written as a war manual to unite the arabs and break Persian hegemony. Richard Lionheart was just as bloodthirsty as Saladin but without the resources or logistics.
What you failed to mention is how Card masterfully found and described radical islam's mirror in the despotic Political Correctness in the west.
_________________
"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"
-Wlm Shakespeare |
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PhantomSgt
Vice Admiral
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 972
Location: GUAM, USA
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:47 am Post subject: |
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| I B Squidly wrote: | GenXr,
Orson Scott Card is always a good read. If he missed your two marks it's of no great moment. The Koran was written as a war manual to unite the arabs and break Persian hegemony. Richard Lionheart was just as bloodthirsty as Saladin but without the resources or logistics.
What you failed to mention is how Card masterfully found and described radical islam's mirror in the despotic Political Correctness in the west. |
Actually King Richard might have stayed to finish the war with Saladin win or lose if he hadn't received word that his brother Prince John was making moves to take his throne away by having himself appointed King of the Realm.
The Quran was based on visitations to Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel from around the age of 35 until his death.
See below for the story:
At around age 35 Muhammad assumed the habit of going outside of Mecca to Mt. Hira for meditation and contemplation. There was a cave there and he often went there for solitude. It was during one of these times of meditation that Muhammad said an angelic being appeared to him, calling him. This disturbed Muhammad (Qur'an 81:19-29) and he told his wife Khadija that he thought he had been visited by an evil Jinn. Jinn are supposed to be living beings like people, but not angels, who were created from fire and are invisible, yet dwell on the earth. A short time later, in the year 610 (believed to be the 26th of Ramadan), while in a cave on Mt. Hirah, Muhammad said that the angel Gabriel appeared to him and commanded him to recite (96:1-19). This recitation became the Qur'an. In these encounters with the angel Gabriel, sometimes he would see the angel, other times he would only hear him, and at others he only heard the sound of a bell through which the words of the angel came.
Muhammad could neither read nor write so he was instructed to memorize the words given to him by Gabriel. This complete recitation which Muhammad received over a 23 year period, ending in 632, the year of his death, is known as the Qur'an. Initially, Muhammad doubted that he was being called by Allah to be a prophet. Others, including his wife and a cousin, counseled him by saying that Allah would only be truthful to him and would not allow him to be deceived. Muhammad became convinced and even wrote in the Qur'an, "Say: Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel-for he brings down the (revelation) to thy heart by Allah's will, a confirmation of what went before, and guidance and glad tidings for those who believe," (2:97).
The full story is linked here: www.carm.org/islam/muhammad.htm
_________________
Retired AF E-8
Independent that leans right of center. |
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I B Squidly
Vice Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 879
Location: Cactus Patch
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| Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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Card's comparison of PCers and Islamofacists finally triggered the right synapses in my aged memory circuts. What he describes is the thesis of Eric Hoffer's '51 classic, "The True Believer". Boiled down it says that self-loathing is the impetus for those who blindly bind themselves to fanatical movements.
Hoffer's been dead 20 some years. Failing induction after Pearl Harbor he resolved to apply his labor to the war effort becoming a longshoreman. A self educated savant he stayed on the docks the rest of his life despite his qualifications and offers of more cerebral vocations. Neither right nor left he provided penetrating insights from the sidelines on the human condition. Mostly out of print and largely forgotten he shouldn't be.
_________________
"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"
-Wlm Shakespeare |
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