Friday, March 29, AD 2024 4:21am

A Problem of Definition

1204shooting-suspects

 

Father James V. Schall nails it as to why our fight against the Jihadists lacks effectiveness:

The so-called “Muslim terrorists”, then, do not think of themselves as “Muslim terrorists”. They consider themselves to be the only real followers of Mohammed. They see themselves as doing exactly what he and his first followers did in the saga of a rapid conquest of much of the African, Arab, and Middle Eastern worlds. The conquest of Europe would complete the stymied efforts at Tours and Vienna, victories that allowed Europe to remain Europe and not become Muslim much sooner. Moreover, jihadists have a perfectly intelligible explanation for what they are doing and how they are doing it. It is a sophisticated intellectual theory deftly designed to explain exactly why these “terrorist” acts are both legitimate and indeed praiseworthy in the eyes of Allah. The voluntarist metaphysics behind such reasoning is by no meant unfamiliar to western thinkers. And it is this intellectual battle that we are unwilling to or unable to fight.

Briefly, the assigned mission of Islam is to conquer the world for Allah. Submission to Allah is the highest human good. Any means to carry it out is good if it is successful. Carrying out this mission, in this view, is a Muslim’s vocation. With the re-establishment of the caliphate, this mission can now recommence. No other religion or its symbols, including ones more ancient than Islam, are allowed within its conquered territories. The fact that many individual Muslims may not agree with this interpretation is irrelevant. There are millions that do agree. But numbers are not the key factor.  

Fear rules both the Muslim and western cultures that oppose the jihadists or are its victims. This fear is kept alive by methods of warfare, shrewdly applied, that utilize modern technology but rely on old and reliable techniques. Muslims fighters learned some time ago that modern weapons are not particularly effective against them. Slitting the throats of ten Christians on international TV is more effective than weapons of mass destruction, which they would also like to possess. We see that trucks and cars are often feared means of their warfare.

Thus, tanks and bombs are not particularly effective against individual and seemingly random attacks on enemy homelands. With local passports and cell phones, small arms, home-made bombs, and knives, any large western city can be brought to its knees for several days. It is something of a joke now to think that such things as the Transportation Safety mechanisms we have in airports make much difference. The downing of a Russian passenger plane may still happen, but attacking schools, buses, trains, churches, or just random individuals anywhere in the world will instantly be on international news with the usual disclaimers. Bringing down passenger planes may be an obsolete means in terms of effectiveness.

As long as we choose (and it is a choice) not to identify the problem the more it is successful and the more it will grow. That growth may indeed be the reason it is not identified. The deeper problem lies in the truth of Islam’s mission to conquer the world for Allah. If it is true, that is, if the Qur’an is a revelation of God, then it will eventually win. Even if it is not true or from God, as I do not think that it is, even in Christian apocalyptic terms, it may well win. If our view of the world is cast in terms of relativism, of diversity theory, of pacifism, we really have no clue about that is happening. One cannot but admire the logic and abiding persistence within Islam to continue its centuries-long, Allah-given mission to conquer the world.

One can speculate about why we cannot locate the problem, and therefore not face its real attraction for its millions of followers within Islam. In no actual Muslim country is there any real freedom of religion. Whenever and wherever possible, all or part of Muslim law is established as civil law. Many Muslim countries are “peaceful” only in the sense that their governments, usually military dictatorships, keep down that radicalism that would overthrow them and is overthrowing them in many places. Muslim masses wait to see who is winning. They know even within Islam that they cannot afford to be on the losing side.

Go here to read the rest.  Our leadership in the West is unwilling to acknowledge what should be obvious:  this is a war of religion.  The San Bernardino massacre illustrates the depth of the problem.

Syed Rizwan Farook was born here.  He graduated from California State at San Bernardino with a degree in environmental health.  He worked for the San Bernardino government, earning 70K a year, inspecting restaurants.  By outward appearances Farook was a mainstream American who happened to be a Muslim.  However, Farook had gone through a religious conversion and joined the rank of the jihadists.  His wife from Pakistan, already radicalized, was more than happy to join him in killing infidels.  They dropped off their six month old baby with Farook’s mom before they carried out their massacre.  Imagine their commitment.  They were willing to see their baby grow up an orphan simply in order to kill as many of us as they could.

Until we acknowledge what we are confronting, we will never succeed with the half measures we have adopted.  The Jihadists will never be stopped by their co-religionists.  Too many sympathizers, too many afraid and too much hatred of infidels even among “moderate” Muslims.  Jihadists are willing to be martyrs for their cause and we should give them every opportunity to do so.  This is going to be an exceedingly bloody conflict and our current leadership, embracing too many delusional beliefs, has no stomach for it.

 

 

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T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 11:13am

Truth . Sooner or later, probably later, Americans will learn and act.

FYI – the liars (Obama, Obama-worshiping imbeciles, the media, academia) are the larger threat. They defend the massacres both by making excuses for the terrorists and by attacking Americans, Christians, the GOP, white men, the NRA. The liars are enemies of America and our way of life and are natural allies with exceptionalist, hegemonic Islam.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 12:03pm

This is going to be an exceedingly bloody conflict and our current leadership, embracing too many delusional beliefs, has no stomach for it.

It took about 13 years for the Italian government to stamp out the Red Brigades. The military and police in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina took less than five to put away their domestic terrorists once they got down to business. I think these scenarios are a more likely wager than the 30 years prior to Westphalia.

Keep in mind that the ambo of ISIS is a subregion with about 10 million people in it. Various hostile Libyan militias operate in an area with a population of about 3 million. Boko Haram stages operations over a much larger field but is for the most part confined to Borno state (population 4 million). As ugly as this all is, there are certain boundaries they do not have the manpower to cross.

Obama is hopeless, as is Merkel. How the rest of the political class reacts remains to be seen.

The Bear
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 12:36pm

The need to appear tolerant, and thus be seen as a “good” person before one’s peers, is perhaps the most powerful psychological factor in our culture. It is reinforced by a strong shaming apparatus that has been built into the culture over the past several decades. The risk of being killed is real, but remote. It’s something that happens to other people, so it is easy to pretend Muslims pose no threat. If some do happen to kill some people, the entire culture mobilizes, from the President to your Facebook friends to relieve cognitive dissonance. If there were ever actual backlash that the shaming apparatus could not contain, the government would step in with civil and criminal penalties for “hate.”

The Bear does not see any scenario in which our current culture effectively confronts Islam. He is afraid there is going to have to be a sea change we can hardly imagine.

The good news is that the attacks in France and the U.S. demonstrate that Americans are not Frenchmen. Many Americans are keeping their mouths shut, but are seething inside. Concealed carried laws have the potential of shifting the front line against terrorism to the individual armed citizens.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 1:09pm

The need to appear tolerant, and thus be seen as a “good” person before one’s peers, is perhaps the most powerful psychological factor in our culture.

Only in very select subcultures. One curio of our times is the spread of notions which were modal a generation ago on college faculties and in newsrooms to the point that they appear to be the default setting of corporate elites and lawyers.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 1:27pm

Again, Islam is a de facto ally of the more dangerous enemies of America, God and man. It’s why Obama and his deceitful, imbecilic worshipers white wash Islamic terror and use such “Reichstag” moments to assault Americans and the uses they make of their liberties.
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If Dante were writing today, he would place in Hell Obama immediately next to Muhammad among the damned “sowers of discord.”

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 1:42pm

I fully believe that within my lifetime, I will witness an attack on Vatican City (though whether it will kill the pope at the time is up in the air).

The aftermath might be what finally splits the Catholic church again between those ready to fight and those unwilling. Even as Protestants (and Orthodox?) end up showing themselves far more ready to lift up arms to fight in the Crusades 2, it might even be the next great Catholic scandal. It will certainly probably end up driving the final split between the two secular and religion cultures in the West.

Then again maybe I’m wrong. But I’ve noticed in life that God will usually see that you are baptized. It may be by water, it may be by fire, but it will be done. We’ve tossed away the water, making it easier for everything to burn.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 1:47pm

To wit, Instapundit quotes, John Hayward: “‘Lefty Hatred Unleashed By San Bernardino Jihad’. Liberals told themselves Pam Geller had it coming, too. They pumped out halfwit ‘think pieces’ about how the murder of someone who alienated an officially-designated Oppressed Victim Group like Muslims would be, perhaps, a bit unfortunate, but also understandable. It was a major bit of signaling in the Left’s tactical alliance with radical Islam, a way of letting them know American liberals were fully on board with their quest to restrict the free-speech rights of U.S. citizens.”
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If Ms. Geller had appeared in California she’d be dead. She went to Texas and two jihadis died

Paraphrasing Pogo,1967, “We have met the enemy and he is the left.”

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 2:55pm

Both Islam and liberal progressivism must be defeated and eradicated. The first beheads Christians and Jews. The second dismembers unborn babies and sells their internal organs to the highest bidder. Both are intrinsically, unalterably, irrevocably evil.

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 3:18pm

most mainline Protestant denominations are more infected with neo-pacifism than the Catholic Church

You should head south a bit more, Don, there’s more protestants out there than the ones the media designate “mainline” (which I notice tend to be those just a block from the newspaper’s offices)

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 3:25pm

Fair enough. 😉 Though I doubt even if they weren’t pacifist, the mainline protestants would probably barely be able to field a scout troop, much less a crusading legion.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Sunday, December 6, AD 2015 3:34pm

And, this just in:
==
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35018849

I suspect the peculiarities of the French electoral system will prevent FN from gaining many seats in regional assemblies. Still, the trans-national occidental political class has managed to alienate about a quarter of the Swedish electorate, about 30% of the French electorate, and north of 20% of the American electorate. Heckuva job, guys.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Monday, December 7, AD 2015 4:44am

It is time for several things to happen:
1. Someone should strongly promotes a book in plain language that might be called: ‘What Islam is All About’. Start promotion in the evangelical community.
2. NRA conducts major promotion on the wisdom and necessity of concealed carry.
3. All Muslim mosques and communities should be closely monitored.
4. Criminal profiling laws should be introduced by Congress.
5. Tracking bracelets should be mandatory on all suspected terrorists.

Political correctness will hamper the implementation of these suggestions but not after a few more San Bernadinos.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, December 7, AD 2015 8:05am

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/12/annals-of-inanity-3.php

BO is rapidly approaching the state of irrelevance his predecessor reached only in September 2008. His predecessor, at least, had a patriotic interest in the welfare of the country over which he presided.

Philip
Philip
Monday, December 7, AD 2015 8:45am

Michael Dowd.

#3. Interesting pick. French interior minister looking at closing down mosques and deporting “hate preachers,” out of the country.
Per Daily Mail.com
Your absolutely right! Monitor communities and mosques NOW!

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, December 7, AD 2015 9:55am

BO is Baghdad Bob on ISIS and the world-wide terror war against us
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“Ignorance is strength.” George Orwell, 1984.
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Michael Dowd, Re: #3 – Climate Change and Gun Control – the lying media didn’t report France raided mosques and found hundreds of dreaded assault weapons. These consistent lies and omissions are how the liberal poison the well of public discourse and have produced a majority of voters that are so misinformed and brainwashed as to believe puerile nonsense from Hillary Benghazi and our precious Baghdad Bob in the White House.

Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Monday, December 7, AD 2015 10:04am

I read a very good article once, on the seemingly strange alliance between the Left and Islam.

In an article in Le Monde back in 2001, Robert Redeker suggested that, in the aftermath of thet Cold War, the Left has replaced “sovietophilia” with “islamophilia,” and that “Palestinians and the contemporary Muslim masses replace the proletariat in the intellectuals’ imagination” as the pure, ideal alternative to Western capitalism.” It is the product of post-colonial contrition, coupled with a fetishisation of the “innocent” Palestinians, which in turn springs from the ideological need to fill the post-Soviet vacuum.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, December 7, AD 2015 12:04pm

MP-S,

Agree with all you wrote. Additionally, the American left, Islam, and Marxism/Leninism are closely connected (allied?) in that they are pure evil and are antithetical to Western Civilization, Freedom and Christ.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, December 7, AD 2015 12:48pm

In an article in Le Monde back in 2001, Robert Redeker suggested that, in the aftermath of thet Cold War, the Left has replaced “sovietophilia” with “islamophilia,” and that “Palestinians and the contemporary Muslim masses replace the proletariat in the intellectuals’ imagination” as the pure, ideal alternative to Western capitalism.” It is the product of post-colonial contrition, coupled with a fetishisation of the “innocent” Palestinians, which in turn springs from the ideological need to fill the post-Soviet vacuum.

Won’t wash. The occidental bien-pensant left began shilling for revanchist Arab nationalism nearly 50 years ago. In Barry Rubin’s Israel-Arab Reader you’ll find reprints of denunciations of Israel published ca. 1968 under the bylines of Hal Draper, I.F. Stone, and Erskine Childers. You want a disagreeable motive? For the same reason people profess to like contemporary art or Milton Babbitt’s ‘music’; perverse opinions mark you (at least in your own mind) as one up against a mass of people you disdain (that would be the rest of us).

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