Why Antisemitism Sprouted So Quickly on Campus

Wednesday

I would like to recommend an article by Jonathan Haidt. He articulates one of the difficulties we have in getting through to people about Islam: The oppressor/victim binary mindset being encouraged on college campuses. Check it out:

Why Antisemitism Sprouted So Quickly on Campus

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Thought Contagion and Islam

Sunday

I searched Google to find out if anyone had written about Islam as a meme (if you don't know what a meme is, click here). I found several articles, but none were what I was looking for. Then I came across an excerpt from the book, Thought Contagion. It was exactly what I was looking for. But here's the funny thing: I already owned the book and had even read it!

But when I read it, the World Trade Center was still standing and the information was only mildly interesting to me at the time. Things have changed. I read it again, and it felt like I was reading it for the first time.

The author, Aaron Lynch, looked at several institutions in his book — families, politics, and religion — and in the religion section, he looked at most of the major religions, including Islam. What can memetics (study of memes) tell us about Islam and the trouble in the Middle East?

Memetically, Islam is a very successful memeplex (group of memes). Several embedded memes help make it so. For example, if Muslims drift away from Mohammed's teachings, Allah will end the world. That makes converting others and promoting Islam a matter of survival. It also motivates Muslims, as Lynch points out, "to dissuade each other from losing faith."

It is also a requirement of Islamic faith to make a public prayer five times a day. The unusual posture attracts attention, and the prayers can be heard by anyone within earshot. Under some circumstances, this might help Islam spread. And the fact that the Muslim is repeating his prayers five times a day makes it very easy for him to stay focused on Islam. It would be almost impossible for him to forget it.

Islam is different from other religions in at least one important way: It began at a time and in a place where no empire constrained its spread. In other words, if you start a religion within the Roman Empire, you're going to have certain limitations. The Romans would see any new religion — especially a militant or political religion — as a threat to its power and would make sure it stayed peaceful. A religion that preached tolerance and goodwill toward others might survive, but a violent or militant or political new religion would be quashed immediately.

But Islam had no such restriction when it began, so it could incorporate "conversion by warfare" into its memeplex, and it did. As Lynch wrote, "The faith provides for a jihad or holy war, which historically led to Islamic rule over whole societies." Once a country was conquered by war, pagans were often given a simple choice: convert to Islam or die. That is written into Islamic law. If any members of the newly acquired country were Christian or Jewish, they were required to pay a special tax and became a second-class citizen, unless they wanted to convert.

This information answered a question I had for a long time. Why are there "Muslim" countries? Do you see Buddhist countries? Hindu countries? Christian countries? I know there are countries where these religions are in the majority, but has the religion taken over the government? No. But the way Islam was created, taking over the government is what the faithful will do. Not the "extremists." Not the crazy ones. The faithful Muslims, if they follow the teachings of Muhammad, will take over the government, establish the religion as the national religion, and rule using the law of Allah.

MEMES FOR WAR

According to the Koran, if you die while fighting for Islam, you are guaranteed eternal paradise. This meme not only encourages bravery in battle, but it encourages continual warfare against non-Muslim nations. You cannot die fighting for Islam if there is no fighting going on. This answered another question I had for a long time: Why can't the people in the Middle East just work out their differences and get on with their lives? That question assumes that warfare is not desirable. I was assuming war is a temporary break in an otherwise peaceful, productive life. But that is an assumption that was not shared by the author of the Koran.

So continual warfare is part of the teachings of Islam. And another meme has been added to reduce the costs of war. When men die, the ratio of women to men changes, of course, leaving widows childless or unable to take care of the children they already have. But the Koran says each man can marry up to four wives. This makes sure warfare doesn't reduce the numbers of the next generation of the faithful.

This is all very interesting in a detached, academic sort of way, but as you can easily surmise, this has profound implications. How then, should the rest of the world interact with Muslim countries? The religion has slowly spread and taken over countries. Should they be stopped? How can you stop such a thing?

In the heyday of Islam, Muslims were invading India, China, Europe, and Africa all at the same time, spreading rapidly, taking over countries, building an Islamic empire. They were fought back and contained, and had been contained for a long time. But they are inventing new methods to fight.

What can we do? The first thing is to know what we're dealing with, and political leaders repeating "Islam is a religion of peace" doesn't really help clarify the situation.

I have heard from several people saying they are Muslims and they have no desire to fight anyone. Obviously, it is possible to be moderate about anything. But Islam requires a lot from its followers and appears to inspire more commitment more often and with more militancy and governmental aspirations than any other religion.

If you'd like to know more about the memes in Islam, the best way is to read the Koran (you can do it online) and find out for yourself what it really says. This is the manual orthodox Muslims are using. Since you and I are their target, it seems like a good idea to know what they are basing their actions on and why. I think you'll find it surprising.

Read more: The Terrifying Brilliance Of The Islamic Memeplex.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

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The Bright Line Between Good and Evil

Monday

The link below goes to a written excerpt from a podcast with Sam Harris. I haven't listened to the podcast, but the written excerpt is really good, and it's a useful piece to share with people.

I first came across Harris when I read his book, The End of Faith. Each chapter is about a different religion, and one of the chapters was about Islam. I remember Harris saying many years after his book's publication that the only flak he got about his book, and the only thing interviewers wanted to talk about was his chapter on Islam.

He criticized every major religion in The End of Faith, and every other religion except Islam accepted the fact that people sometimes criticize their religion. But Islam does not accept that.

Anyway, Harris has a real talent for clarity. Check it out: The Bright Line Between Good and Evil.

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The Most Islamophobic Americans Are Muslims

Tuesday

The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding is a Muslim think tank in Michigan. They did a poll to find out just how Islamophobic Americans are. They asked questions like do you think Muslims are more violent than other groups, do you think they are less civilized, do you think they are hostile to the U.S., etc.

The results
show that American Muslims are by far the most Islamophobic group in America. And usually by a hefty margin. For some of these questions, they are several times more Islamophobic than any other category (such as Jews, Catholics, and white Evangelists).

My first thought when I read this was: They should know. They know Islam (and their fellow Muslims) better than the other groups do, so their answers are bound to be more informed. When I told a friend of mine about it, his first thought was that many of these Muslims have escaped Muslim countries, so they know what Islamic doctrine looks like (how it manifests itself) when it has pervaded a country, which is another angle on the same idea: They would know better than anyone.

You can read more about the poll here.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

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On-Campus Support of Hamas

Wednesday

From an article in The Free Press:

Since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, it has been hard to miss the explosion of antisemitic hate that has gripped college campuses across the country...

Many are rightly questioning how it got this bad. How did university leaders come to eulogize, rather than put a stop to, campus hate rallies and antisemitic intimidation?...

The Network Contagion Research Institute (a nonprofit research center) released a report (comprising four separate studies) following the money. The report finds that at least 200 American colleges and universities illegally withheld information on approximately $13 billion in undisclosed contributions from foreign regimes, many of which are authoritarian...

The NCRI report found, among other things, that from 2015–2020, institutions that accepted money from Middle Eastern donors had, on average, 300 percent more antisemitic incidents than those institutions that did not...

So who’s doing this concealed funding? Qatar, the country where Hamas’s leadership currently resides, is far and away the largest foreign donor to American universities...Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates are also generous donors.

There's more in the report. A lot more. Read the whole article here: Is Campus Rage Fueled by Middle Eastern Money?

Where does this Islamic hatred for Jews and Israel come from? Find the answer here: Islamic Hatred for the Jews And How it Got That Way.

And here: Jew Hatred in Islamic Doctrine.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

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AI-Generated Propaganda

Sunday

This is from Mike Elgan at elgan.com:

Israel-Hamas war propagandists are churning out disinformation, including AI-generated images



And the sad part is that people are believing the falsehoods and sharing them broadly on social media.

The picture above, for example, which appears to show a man carrying his children out of the rubble. The Chinese embassy in France claimed on Xitter that "This image will symbolize the West for decades to come. They will not forgive and will not forget and those children (if they survive) will grow up angry, very angry."

Except those children don't exist. The picture is generated by AI. And not even good AI. The children have the wrong number of toes, clothing blends together and it has other telltale problems.

AFP has a good fact-check page chronicling some of the disinformation. AP is doing a pretty good job as well. And DW has a nice "how to spot fake content" explainer. 

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What Would Stop Uninformed Non-Muslims from Defending Islam Long Enough to Learn Something?

Tuesday

A while back, I asked this question: "What don't people understand about Islam that makes them see Muslims as disadvantaged, vanquished, helpless victims bullied by omnipotent, intimidating, domineering non-Muslims?"

Many came forth with great answers.

Exploring this issue is important because, as you well know, a lot of non-Muslims instinctively defend Islam, preventing you from sharing valuable information with them. They see Muslims as the 98-pound weakling and the West as the big, mean bully, and they don't want you picking on the weakling.

We know something our fellow non-Muslims don't know. What is it? Something is missing in their worldview. We might be better at getting our message across if we knew what key understanding our fellow non-Muslims were missing. Here are some of the best answers:

1. Civilus Defendus said: The Tiger is majestic and beautiful from a distance. If you could, the Tiger's coat would be soft to the touch, its fang and talon hard and sharp. Its muscles ripple with strength as it ambles casually to and fro. Its voice is startling, yet proud and awe inspiring. And the Tiger lives in an exotic place of wonderment. The Tiger is truly magnificent.

Yet were you to perceive it from a different angle, to feel the Tiger's hot breath upon you, to have nothing separating you from its raw power and natural instinct, would send you into a panic and instant survival mode. The Tiger’s presence would sharpen your thinking and govern your every move. Nothing would you take for granted, not your next heart beat, your next move, your surroundings, nor the mindset of the Tiger.

Is the Tiger friend or foe? Does it enrich your world or threaten it? From a distance it is a wonder, up close and personal it is life-threatening.

Be careful how you perceive things.

2. Lynne said: An adroit question that reveals a chink in our armor. Because of our Judeo-Christian roots, Americans [Westerners] see the world in a particular way. These cultural sensibilities incline us to 'love our brothers, sisters, neighbors..' Forgive, without requiring a change in behavior, i.e., Remorse, Repentance, Repair, and not Repeating wrong doing.

Because Muslim communities are not open to those outside the Ummah, true understanding of their mentality is up to interpretation based only on their 'word' and our cultural bias.

It is incumbent upon us to read their sacred texts [as unfortunate as that turns out to be since it will now be in our heads] to see that their cultural roots are diametrically opposed to ours.

Mohammed taught lessons we cannot relate to, thankfully, but to understand those of the Islamic faith, we need to attach these teaching to their culture without apology. Not just some, but to ALL.

If we take this first step, we might actually save ourselves.

I remember hearing a Muslim 'academic' say with some pride that it took Egypt 300 years to fall to Islam...THEY NEVER STOP!

3. Kall4less said: a) People have been misinformed about the so-called "Palestinians" since 1948. They believe that they were a nation with a history, distinctive foods, clothing, & lifestyle. They mistakenly believe that they are mistreated by Israel & that is the reason that they are in a difficult predicament. Obviously, to those of us who are well aware of the real history of Israel since at least the mid 19th century, they are wholly misinformed.

b) People are also misinformed about the beliefs of Islam. They believe that Islam is practiced around the world as are the rest of the world's religions, so it should be treated equally.

c) Their world view is missing knowledge of the history of the Muslim Brotherhood in America, its plans, & how it has grown.

d) Finally, missing from their world view is an understanding of how vital it is to civilization that people not only not shy away from confronting them now in every way possible, but on the contrary, that it is high time that we fight back fiercely in the political arena &, of course, whenever they make it necessary, like in the case of the plane that was brought down on 9/11 by its brave passengers who'd heard it was on its way to destroy the White House or Capital.

4. Another anonymous writer said: Those of the American public who defend Muslims are guilty of ignorance. Since the 7th century, when Muhammad founded that religion, Muslims have been trying to conquer the world because that's what the Koran tells them to do.

Our government schools have done an excellent job at dumbing down Americans and making them ignorant of history.

My family comes from Spain, where the Muslims settled for 800 years. They tried to invade France, but they were repelled by the French general Charles Martel, whose son became King of the new Roman Empire.

The Muslims then tried to invade Europe from the East and succeeded to reach Austria! in the 14th century.

Muslims are still in Czechoslovakia, in the Serbian region. Now, encouraged by the OWO tyrants in the West, they see their opportunity to continue their conquest of the civilized world. Their main target being the United States of America.

Any American that defends these savages is an ignorant fool.

5. Another anonymous writer said: Why don't they understand? I'd say...

a) The Crusades — poor Muslims being oppressed by tyrannical Christians

b) The idea many socialist-minded people have that there are greedy neocon fascists who hate everything non-white and non-Christian

c) We are wealthy and Islamic nations aren't wealthy (this is the stereotype, anyway) and poverty is an excuse for barbarism

d) Most Muslims are darker-skinned than most Westerners, so criticism = racism

e) Here in Europe, the holocaust has made us think that the Muslims are the 'new Jews' and has made us sensitive to scapegoating one religious minority. Here in the UK, we have the guilt of our colonial legacy to hinder us from asserting our own values.

It's all down to tu quoque and white guilt.

We've all been indoctrinated with these views, here in Europe and in the USA. I think the solution is to just keep pushing the alternative view, the truth. But time is running out.

6. "Finally Figured out Islam" said: What the general population don't realize is the different tactics the devout Muslims are in the process of using to aid in the imposition of Islam. It isn't just bombs. It is control of our courts and our finance. It is with the use of the pen. They have learned how to win the PR war with the ignorant, especially the ignorant left. Muslims who are devoted to the cause of implementing Islamic law are strategically placed in powerful places. We have been asleep. It is also a culture that has chosen to hate those outside its religion and until there is a change of heart on their side, we will continually be at war with the the push and force of Islam.

7. Another anonymous writer said: My impression of them in their home countries, probably due in some part to our treasonous media here, is that they are downtrodden, poor, and low-tech. It seems that if it weren't for oil they would all be broke. Of course, living under the rules that they have would cause anyone to feel beaten down, and this probably provides a rich source of anger — by design.

8. Mo said: "What do people not understand about Islam...?" I have found that most people not only don't understand much about Islam, but they have been taught the exact opposite:

They are told all religions are the same, and/or all are worthless or evil.

They are told we are never supposed to judge anyone's views — especially religious ones — as being right or wrong. (Except for Christianity of course.)

They are told that Islam teaches peace.

They are told that it is Israel who is the constant aggressor in the never ending Middle East conflict.

I could go on but I will leave opportunity for others.

The worst part is that they do not have any desire to educate themselves on the issue.

9. Another anonymous writer said: I am seeing it's more conservative versus liberal. Some liberals actually appear to hate conservatives, thinking they are responsible for interfering with liberal freedoms. If a liberal attempted to talk to them [about Islamic doctrine], that person would be labeled a conservative. What they don't understand is that those of us [speaking about Islamic doctrine], conservative or liberal, are attempting to protect their freedoms.

While this has nothing to do with liberal versus conservative, some liberals think it does. It does not matter what tactic is used with them, some are so close-minded, they only spew out hate.

Hate for Christianity is on the rise. So, it becomes Christian conservatives against Islam. It's interesting that while some accuse Christians of being bigots, they, themselves hate Christianity and conservatives.

These people want proof. Many say the Muslims they know are fine people; therefore, there aren't any bad ones in our country. When talking about it, generalizing won't work.

They don't think radical Islam can happen in this country. We have laws to protect us from that. What they fail to see is our laws can be changed.

Our media is partly responsible, as well. Very little is shown about what is happening, for obvious reasons. They don't want to be called bigots. If we don't hear about it, we don't know what is going on. Many don't use the internet to find out.

If it isn't happening in our own backyards, it isn't happening, is another mentality I hear.

Maybe, it's best to give up on those and go on to others less resistant. Hopefully, those resistant will be the minority.

10. Blogger said: I am not from America, but I notice that Americans are more scared of critiquing Islam that Europeans are, and I have come to understand that it is because of their guilt regarding previous treatment of non-whites, plus of 2 main myths:

A. Islam is a "race", ie "black race".

B. Criticising Islam is the same as going back to the pre 1960s treatment of black people.

Both of those myths need a thorough debunking. Outside of America, the majority of Christians are black. The majority of Muslims are also 'not' black (the biggest group are Indonesian Asians). Islam is also not linked to any race, except that the Hadithes claim that Muhammad was "white", and the Arabic word for "slave" and "black" are still the same. Arabs traded slaves long before the Spanish and British did.

11. In Victor Davis Hanson's book, The Father of Us All, he wrote: The only mystery about our reluctance to speak honestly and freely about particular issues is why we are so eager to give up on free expression, especially when it comes to radical Islam, which fuels much of the world's terrorism in the post-September 11 landscape.

Other than fear of bodily harm, one reason for curbing criticism of radical Islam surely is contemporary postmodern ideologies such as multiculturalism (the notion that the West is just one of many cultures, no better or worse than any other); utopian pacifism (wars can be eliminated through diplomacy and the teaching of nonviolent arbitration); and moral equivalence (those with power and influence in the West, given its own sins, cannot legitimately calibrate, much less condemn, the distasteful practices of other cultures)...

The aggregate result of multiculturalism, utopian pacifism, and moral equivalence among its cultural elites and leadership is that philosophically and ethically the Western public becomes less well-equipped to condemn antithetical ideologies and to defend itself against their aggression. In Western consensual societies this so-called political correctness likewise permeates the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.

12. Here's my take on it: The Key to Your Listener’s Inability to Confront the Disturbing Nature of Islamic Doctrine.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

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The Gradual Awakening of Mark Goldberg

Friday

The following was written by Mark Goldberg and reprinted here with his permission. This is an email conversation I had with him. The exchange began with a personal note to Citizen Warrior. I wrote back and said, "I remember a few years ago reading about a Mark Goldberg (or maybe it was Goldman) who was instrumental in breaking a milk monopoly. That wouldn't happen to be you, would it?"

Mark responded with this:
Nope, just a suburban father, self-employed fellow who happened to go into a health food store back in 1990 after a jog, and met some Middle Eastern guys hanging around a so-called "Palestinian" health food store and we got into a conversation. There was something not right about them, and I chalked it up to my late night studying and sleepless paranoia, and thought "my world is too narrow...I maybe should get out and mingle more."

Three years later when the WTC was bombed in '93 they were some of the guys who were the terrorists of that horror. It was then that I began to study some of the horror that is Islam, the Oslo fraud et al, as I began to make my modest income, and bring children into the world. Nothing so glorious as you mentioned...but who knows, there's hope for me yet :^)

I responded: "So by the time of 9/11 you must have actually understood what was happening, unlike me who was at that time completely ignorant of the problem Islamic doctrine presents to the world. Was there one book or article or incident that 'flipped the switch' for you? Where you realized the unthinkable? That at its heart Islam is an aggressive, militant, political, bigoted ideology. What was it?"

Mark answered:
It was a combination of things. First, when I read Oriana Fallaci’s letter about the sickening hypocrisy of the Italians, Europeans, the left regarding the bigotry against Israel, the blowing up of innocents et al, in 2001 I think I was reminded of a conversation I had with an interesting guy I met in my youth regarding this issue. He was a Mongolian, a lama, a monk of the Tibetan Buddhist variety. He was a very interesting guy in many ways. We had a conversation once, back in '76 or so.

He asked me what I thought of the Arab-Jewish problem. I gave him what I thought he wanted to hear: a quasi-liberal we can show the Muslims how to attain peace as we have had to struggle for thousands of years blah blah blah.

He listened politely and when I was thru with what I thought would show what a peaceful, loving, strong man I was (or wanted to be) I asked him,  "Sir, what do you think of the Arab-Jewish problem?"

He gave me a bit of a silent look that kind of went through me. I recognized it from other conversations about issues that I had seen him discuss, and it put me back on my heels a bit. It was like the feeling you get if your grandpa is laying in the intensive care unit of the hospital and you know it’s the last stop on the bus but it’s hard to face, and you impulsively ask the pleasant nurse who’s coming out of the room as you enter, "How’s Gramps doing??" and she smiles at you. That terribly forgiving smile. And she says, "The doctors are doing everything they can for him."

And that terribly forgiving smile and the delay from that old man who knew Islam way more than I ever imagined or thought anyone had to know said something to me. I never heard him debate religions or compare or any of that. But here he was quite succinct. He smiled that terribly forgiving smile at me…and I knew…uh oh...And he said..."Islam…is a devil’s religion." And he smiled that forgiving smile as I fought to deny the meaning of what he said.

But I had (and still have) enormous respect for that guy, and it took years of poking around and getting a whiff of Islam which until that incident in '90 didn't click at all but by '93 made me read the Oslo Accords and think "this…is madness."

But not the scholar like yourself, and struggling to make my modest living in my work, I just kind of poked at it, of course, until Fallaci’s brave retort and response. Then I went to Israel on a trip five years in a row, and saw for myself which way the sun rose and set and, of course, I was reading Robert Spencer by then, and that Christian guy whose site is no more — the prophetofdoom — and Fallaci’s Rage and the Pride and The Force of Reason and so it began. I'm a bit amazed by people such as yourself, who knew zip in 2001, and have come so far with your blogging capabilities.

I said: "That was an interesting response from the Buddhist. Not at all what you'd expect to hear from a Tibetan monk! No wonder it left an impression."

Mark responded:
Indeed. I got pretty steamed hearing the Dalai Lama back in 2006 or so mouthing on about how the Israelis should engage in negotiations with Hamas.

He was soon proven wrong and I think sort of said so, but the damage was already done. He also wrote a book which seems to have forgotten the history of Buddhism which is simply this: The Buddhists had the largest school in the world, called Nalanda back in 1036 or thereabouts in India. The Muslims came in and announced that everyone had to convert to Islam. The Buddhists said that the Muslims could take over everything and control it, and all the Buddhists wanted was to practice religion. The Muslims' reply was to cut their heads off and put them on poles. The Buddhists who survived ran off to Tibet and were cut off from India for centuries. The Muslims wound up killing some 60 million or more of Hindus in India over these 1000 years.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

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Farewell Israel

Tuesday

I just finished watching the documentary, Farewell Israel: Bush, Iran, and The Revolt of Islam. I liked most of it, and I think it will be a useful tool for us citizen warriors who want to help educate and motivate our fellow non-Muslims to join us in stopping Islam's relentless encroachment.

The first half is very good. It covers the history of Islam from the beginning, putting emphasis on how Muhammad and then his followers treated kafirs — particularly Jews. The presentation was very fair and straightforward. If anything, I thought they were a little generous toward Islam. For example, in describing a major attack on the Muslims at Medina, the narrator failed to mention why Mecca was attacking (Mecca was a major trading city, with caravans arriving all the time, and Muhammad and his Muslims kept attacking the caravan, killing their business and killing their people). But maybe this point wasn't necessary.

And maybe it is a good thing to be overly fair to the Muslims because there was plenty of negative stuff to report, and maybe the extreme fairness would help a viewer who knows nothing about Islam accept the information when they realize the documentary is, if anything, overly fair to Islam.

Other than that, and the goofy song at the end, the DVD was very good, very informative, and very fast-paced. It's definitely something I will loan to people.

One of the things the film does right from the start is contrast what non-Muslims mean when they say "religion" versus what a Muslim means by the term. And what a non-Muslim means when they say "freedom" or "peace" or "equality" versus what a Muslim means. I thought, "Now that is a great way to open someone's eyes to the situation." They could have added the distinction between what Muslims might define as an "innocent civilian" versus the way actual innocent civilians might define it.

The film traces the history of jihad from Muhammad to the present, and explains very well what the trouble in the Middle East has been about since the formation of Israel. It was frustrating to watch leaders of Israel and the United States and the UN completely misunderstand the Muslims' intentions. Again and again, ignorant leaders appeased and conceded to Muslim pressure, only to be stabbed in the back.

Islam only moves forward unless it is forced back. It will never retreat or stop voluntarily. It keeps moving forward, using every means possible to gain ground, to gain land, to gain political power, to gain converts, to gain the upper hand, and to subjugate kafirs. That's what the heart of Islam is about: To create a world of peace and harmony where everyone on earth has submitted to Sharia law and the whole world is Allah's.

How can someone be the leader of Israel and not know anything about the most basic Islamic teachings? It baffles the mind!

The relentless, one-way direction of their efforts, and the persistent ignorance of people "negotiating" with them reminds me of a scene from the first terminator movie (The Terminator). In the scene, Kyle (the man who came back through time to protect Sarah Connor) is trying to explain to Sarah what the terminator is. She wasn't getting it. She didn't understand. She was actually refusing to get it.

Kyle finally grabs her wrists and yells at her: "Listen! That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with, it doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely WILL NOT STOP. Ever! Until you are DEAD!"

At that point, it finally got through to her, and it took all the wind out of her body. It looked like she'd been punched in the stomach.

That needs to happen to non-Muslims worldwide. They need to really get what we're dealing with. Islam's relentless encroachment will not be difficult to deal with once we fully come to grips with it. We can simply stop giving any concessions to Islam, no matter how hard they push. They've been contained before. Their relentless expansion can be contained again. But not while we're living in fairyland. That's why DVDs like Farewell Israel: Bush, Iran, and The Revolt of Islam are so important. People need to be educated. Once they are, the choices are pretty clear.

Please buy the DVD, watch it three or four times, and then start loaning it to your friends. You can also stream the movie on several streaming services.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

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Let's Give "Giving Up On Peace" a Chance

I was reading an article by Barry Rubin called A Middle East Strategy for the West, when I read this sentence: "The problem is not just that cynical rulers (in the Middle East) mislead the masses through demagoguery — though that's true; it's that the masses embrace extremist world views." I had to do a double take. If the masses are embracing it, then it's not extremist, right? It's mainstream.

By the term, "extremist world views" he is really saying "following classic, mainstream Islamic teachings." But what a politically-correct, double-talk way of saying it!
Rubin did say something worthwhile in the article, however. He wrote:
Obtaining Israel-Palestinian or Arab-Israeli peace is a useless strategy, distracting from real issues. It isn't going to happen; Islamists would use any such peace to portray those signing it as traitors; and even many Arab nationalists would denounce it to raise their credibility as tough, unyielding fighters. Violence and unrest would increase, not lessen, as a result.
Absolutely. All this talk of "peace in the Middle East" is ridiculous. It's not going to happen. EVER! Get over it. Orthodox Muslims will not ever give up trying to "drive the Jews into the sea," and the Israelis will not ever give up trying to survive.

The world needs to embrace this reality and aim for something actually attainable: An Israeli population that is relatively safe from Jihadis.
I'm not a Jew, by the way. I don't have any special attachment to the Jewish religion or Israel, except that it's a democracy, and by far the best democracy in the Middle East. As Glen Reinsford wrote in his article Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict, "Perhaps the greatest of all ironies in the present-day Middle East, as David Horowitz has pointed out, is that Arab Israelis enjoy more social, legal and political freedom than do Arabs in any one of the fifty-three Muslim countries." Ironic because so many Arabs are hell-bent on destroying Israel.

But Israel needs to embrace this reality too and quit bending over backwards to "make peace." They keep being lured into making deals with the ruling Jihadis of the day in order to finally have "peace." They should be able to look at their own history in the Middle East, or look at easily-obtained
Islamic teachings and see that "peace agreements" with Jihadis are worse than a waste of time
(for example, Qur'an 9:1-17).

One particular Islamic principle the Israelis might discover within fifteen minutes of perusing Islamic texts would immediately disabuse them of any desire to make peace agreements. As Robert Spencer says in the DVD, Islam: What the West Needs to Know:
"It's unfortunate, but there's no negotiating with the Jihadists. There is no striking a deal with them. Islamic law is very clear on that...Islamic law does not allow for treaties. It does not allow for negotiated settlements between Muslim states and non-Muslim states. "All it allows for is a temporary period of up to ten years of 'hudna' or what is commonly translated as 'truce' to allow the Islamic forces to gather their strength. But that's not the same as peace as we know it. That's not the same as the absence of a state of war. That's only a temporary lull in a war that the Jihadists consider has gone on for 14 centuries, and are willing to fight for 14 more."
Another very basic Islamic principle nobody in Israel or the U.N. seems to be aware of is the principle of taqiyya. That is, the allowance and even encouragement by Islamic teachings for Muslims to deceive non-Muslims in order to further the political goal of Islam, which is dominance over all other governments and religions.

These are very basic Islamic teachings anyone can discover with very little effort. They are not obscure, hard-to-decipher teachings. But here is Israel, having been duped and tricked and lied to again and again by people who are quite open about their dedication to fundamental Islamic teachings, making more "peace agreements" with Jihadis! It's absolutely crazy. They should give "giving up on peace" a chance.
It's not that peace isn't a worthy goal, of course. But the idea of peace as in "living together in harmony" is something to throw out the window when it comes to Israel and the Muslim world. It's kind of like having breast cancer and saying, "Okay, cancer, I'll give you one breast, and then we can live in peace together." No, you can't. If you don't stop it, the cancer will metastasize.
That's its nature. That's what it does. And the orthodox Muslim world will continue to undermine, fight, and try to destroy Israel. That's its nature. That's what it does. Which means if Israel wants to survive, it had better quit trying to appease Muslims and accommodate Islam's demands and concede to the Muslims' wishes and start drawing the line, and saying "no further."

And not just Israel. The U.N. has pressured Israel to appease and accommodate and concede. Why? Because there are lots of Muslim countries in the U.N. who have used taqiyya successfully.
What the world has been doing about the Israeli-Palistian conflict has not worked.
Let's try something different.


We could change what we mean by "peace." Peace might mean "the good guys have the upper hand." It might mean the good guys have enough power to hold
Islam's relentless encroachment at bay so the rest of us can live in harmony with each other.

How do we decide who is the "good guy?" Whoever is promoting liberty and equality, not just in words but in fact. And anyone promoting Shari'a or jihad does not promote liberty and equality.


Kafir911," an occasional commenter on Citizen Warrior, once said: "I think it's sad but telling that the man who started that whole movement (the 'let's give peace a chance' movement), John Lennon, with his Make Love Not War and his love-ins with Yoko Ono, got shot by an idiot with a gun. So apparently its not true that 'all you need is love.' You need protection as well."

Let's just give up on the idea of peace. Let's give up on the idea that somehow everyone can just get along. And let's aim at international security. There is no "getting along" with an organized, relentless group of people who spend their every waking moment seeking your destruction. But it is possible to contain them and limit them and weaken them. Let's be realistic and aim for those. Let's aim for the protection of liberty and equality.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

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The Terrifying Brilliance of the Islamic Memeplex

Sunday

Have you ever wondered why so many Muslim men are dedicated to killing Americans? Or why so many are willing to blow themselves up to kill Israelis? Or why they are so committed to blowing up random people in Bali, London, Madrid, etc.?

Orthodox Muslims are attacking non-Muslims all over the world. Why?

Because of memes. The technical definition of a meme is anything that can be copied from one mind to another. The custom of shaking hands, for example, is a meme. A melody is a meme. A recipe for lemonade is a meme. Even the word "meme" is a meme, which has just made a copy of itself in your mind.

One of the characteristics of memes is they can evolve because some memes are better at making copies of themselves than other memes. They get more copies of themselves into other minds.

So memes compete with each other and evolve. Part of the way they become better at making copies is to join together with other memes in a mutually-supporting group. A combination of memes (known as a "memeplex") is often able to get itself into more minds than single memes.

From a memetics standpoint, a religion is a memeplex — collection of memes. One of the memes might be, for example, "This is a holy book."

And the holy book itself is, of course, a collection of memes.

Let's look at how religious memeplexes evolve and compete. To begin with, let's assume we already have a religion established. It already has a holy book and millions of people already have a copy of the memeplex in their minds.

And then there is a slight variation.

The original memeplex had a "live and let live" attitude, and never tried to encourage its followers to get converts. But then someone comes up with the idea that if you can persuade a non-believer to become a believer, you earn some sort of spiritual merit. You are saving souls, and your chances of getting into heaven are better.

Okay, now you have two variations on the same memeplex: One says "live and let live." The other motivates people to spread the memeplex to others.

After a thousand years, which of the two variations will have more copies in the minds of people? I'm betting on the motivated-to-spread-it version.

Let's assume the motivated memeplex is more successful. Does that mean it makes people happier? Or more successful in life? Or have healthier children? No. Just because a memeplex is successful doesn't mean it benefits any of the people holding the memeplex.

The same is true in genetics. Contrary to common sense, a successful gene doesn't necessarily benefit the organism. It is "successful" in the sense that it has made lots of copies of itself and is found in many organisms. But it may actually be harmful for the organism. For example, if there is a gene for alcoholism, and if drinking causes someone to have more children (or start having children younger) than someone who doesn't drink, over thousands of years, the alcoholism gene would be more successful than the non-alcoholism gene even though it is bad for each individual person carrying the gene.

In the same way, the success of a meme doesn't necessarily mean it's good for the person holding that meme.

If a memeplex says it is wrong to use contraception and wrong to masturbate, that memeplex would get itself copied into more minds than an identical memeplex without these two added memes (assuming offspring would be taught the memeplex too).

So the hapless believer, trying to follow the rules and be a good person by avoiding the evils of contraception and masturbation, would have more children than he might want or could afford, causing him to work overtime to support them — working two jobs if he must. It sends him to an early grave, but puts more copies of that memeplex into the minds of future generations than someone without those two memes.

So the memeplex has used the man for its own purposes, or at least that's one legitimate way to look at it. And it's a way that sheds new light on Islamic doctrine, which is why I've spent so much time explaining this idea.

The three elements that make for a successful meme are fecundity, fidelity, and longevity. In other words, if a meme makes lots of copies of itself, copies itself accurately, and lasts long enough to make copies into other minds, it is a successful meme. All else being equal, the meme that makes more copies, or copies with more fidelity, or lasts longer in the mind, will always out-compete a meme that does any of these less effectively.

Now, with that understanding, here's my point: If you were going to deliberately design a combination of memes with the purpose of making a memeplex that could eventually dominate the world — one that would eventually out-compete every other memeplex — you would be hard-pressed to do better than Islam.

Let's look at some of the individual memes within the Islamic memeplex:

1. A standardized version of the memeplex is written down, which makes for perfect replication fidelity. This is something basic to several religions and isn't an Islamic invention, but it is an important factor in the success of Islam.

Something only transmitted orally can change over time, but something written will be identical a thousand years from now, and with modern printing presses, can be reproduced in the millions, giving it enormous fecundity and fidelity. 

2. The Koran includes instructions for its own spread. It tells believers they must spread Islam. It is their holy duty to bring Mohammad's warnings and Islamic law to every corner of the world.

3. The memeplex includes instructions for its own preservation, protection, and replication fidelity. The Koran, the most important of the Islamic holy books, directly tells its followers that they can never change or modify or "modernize" any of the teachings within the memeplex. It is a capital sin to try to do so. The memeplex ensures its own preservation this way.

These first three memes are pretty standard for several successful religions. But now it gets interesting...

4. Islam commands its followers to create a government that supports it. This may be one of the most brilliant innovations in Islam. Islam is the only religion that uses it. Other groups of religious people have had political aspirations, but no other major religious group orders its followers — as a religious duty — to create a government that follows its own system of law.

Islam has a system of law, called Shari'a, and all Muslims are obligated to continually work toward making their government — wherever they are — follow it. Because of some of the other memes added to Islam, you will see that this political addition to the memeplex has significant consequences. I think this is Islam's most brilliant innovation, and also the most terrifying to non-Muslims.

5. Permission to spread the memeplex by war. This is another brilliant innovation. Although some other religions have spread themselves using force, they had very little justification from their own religious doctrines.

Not so with Islam. Expanding by conquest is very much accepted and encouraged by the memeplex. The poor non-Muslims not living in an Islamic state need to be saved from the sin of following laws other than Allah's. If they won't voluntarily change their laws to Shari'a, then it is the duty of Muslim warriors to insist. The world cannot be at peace until every government on earth follows the laws of Allah.

Mohammad's own experience showed the example — an example, says the Koran, that every Muslim should follow. For ten years Mohammad tried to spread Islam by peaceful means. After ten years he had a paltry 150 converts. But he changed tactics and started using warfare, slaughter, executions, and assassination, and in a relatively short time, he converted tens of thousands, and after his followers died, they used the same tactics and converted millions.

The use of warfare combines powerfully with the instruction to create an Islamic state. So Islam spread quickly as their armies got bigger. They conquered and set up Islamic states, most of which have lasted to this day, and as you'll see, the laws within an Islamic state make it very advantageous to convert to Islam.

This is one of the most effective methods ever invented for getting a memeplex into huge numbers of minds. It's a method of control and indoctrination similar to those used successfully in communist and totalitarian states. But as you'll discover below, Islam makes unique use of the power of the law to enforce complete conversion to the memeplex.

6. Lands must be conquered. Lands that Islam has lost must be reconquered, like Spain and Israel, for example. The Islamic empire must continually expand. Contraction is bad, expansion is good. So if a land was once Islamic and now it is not, that is contraction, and must be remedied.

According to this meme, the earth is Allah's. If there are parts of the earth not following Islamic law, it is the duty of the faithful to gain control of that land and establish Shari'a. It is a sin to let it be.

7. The memeplex provides for new soldiers by allowing polygamy. A Muslim man can marry up to four wives, and he can have sex with as many slave girls as he wishes.

The Koran especially encourages men to marry widows. This is an important meme to add if you are going to be losing a lot of soldiers in war. You need some way of replenishing your army. You don't want the memeplex to die out from a lack of offspring.

8. It is a punishable offense to criticize Islam. You can see why this one is a good supporting meme for the memeplex. It helps curb any memes that would reduce the authority of Islamic memes. This one, like many of the others, is good for the memeplex, but bad for people. This one limits freedom of speech.

9. You can't leave Islam once you're in. This is an interesting one. It is actually illegal in Islamic states to convert out of Islam. This is a critical part of Shari'a law. Someone who has rejected Islam who was once a Muslim is an "apostate." This is a crime and a sin, and the punishment for it is death (and eternal damnation in hell thereafter).

Obviously, you can see why this meme has been included in the memeplex, but this one has actually caused Islam a problem because those who are following Islam to the letter consider more "moderate" Muslims (those who want to ignore or alter the more violent passages of the Koran) to be apostates. Since the punishment for apostates is death, orthodox Muslims are fighting heterodox Muslims all over the world, and keeping many heterodox Muslims from speaking up for fear of death.

Every time a group of Muslims decides that maybe Islam should be updated for the 21st century and maybe women should have some rights or maybe the government should be more democratic, the devout Muslims consider them apostates.

The memeplex is protecting its own fidelity (the original memeplex cannot be altered). This is not good for the organisms (the Muslim human beings), but it's great for the memeplex.

Another meme in Shari'a law says it's against the law for anyone to try to convert a Muslim to another religion. Again, this is a meme to help protect the fidelity of the memeplex.

10. Islam must be your first allegiance. This is a great meme to add if the goal is world domination. You are a Muslim first, before any allegiance you give to your family, your tribe, or your country.

This does two things: It causes a unity of people across borders, and it allows the group to grow bigger than any other entity. In other words, the "Nation of Islam" can grow bigger than any country, no matter how large (which gives the group a massive numerical advantage).

11. The only guarantee of a man getting into heaven is if he dies fighting for Islam. This is a great meme for creating fearless, enthusiastic warriors, especially given the vivid description of the sensuous delights of heaven.

A Muslim man has a chance of getting to heaven if he is a good Muslim, but it is not guaranteed. However, if he dies while fighting for Islam, he is guaranteed to get in, and that's the only thing he can do to guarantee it. That's why orthodox Muslims come from all around the world to participate in any conflict involving Muslims. It's the chance they've been looking for.

12. You must read the Koran in Arabic. This unites believers by language, and language is a very powerful unifying phenomenon. For added incentive to learn Arabic, another meme says you can't go to heaven unless you pray in Arabic.

So all Muslims all over the world share a language. This makes it easier to coordinate far-reaching campaigns of protest, political pressure, and war. I doubt if Mohammad foresaw this possibility, but this meme is useful and effective, even if it was an accident.

13. You must pray five times a day. This is one of the five "pillars" — that is, one of the five central practices of a Muslim. Within an orthodox Islamic state, it is enforced by law. Every Muslim must pray five times a day. The practice helps the memeplex dominate a Muslim's life, infusing his daily rhythm with Islam.

It would be impossible to forget anything you deliberately do so often. Five times a day, every day, a Muslim must bow down and pray to Allah.

Research has shown the more effort a person expends for a cause, the more he believes in it. So this is a good way to eventually make believers out of people who became Muslims through coercion.
Islam completely takes over every aspect of Muslims' lives. Not only are they required to pray five times a day, they have to go through a washing ritual beforehand. Islam dictates the laws, and the laws cover many public and private behaviors. In an orthodox Islamic state, it is impossible to be a casual Muslim.

14. The prayers involve moving together in time. When Muslims pray, they all face the same direction, they bow down, get on their hands and knees, and put their face on the mat, all in unison, and then rise back up. Again and again.

When people move together in time, whether dancing or marching or praying, it creates a physical and emotional bond between them. That's why all military training involves close-order drill (marching in unison), even though it has been a long time since military groups have actually marched into combat. There is no longer a need for the skill, but all military training has retained this method because it is so effective at creating a strong feeling of unity between soldiers (read more about that).

The same is true of any physical movements people make in unison.

15. A woman is in a thoroughly subordinate position. This meme really helps support the war meme. If women had too much influence, they'd try to curb the fighting. Women in general don't like to send their husbands and sons off to war. But if women have no say, then the rest of the memes can express themselves without interference. By subordinating women, the memeplex prevents their effective vote against war, violence, and conquest.

The rules and laws (memes) within Islam that keep women subordinate are numerous. For example, she is not allowed to leave her house unless she is accompanied by a male relative. Under Islamic law, a woman is forbidden to be a head of state or a judge. She can only inherit half of what a man can inherit. In court, her testimony is only worth half of a man's. She is not allowed to choose where she will live or who she will marry. She is not allowed to marry a non-Muslim or divorce her husband. Her husband, however, can divorce her with a wave of his hand. And according to Shari'a, he can (and should) beat her if she disobeys him.

All of these rules keep her subordinate, which helps keep the war machine going unimpeded by domestic conflict.

16. The only way a woman can get into heaven for sure is if her husband is happy with her when she dies. When I read about this one, I thought, "Mohammad, you are a crafty one."

This meme obviously helps with the subjugation of women. It motivates her to subjugate herself. It gives her a strong motivation to subordinate her wishes to her husband's, because while she might have a chance to get into heaven if she's a good Muslim, the only way she can guarantee she will go to heaven (and avoid eternal suffering in hell) is to make sure her husband is happy with her when she dies.

17. Allah gives Himself permission to edit his own work. This is an interesting one. The Koran was written in sections (Mohammad's revelations) over a period of 23 years. The circumstances of Mohammad's life and his religion changed quite a bit over those 23 years. It says in the Koran that if a passage written later contradicts an earlier passage, then the later one is the better one.

One of the memes in the Koran is "this is the word of Allah." People had already memorized his earlier revelations, so Mohammad couldn't just change his revelations. It would look a little strange to go change anything that Allah already said.

But with this new meme — that later revelations abrogated or nullified any earlier revelations it contradicted — Allah's methods could change as Mohammad found more effective ideas.

In his first ten years of peacefully preaching, Mohammad only managed to win 150 followers. But as a military leader and violent conqueror, he was able to convert all of Arabia. The peaceful ways were too slow. Conversion by conquering and establishing Shari'a was much faster and more efficient. So later violent, intolerant verses abrogated (nullified) the earlier peaceful, tolerant passages.

18. The Koran uses the carrot and stick to reinforce behavior. Throughout the book are vivid descriptions of hell, where sinners and non-Muslims will have to drink boiling, stinking water, will be thrown face down into a raging fire, and will be there for eternity, suffering endless torments in agony.

There are also vivid descriptions of heaven. In heaven you'll wear green silk robes and recline on plush couches. Trees will shade you, fruit will dangle nearby. You'll have tasty food and refreshing drinks served in silver goblets. To have a chance of achieving this, you must be a devout Muslim. To guarantee it, you must die in jihad (for men) or make sure your husband is always happy with you (for women).

19. It provides a huge and inspiring goal. Leaders of countries or companies or religions have all discovered that you can get the most motivation and enthusiasm from your followers if you provide them with an expansive vision. An enormous goal. In the Islamic memeplex, the goal calls for a continuous effort to expand the domain of Islamic law until all the world has submitted to Islam.

Many religions have the goal of converting everyone, but Islam has a method available nobody else has: To expand by seizing and converting governments to Shari'a.

Once the whole world is Islamic, peace will reign. That's why even terrorists can say with complete sincerity, "Islam is a religion of peace."

The Koran says it is best if non-believers accept Islam and become Muslims without force. But if they refuse, then the faithful Muslims must fight them and conquer them and save their poor souls by insisting they live by the laws of Allah.

Once all countries are conquered, the world will be at peace. Therefore, Islam is a religion of peace.

It is an enormous and inspiring goal, and a strongly unifying purpose. It creates motivated, enthusiastic followers.

20. Non-Muslims must pay a large tax. Once Muslims conquer a country and convert the government to Islamic law, any non-Muslims have the choice between becoming Muslim or becoming a dhimmi. Dhimmis are allowed to practice their non-Muslim religion if they pay the jizya (a tax). If they convert to Islam, they no longer have to pay a tax, so there is a practical incentive to convert.

But another aspect of this makes it a brilliant meme. The tax takes money away from the non-Muslims and their competing memeplexes and gives that money to support Islam. This is pure genius!

The income from these taxes (usually a 25% income tax) helped fund the Islamic conquests during the first two major jihads. They conquered vast lands, most of them already filled with Christians and Jews, many of whom did not convert at first, and their jizya poured huge sums of money into the Islamic war machine.

Eventually, the numbers of Christians and Jews dwindled down as they converted or escaped, until now, in most Islamic countries, Jews and Christians are very small minorities.

The tax-the-non-Muslims meme helps the Islamic memeplex make more copies of itself by financially impeding competing religious memeplexes and financially supporting the Islamic memeplex.

Several memes within Shari'a law extend this effect. Non-Muslims are not allowed to build any new houses of worship. They're not even allowed to repair already-existing churches or synagogues. This puts the houses of worship of any competing memeplex in a state of permanent decline. Brilliant.

Also, non-Islamic prayers cannot be spoken within earshot of a Muslim — again, preventing Muslims from being infected by a competing memeplex. No public displays of any symbols of another faith may be shown either.

All of this prevents the spread of any competing memeplex, and makes competing religions die out over time. That's why today there are so many "Muslim countries." Almost every other country in the world is made up of many different religions.

One added meme makes it that much easier for Muslims to dominate non-Muslims within an orthodox Islamic state: Non-Muslims are not allowed to own weapons of any kind. To subjugate a people, all dictatorial rulers in the history of the world have done the same thing: Disarm the subjugated people. They are much easier to manage, less dangerous, and less capable of upending the status quo.

21. A Muslim is forbidden to make friends with an infidel. A Muslim is allowed to pretend to be a friend, but in his heart he must never actually be a friend to a non-Muslim. This is one of the best protections Islam has against Muslims leaving the faith.

In any other religion (except Islam) conversions to a new religion are made because a friend introduced it. This rule effectively prevents that.

22. The Koran counsels the use of deceit when dealing with infidels. Mohammad instructed one of his followers to lie if he had to (in order to assassinate one of Mohammad's enemies). The principle was clear: If it helps Islam, it's okay to deceive non-Muslims.

This principle has served Islamic goals very well through history. And it serves those goals today. You can watch on the DVD, Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, real-life examples of Islamic leaders saying one thing in English for the Western press, and saying something entirely different to their own followers in Arabic a few days later.

Deceiving the enemy is always useful in war, and orthodox Islam is at war with the non-Islamic world until the whole world follows Shari'a law. All non-Muslims living in non-Islamic states are enemies. So deceiving Westerners is acceptable — even encouraged if it can forward the goals of the spread of Islam.

And so we have the strange phenomenon covered by Steven Emerson in Terrorists Among Us, where organizations in America were ostensibly raising money for orphans, but really giving the money to terrorists. They deceived good-hearted Western infidels into giving money to organizations that were actively killing Western infidels. As it says in the Koran, "War is deceit." This meme gives Islam a tremendous advantage over memeplexes that encourage indiscriminate truthfulness.

23. Islam must always be defended. This meme is a primary linchpin that gives justification for war with almost anybody, as you'll see in the meme below. After the enemy is defeated, of course, Muslims are required to establish an Islamic state.

24. The memeplex instructs on the use of pretext to start wars. The Koran devotes a lot of time complaining about people who did not support Mohammad when he first started his religion, with Allah often condemning them to torment in hell in the hereafter.

Mohammad was rather pushy and insistent with his religion, and when others felt intruded upon and protested, Mohammad took that to mean they were trying to stop Allah's holy prophet from bringing the revealed word of Allah to the world, so he was justified to fight them and destroy them as Allah's enemies. This is a demonstration of the principle of pretext.

Non-Muslims of the world need urgently to become aware of this principle. Of all the memes in the memeplex, this is the most dangerous to the West because it removes our natural self-preserving defenses. The use of pretext tends to make the West defenseless against the Islamic invasion now underway. Muslim terrorists are not naive people. They are smart, educated, well-funded, and being used by a very clever memeplex.

The Islamization of the West is underway, and it is being done so cleverly, most Westerners don't even know it is happening. (Read more about their 20-year plan to overthrow the government of the United States. Also, read about the Shariatization of Europe.)

Pretext means you need only the barest excuse to begin hostilities. It means you're actually looking for an excuse, and even trying to provoke others into striking the first blow — of "starting" the hostilities.

If the only way to get to heaven is dying while fighting for Islam, you need war. And if it is your holy duty to make all governments use Shari'a law, you need to conquer those governments. But you don't really want to look like the aggressor. Appearances count. All throughout the Koran, Mohammad tries to justify his aggression as defending Islam.

The Koran repeats ninety-one times that followers of Islam should use Mohammad as a model and imitate him. So Muslims the world over try to find or create grievances, so they can get a holy war started, so they can fight and die in Allah's cause and help make the world ruled by Allah's laws.

And because of the rise of multiculturalism (respect for all other cultures) in the West, the use of pretext convinces people in the West who are unfamiliar with Islam. Many people thought al Qaeda was angry at the West for having troops in Saudi Arabia. That was merely a pretext. They want all non-Muslims out of the Middle East. Then they say they will cease hostilities. It is a ridiculous and impossible goal, so they are justified in permanent war against the West.

And it's surprising that so many Westerners are fooled by this one because it flies in the face of a fundamental Western principle: Equality. What Osama bin Laden was saying is infidels are so undeserving, their very presence defiles their holy places. Wow. What does that say about the filthy infidel?

Why doesn't this kind of racism or prejudice or infidelphobia (or whatever you want to call it) outrage more Westerners? Instead, many thought we ought to pull out of the Middle East so these poor offended terrorists aren't so angry with us any more!

The principle of pretext is to provoke a hostile reaction and then use the hostile reaction as a reason to escalate hostilities. It's the same method schoolyard bullies have used for probably thousands of years: "What are you looking at? Hey, you bumped into me! Now you're going to pay! Nobody disrespects me!"

25. The explicit use of double standards. Islam has one standard for Muslims, and a different standard for non-Muslims, which always gives the advantage to Muslims and provides incentives to convert.

For example, Islam must be spread by its believers, wherever they are. But when other religions try to spread their own memeplex, Muslims are supposed to see it as an aggression against Islam — an act of aggression that must be "defended." Remember, Islam must always be defended.

Another example of how the double standard meme gives the memeplex an advantage: When Islam is defamed in any way, Muslims should violently defend it. Even in a cartoon. But Muslims can and should defame Jews and Christians in Muslim newspapers and television, and they should defame any infidel or enemy, as they defame the U.S. today.

Here's another example: The Islamic fundamentalists of Saudi Arabia are pouring money into building mosques all over the free world. But according to Shari'a law, which is the basis of law in Saudi Arabia, no non-Muslim religious structures are allowed to be built. However, Muslims all over the world protest loudly and violently when anyone in Europe or America resists the building of more mosques in their countries.

They don't see the irony in it. They don't feel strange having such an obvious double standard. They are, after all, Allah's followers and everyone else is deluded. Fairness and equality with such unworthy infidels would seem very out of place. A double standard seems completely appropriate from that perspective.

The double standard principle is part of the memeplex, and it has been a great advantage to the spread of Islam (and the suppression of competing memeplexes).

26. It is forbidden to kill a Muslim (except for a just cause). It is not forbidden to kill an infidel. This causes a bond between Muslims, fear in non-Muslims, and motivation to become Muslim. This is also another example of an explicit Islamic double standard.

.......................................................

We might admire the brilliance of the Islamic memeplex in an abstract, intellectual sort of way, but it is terrifyingly real. Millions of people try to follow these memes to the letter. And their belief in the memeplex is strongly supported by the side-effects of Shari'a law. By making the government and laws Islamic, the memeplex applies two powerful principles of influence: social proof, and authority.

Everyone practices the religion in an orthodox Islamic state (or they are flogged, taxed, or killed) and no one can criticize it, not friend-to-friend, and not through any media. The psychological impact of this is enormous. Three generations later, it would be almost impossible for any Muslim living in that state to think outside of Islam. The authority and social proof would be overwhelming.

If you were trying to come up with a memeplex to take over the world, I don't know if you could do better than Islam.

Of course, just because I admire the genius of the memeplex doesn't mean I'm in favor of it. As a non-Muslim, I am wholeheartedly against it. Remember, the success of a meme has nothing to do with making people happy or healthy. Memetic success only means it propagates well.

The same is true for genes. A successful gene is one that gets the most copies of itself into future generations. The genes making up a deadly virus may kill millions of people and cause untold misery, but from a genetics point of view, the virus is genetically successful.

Genes don't care about people. They don't try to make us happy. They are cold and indifferent to our plight.

Same with memes. A memeplex will use up and spit out human lives in the service of its propagation, indifferent to the pain, misery, or death it causes.

A memeplex, well-drilled into someone's head and reinforced by the powerful authority and social proof of his whole society, can cause him to blow himself up just to kill others for the fulfillment of a fantasy goal of ultimately attaining world peace and the triumph of Allah (and a harem of 72 dark-eyed voluptuous beauties devoted to his every wish).

The Islamic memeplex is formidable. It is a force to be reckoned with and we ignore it at our peril. It has already consumed the minds of one and a half billion people, and it is the youngest of the major religions. And it is growing.

And yet, I don't think the situation is hopeless. Many Muslims now living in Islamic states are trapped and would defect from the memeplex if it were safe to do so.

And even those who like being Muslims can be released from the hold the memeplex has on their minds. Like suddenly "coming to" when you're being hypnotized, I think an understanding of memetics itself can help undermine the hypnotic effect of the religious beliefs.

The first thing we in the multicultural and tolerant West need to be aware of is the formidable memeplex threatening to overtake us. The memeplex takes advantage of our tolerance and our freedom so as to ultimately eliminate it.

This is an ideological war, so the ideas in the heads of your fellow Westerners make all the difference. And you can help turn the tide. Find ways to introduce these ideas to your fellow westerners. Here are a few ideas to help you.

And we can help Muslims trapped in Islamic countries find their way to snapping out of their trance. Muslims have submitted to Islam, many of them because they felt they had no choice (or their parents or grandparents felt they had no choice). They are being used by the memeplex. Individual Muslims can free themselves from Islam, and many have, thanks to the web sites like FaithFreedom.org, and books like Leaving Islam.

I would suggest we not judge Muslims too harshly. Many of them are in some way rebelling against some of the memes, but out of custom, guilt, or because their Islamic government violently enforces the rules, they practice the rest of the religion.

"Muslims are the first victims of Islam," wrote E. Renan. "Many times I have observed in my travels in the Orient, that fanaticism comes from a small number of dangerous men who maintain the others in the practice of religion by terror. To liberate the Muslim from his religion is the best service that one can render him."

Fortunately, Muslims the world over have rebelled against this rigid and restricting memeplex, and that's the only reason Islam has not already taken over the world: Good people, coerced for generations to be Muslims, have slowed its spread by ignoring (probably with some guilt) the worst parts of the Koran.

It would be nice if we didn't have such a memeplex to deal with. It would be nice if we could all just get along. But sometimes things like this just have to be faced and handled, regardless of what we might rather be doing.

If you are a non-Muslim and you want to get started helping to curb the spread of the Islamic memeplex and the terrorism it produces, the best thing you can do is learn more about Islam and then speak up to your fellow Westerners.

You will be shocked at how little most people know about Islam. And they will be shocked to find out. And when enough Westerners know about it, Islamic tactics like pretext and deceit will be seen for what they are, and will no longer make us defenseless. When we know more about the founder (the one all Muslims should imitate) and the goals of the memeplex, our collective actions can effectively thwart their plans. Our collective grasp of the real situation will bring more rational changes to our laws and policies (such as our current immigration policies).

The key is what happens in one-on-one conversations throughout the West.

When you hear people talking about Islam or some conflict in the Middle East, that is a time to speak up, calmly and simply. Tell them about the Islamic memeplex. Tell them what they don't know. Help them update their understanding of the situation. Do this wherever you go, and start now. The situation is urgent.

Many of the memes that help Islam spread are in your head and in the heads of your fellow Westerners. That's the first place to start to fight against the viral spread of this clever memeplex.

The memes in your head (such as a blind faith in multiculturalism) are not the kind that will convert you into a Muslim, but they help the spread of Islam by taking down your defenses, and they even encourage you to spread information that makes the West easier to defeat. You can play an important role in curbing the spread of the Islamic memeplex by speaking up within your own sphere of influence.

How? When you hear a meme, stop it from spreading. For example, "Actually, what they mean by 'Islam is a religion of peace' is that their mission is to make the whole world submit to the law of Allah (Shari'a), and once that is accomplished, there will be peace in the world. Therefore, Islam is a religion of peace. That's not really peace as we know it."

But to do this kind of inoculation, you have to have a pretty good handle on the memeplex itself. That will require some study.

I know you have other things to do, and you can't make this a full-time occupation, but I also know how serious this is, so it will require some sacrifice on your part.

I have created a curriculum of sorts. I tried to figure out what would be the material you could study that would give you the most critical knowledge with the smallest investment of time. Here is my curriculum:

Books to read:

Islam and Terrorism
The Sword of the Prophet

Audiobook to listen to in your car:

Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam

If you listen to this program six times over the next year, you will have a grasp of the whole scope of the most important parts of the Islamic memeplex. If you only do one of the things I recommend here, this is the one you should do.

DVDs to watch:

Islam: What The West Needs To Know
Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West

These DVDs are not only good for your own education, they are an excellent way to introduce the ideas to your fellow Westerners. After you've watched them a couple of times, start loaning them out to friends. Keep them in circulation. Buy several copies if you need to.

You can stop the spread of the memes that make the West defenseless only by having a sufficient amount of knowledge.

When you hear someone imply that the United States brought the terrorists into existence with their bad foreign policy, how will you answer? One possible way to bring the whole thing into perspective is to give a brief history of jihad. During the last great jihad, Islamic forces conquered Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia, and they were at the Gates of Vienna in Austria in 1683, when their forces were finally defeated.

In other words, they were violently attacking and defeating Westerners (non-Muslims) before the United States had even been created.

This is not to say some of the United States foreign policies have left much to be desired. But the Islamic memeplex has a longer history and has merely used political mistakes as a pretext to engage in warfare, as they have since the beginning. If you don't know any of this, it would be easy to see things as the terrorists want you to see them, and in fact, many Westerners have bought the pretexts hook, line, and sinker.

Study that material, and start right away. The Islamic memeplex is out to take away freedoms and human rights. After millions of people have fought against tyranny and died to gain the rights and freedoms we enjoy today, here comes a pernicious memepex to take them away. And the Islamic memeplex could realistically succeed with terrifying brilliance.

Take action today. With every new understanding you have, and with every new certainty and clarity you gain, you will feel more bold in speaking up, and speaking up is exactly what you must do to fight a war of memes.

I have also created a version of the above article edited for readers who know nothing about Islam so you can share the information with a broader audience. Check it out: What Makes Islam So Successful?
Also, the Koranic expert at Islam Exposed has provided chapter and verse for many of the memes above. Find them here: Amplification of Key Concepts from The Terrifying Brilliance of Islam

Read more...

Article Spotlight

One of the most unusual articles on CitizenWarrior.com is Pleasantville and Islamic Supremacism.

It illustrates the Islamic Supremacist vision by showing the similarity between what happened in the movie, Pleasantville, and what devout fundamentalist Muslims are trying to create in Islamic states like Syria, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia (and ultimately everywhere in the world).

Click here to read the article.


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