Comments on Citizen Warrior: The Terrifying Brilliance of Islam

I'm working on it, slowly but surely.

2010-07-30T01:10:10.756-07:00

I'm working on it, slowly but surely.

I have one request, and hopefully the 51 commenter...

2010-07-29T18:42:43.306-07:00

I have one request, and hopefully the 51 commenters before me haven't said this multiple times.

For every place where you say, "It is in the Koran that ..." could you please provide a Surah and verse?

I agree with your concepts, and want YOUR collection of ideas to gain traction by being unimpeachable by bad reference practices.

Say whatever you want to say about Islam and Musli...

2010-07-18T11:00:49.276-07:00

Say whatever you want to say about Islam and Muslims. We are gonna be around till the end of time. and there is nothing you can do about that.

This is excellent-- and very useful. Thanks!

2010-07-09T22:33:05.133-07:00

This is excellent-- and very useful. Thanks!

I agree. Lets fight Islam. Only problem, how can...

2010-07-07T18:14:24.681-07:00

I agree. Lets fight Islam. Only problem, how can one credibly fight a set of irrational ideas if one
still maintains another set, perhaps less problematic, but equally irrational? That makes it hard to make
your point. How, for example, to you fight for the separation of church and state in Islamic countries?
Bribe key leaders with US money, every penny of which has an "In God we Trust" exhortation on it? Do you
think a sufficiently well armed and funded army of Christian missionaries could do the job? Difficult to
fight a four alarm fire with a three alarm fire. You have to fight it with cold water. Cold reason in this case.

I notice that the article talks about how a set of ideas has a life of it's own, and a certain survival of
the fittest growth pattern. That pretty well states the case for how irrationality grows like a cancer on
the group mind set.

Islam looks to be the natural end result of all religion, just like monopoly is the natural end result of
capitalism.

Tolerant silence becomes moral turpitude when applied to viral memes.

I know, I really should cite sources on this artic...

2010-07-04T21:08:15.677-07:00

I know, I really should cite sources on this article, and perhaps some day I will. In the meantime, anyone curious about this stuff can read Leaving Islam or listen to Thirteen Talks on Islam or watch Islam: What the West Needs to Know.

Or better yet, go to the source. Read the Koran.

Well written article with a very interesting thesi...

2010-07-04T20:23:55.367-07:00

Well written article with a very interesting thesis. But no supporting quotes from the Qurran or the Haddiths? You can't just claim that Islam is some sort of ingenius, imperialist, Machiavellian machine and then provide no supporting references. I hate to be a stickler for form, but you have to citate this shit. Otherwise, for all someone ignorant of Islam knowns, half the islamic tennets on your list could be made up lies. Go back and look up the quarranic verses which mandate this stuff.

Rarian Rakista, the difference between Christianit...

2010-07-03T14:20:12.562-07:00

Rarian Rakista, the difference between Christianity and Muslims is tremendous. I am not a Christian, but your response is such a common one, I wrote an article about it:

Why I Am Worried About Islam But Not Christianity

I don't know if you're a Muslim or not, but if you are, please read:

A Message to Peaceful Muslims

Christianity suffers the same problem, namely a re...

2010-07-03T13:58:48.519-07:00

Christianity suffers the same problem, namely a religion built the authority of a singular sky daddy promising a better life if you act like a good Christian/Muslim/Jew in this life. Where good can be defined in all religions as killing the 'other' and we have seen instances where all 3 religions have been used in this way. Don't blame Muhammad, blame Abraham.

Dear CW, You are correct to say 'millions' of Mus...

2010-07-03T07:29:29.529-07:00

Dear CW,

You are correct to say 'millions' of Muslims wish to fight America and Israel. Out of over one billion people, there are 1-2% of Muslims who are militant. What they lack is a galvanizing leader.
When a charismatic leader shows up, they will march.

The critics of your well and simply written explanation of political Islam...well...they are quite naive about the popularity of jihad, the universal, totalitarian caliphate and other central ideas of Islam. Because it is PERFECT, Islam cannot be changed.

You're right about one thing, GordonHide: Although...

2010-07-02T19:36:37.880-07:00

You're right about one thing, GordonHide: Although I read your earlier post at the time you posted it, I have gotten so many comments on all my blogs since then, I didn't remember what your motivations were.

Terrorism and despots are the least of our worries, in my opinion. I think the non-violent methods are more dangerous. Check out Robert Spencer's "Stealth Jihad" and Waging Jihad by Gaining Concessions to see what I mean.

Citizen Warrior:- “I am guessing your motivation t...

2010-07-02T18:45:30.013-07:00

Citizen Warrior:- “I am guessing your motivation to convince me to change it is so you can share the information with others.”

And I’m guessing that you didn’t read my earlier post. I think you’re whole approach, although based on reasonably good data, contains conclusions which are not merited and overlook the glaring shortcomings, from a Muslim’s point of view, of the very Islamic traits of which you believe we should all be frightened.

Islam is just another failed philosophy in terms of relevance to the real world. Its danger to us is the fact that so many people, indoctrinated at a young age to value scripture above critical thinking and real evidence, are easily manipulated to act in ways counter to their own interests.

Islam is not the “monolithic, effective formula for world takeover” you have represented but it is an insidious source of terrorism and megalomaniac politicians. Both these represent serious enough problems for the modern world without your exaggerations. Rousing rabble against straw man caricatures is not the way to go.

GordonHide, I don't think it is overstated. It de...

2010-07-02T16:29:55.454-07:00

GordonHide,

I don't think it is overstated. It depends on how you define "dedicated." However, I am working on another version of this piece, one that others can share with people who are new to the information, and I have altered that first sentence accordingly. Check it out:

The Unsettling Brilliance of Islam

I am guessing your motivation to convince me to change it is so you can share the information with others. So I recommend you use the newer version.

Look Citizen Warrior, support for suicide bombing...

2010-07-02T16:15:22.095-07:00

Look Citizen Warrior,

support for suicide bombing in defence of Islam is a long way from “Millions of Muslim men are dedicated to killing Americans”. Why don’t you just admit that you made an inflammatory unjustified assertion which many will read as a generalisation. You’ll feel better for it and you’ll be less likely to do it again.

Okay, here's one more comment from the Dawkins sit...

2010-07-01T01:29:06.107-07:00

Okay, here's one more comment from the Dawkins site:

If you think it's offensive to point out the obvious regarding "millions" of Muslims: get a clue. Either you're being willfully dishonest or you're lacking a basic high school numerical education.

For instance, focusing just on the case of Pakistan, let's take a look at the Pew Global Attitudes Project 2009. It seems that at the very minimum, 9% of Muslims support Al Qaeda and 27% support the Taliban. With a population of 170 million, that's very easily into the millions of fundamentalist Muslims who want to kill Americans. And that's just taking the case of Pakistan. No doubt other Muslim-majority nations are even worse. (Actually, the statistics for British Muslims are maybe just as bad.)

And here's a link to the Pew document (it's a PDF):

http://pewglobal.org/files/pdf/265.pdf#page=3

And here's a link to the Muslim Poll (also a PDF):

http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/pdfs/2004_march_guardian_muslims_poll.pdf#page=7

Here's a link to the Dawkins post: http://richard...

2010-07-01T01:22:40.489-07:00

Here's a link to the Dawkins post:

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/483599-the-terrifying-brilliance-of-islam

And here's another comment:

All religions set forth beliefs that say I am going to hell. Islam sets forth a belief that Muslims are to send me there. The surveys confirm it, in almost every country surveyed (in the Muslim world) over half the population supported suicide bombing against civilian targets. The surveys can be found with a google search or on wikipedia. Do a little legwork and educate yourself.

Someone posted this article on RichardDawkins.net ...

2010-07-01T01:20:01.093-07:00

Someone posted this article on RichardDawkins.net and it provoked some interesting comments. One person said that "millions" of Muslim men wanting to kill Americans might be an overgeneralization. Someone responded with this:

Simply saying "millions" need not imply a generalization of any kind.

There are approximately 1.57 billion Muslims in the world.

The phrase "millions" is far from precise, but one needs at least 2 million units for it to be accurate. Therefore, a statement like "Millions of Muslim men are dedicated to X" is true if 1 in 785 Muslim men is dedicated to X. That's about 0.127%

Now, while I can't testify to the specifics of the claim, namely, the desire of this percentage of Muslim men to kill "millions of Americans", I think a quick look at any data whatsoever indicates that it is, in all likelihood, true.

For example, in 2002, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press published a so called "Global Attitudes Project". One of the questions asked to over 38,000 Muslims was "Is suicide bombing in defense of Islam ever justifiable?" Sam Harris has an analysis of this in The End of Faith, in Chapter 4.

The numbers show answers, from largely Muslim countries, in the affirmative with percents ranging from 82% (Lebanon) to 20% (Turkey).

I submit that one is not "Making General Statements of An Entire Population" in stating that millions of Muslim men are dedicated to killing Americans, since that need imply only 0.127% of support of such an idea. Any corrections to this line of argument are welcome.

Many of the features you quote as strengths of Isl...

2010-06-29T05:37:09.402-07:00

Many of the features you quote as strengths of Islam are also weaknesses. You should think on why it is that so many states where Islam is the majority religion are dysfunctional compared to Western democracies.

In my view you need to have a lack of faith in Western democracy to believe that Islam can present a credible threat beyond terrorism.

Muslims are caught in a time warp which poisons their efforts to compete with freer societies. Did you know that there have been only two Muslim Nobel laureates in science? Both of these received their higher education in the West.
If there had been over a billion Danes, for instance, they would have earned over 1400 science Nobel laureates .

Maybe we could consider this number 27. I read abo...

2010-06-27T14:25:03.318-07:00

Maybe we could consider this number 27. I read about it in the book THOUGHT CONTAGION:

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 the author points out, "to dissuade each other from losing faith."

I think you are leaving one important factor out a...

2010-06-27T12:41:05.179-07:00

I think you are leaving one important factor out also; the ease in which you can convert to islam if you are coming from a different background, along with the strictness and clear guidelines that islam put forth for how you should live your life.

A lot of other religions can be way more vague or fuzzy, and also have higher thresholds for conversion.

This goes along with the fact that a lot of the kind of people who are "vulnerable to religiosity" and go "religion surfing" (i.e. feel disillusioned with their current belief or view the society in which they live as "in decline" and that e.g. christianity no longer can do a good job of keeping stuff in order), often end up with islam as they claim it "made most sense" to them.

Each time I hear this I'm just a puzzled as the previous time, but I guess they are just saying that "I need strict rules for how to live my life". Combine that with the easy conversion (say the shahada and "mean it"), and you've got a potent combo.

I came by this article by chance and I am very gla...

2010-06-27T11:43:06.756-07:00

I came by this article by chance and I am very glad I did. I am not a religios person and truly think that teaching kids any religion as a must as child abuse. However, I respect everyone who respects me as a non-believer. Muslims can not be talked to for all the reasons in this article, and this is a big problem. I have asked many Muslims and Mulas about a few simple issues and never got a reply:
1. Why would anyone want to go to Heaven if you never meet your loved ones? Just to have sex and drink wine?
2. Why would women be Muslims as there is nothing in the Quran to offer them in Heaven. Would they also sleep with virgin girls?
3. Finally, if everyone is a virgin in Heaven, what happens after they sleep with each other, do they still remain virgins? If so, why would anyone want to go through that trouble again?

It is clearly nonsense and all Muslims are preoccupied with sex and "sins". The largest consumer of porn are muslims when they come West and you just have to look where are "escort" cards posted throughout European cities. Where the largest Muslim population is. West is very tolerant and it is time to stop this as if we don't wake up, we will be no more.
3. If everyone is a virgin (

Yes, I agree. That would be nice. Unfortunately, I...

2010-06-27T01:09:20.829-07:00

Yes, I agree. That would be nice. Unfortunately, I'm not a scholar, and although I know those principles of Islam are valid (I only wrote them down if the source was a good one) I didn't write down the source.

Someday I hope an Islamic scholar will come along and list the numbers of each idea with its corresponding chapter and verse. I know Robert Spencer could do it, but he's a busy man.

Hi, it would be nice if you added the sources, li...

2010-06-27T00:12:08.561-07:00

Hi,

it would be nice if you added the sources, like the sura(s) that refers to the corresponding idea.

Regards

An audio version is a great idea. Would anyone lik...

2010-06-26T11:28:39.083-07:00

An audio version is a great idea. Would anyone like to volunteer to create one for me?

About the "millions:" I didn't mean "a whole lot." I meant at least two million. And that is a conservative estimate. The number who are dedicated to killing Americans is hard to quantify. Perhaps the word that should be changed is "dedicated." Just how dedicated are they? Some are in training camps. Some are in sleeper cells inside American borders already. Some only dream of it "some day." And many tens or even hundreds of millions support it, encourage it, or help finance it.

This was a very well written article. i am half s...

2010-06-26T09:15:11.828-07:00

This was a very well written article.

i am half saudi living in saudi arabia.i wish more people would have your style in presentation. it calls for more research on behalf of the reader. as apposed to rebellion against whats said.