[ExI] Arabs don't read

[John Clark]

On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 11:52 AM, Harvey Newstrom <mail at harveynewstrom.com>
wrote:

> I think you misunderstood my point.  I was not discussing how much or
> little the language had changed.  I was pointing out the weak chain of
> assumptions that: most Arab readers are Muslim
>

And that is true,

> most Muslims follow the Quran
>

 And that is true,


>  > most Quran readers are extreme fundamentalists
>

Ah the moderate Muslim, that elusive prey that's as hard to find as Big
Foot or cold fusion or ESP or flying saucers. In a 2013 Pew Research Survey
over 50% of the Muslims in the Middle East and South Asia believe that
those who wish to change their religion away from Islam (the religion of
piece) to another religion or to no religion should be beheaded. The
majority also thinks that female adulterers (but not male ones!) should be
stoned to death. And Abu Azmi the leader of the Islamic Socialist Party in
India thinks that victims of rape should be hanged because consensual oy
not these women still engaged in sex outside of marriage. But I do admit
that American Muslims are not as radical, only 46% of them think that those
who “criticize or parody Islam in the U.S. should face criminal charges”.

As Bill Muehlenberg at Culture Watch said:

“So did you hear about the mass demo of Muslims in Sydney worried about
Islamic extremism? Did you catch the big turnout of Muslims in Paris
denouncing jihad? Did you notice the tens of thousands of Muslims marching
in London to stand against Islamic bloodshed and violence in Iraq? Did you
read about the anti-jihad protests by concerned Muslims in Amsterdam?"

"Neither did I."

“Instead, all we hear is crickets chirping. The silence has been deafening.
One atrocity after another takes place all over the world, and the Islamic
community remains absolutely mute. We just don’t hear a peep out of them
distancing themselves from the terror and murder. And there may be several
reasons for this. One, moderate Muslims really may not exist. Perhaps that
is the reason. Or two, if they do exist, they rightly know that if they do
speak up, they could well lose their heads – literally. That is also
telling: Islam is so bad, that those who prefer real tolerance,
civilisation and basic humanity are too terrified to speak up. And heaven
knows there is plenty to speak up about. Not a day goes by without yet
another horrific atrocity and murderous rampage being committed in the name
of Islam. It becomes nearly impossible to keep up with them all.

>  > my point was that this would be as spurious as saying: most English
> readers are Christian
>

 And that is true


> > most Christians follow the Bible
>

And that is not true. Even though the core belief of Christianity (Jesus
was God) is even stupider than the core belief of Islam (there is no God
but Allah and Mohamed is His messenger) Christians largely keep their loony
ideas in a box that they only open for a few hours on Sunday, Muslims keep
their box of crazy open 24-7.  Christians just don't take their religion as
seriously as Muslims do, a thousand years ago they did but not now. And
even a Christian preacher that we on this list would think of as a
Neanderthal fundamentalists would be a radical social progressive in the
Islamic world.

  John K Clark
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