Osama bin Gulley
Question: Sen. Nate Gulley and Osama bin Laden. What do they have in common? Answer to follow.
So this weekend, I took an experimental INTL class on ‘Militant Islam’, taught by Sociology/International Studies prof. Anita Weiss. We first studied the roots of Islam, how it started, and what some of its core values are. The general point of the class was to study the foundations of the faith and how it has become, in the average American mindset, such a militant and feared religion and culture.
Stemming from burns and wounds from the Crusades and European colonialism, many Islamic communities started different reform movements in the 1700s-1900s. Some called for more acceptance of the West, others said that Islam should be completely autonomous from the West, and yet others felt that the correct path of action was to overthrow their own governments and leaders for appeasing the infidels.
These are the roots of current Islamic extremism and militant-ness. At the core level, Islam actually has a check-and-balance system that says when the Islamic spiritual and political leaders are not following the religion, then the followers have a holy obligation to overthrow those leaders.
Osama bin Laden stated his mission as to destroy “infidel regimes, apostate rulers, and the ‘Crusader Alliance.'” The first and last are clearly the United States, Europe, and Israel. However, the second target, ‘apostate rulers’, refers to those Islamic leaders that have been lead astray by the West and gone against their roots and religion.
When I realized this, it resonated with something much closer in proximity. Something on campus. In essence, Osama bin Laden and these other militant groups are telling their spiritual and political leaders that they have ‘forgotten where they came from.’
Wait…where have I heard this before? Oh yeah. It seems like Osama bin Laden and Sen. Gulley have more in common than either thought. Perhaps bin Laden’s web-crawler will find this, realize how much he is like Gulley, and kill himself in shame.
Come back when you’re sober, Hitchens!
Sean: cool then, it sounds at least kind of interesting. I have a copy of Arab & JewI’ve been meaning to read for a few years, but I am extremely lazy.
Whatever. Fuck Led Zeppelin.
“I do not believe any of the statistical claims that are made about public opinion. I don
When I realized this, it resonated with something much closer in proximity. Something on campus. In essence, Osama bin Laden and these other militant groups are telling their spiritual and political leaders that they have
Good point…the fear part was me adding it in, but we didn’t actually discuss that in class.
That’s pretty much the statement I object to, because I really don’t think the average American is afraid of Islam as a religion or culture. I think a bunch of bedwetters on the right are, but it’s pretty obvious that a majority think otherwise. Look at the first two questions on this table from Pew.
Sure, its most recent data is July 2005, but the “Does Islam encourage violence?” and “Opinion of Islam” questions are pretty telling regarding the above. On the first question, only 36% of respondents said yes. On the second only 36% had an unfavorable opinion of Islam. So, to say that the average American has a fearful midset about Islam, I think, is pretty far off the mark. Now, as for the rest of the middle east history stuff and what not, that could be pretty darn interesting.
What conjectures are you talking about? These are all mine, not the sociologist’s. She presented us with the history of Islam and Islamic reform, and told us about the mechanisms that the religion provides to effect these reforms.
The class is titled Militant Islam, but the fear of the Islamic world, that’s a presumption of mine that I have felt.
The study you linked to isn’t quite accurate, either, as it documents the general opinion of Muslim-AMERICANS, not the Islamic world. We’re not talking about the guys that hang out at Starbucks and the Yamada Language Center all the time, we’re talking about the Muslim Brotherhood who assassinated PM Anwar Sadat and attempted to kill PM Nasser. And the roots of Osama bin Laden.
Eh, Muslims aren’t that unpopular in the US. Sounds like the sociologist’s conjecture is wrong again…shocking, really.
lolololol