So I was on facebook and came across this:

In case you can’t see it at the bottom it’s put out by muslimsarenotterrorists.com so already we can tell that being an unbiased source is clearly not happening.

It states that ISIS has killed about 100,000 muslims in the past two years. Now, I’ve done a bit of searching, and cannot find out if this number is accurate at all. I find reports of 24,000 being killed in certain areas, a couple more thousand in other areas, etc. But it’s an interesting thing working here. We know there are Christians and Pagans who are being killed, enslaved, and so forth by ISIS…but only muslim casualties are mentioned here.

So there are two options.

1) ISIS has killed over 100,000 people (a number I find shocking, horrifying, and sadly all too realistic) and the author of this infopic is deliberately ignoring non-muslim casualties.

2) ISIS has killed about 100,000 people and the author of this infopic is deliberately erasing Christian and Pagan identities and claiming all victims were Muslims.

In either case, I find myself in a position to well, not trust their position at all. They are either ignoring the dead, or ignoring the identities of the dead in order to make a political and religious statement.

So let’s get down to the meat of this. Before we blame Muslims or Islam for the crimes of Islamic terrorists…we should think of the Muslims murdered by said terrorists. As if Muslim victims deserve a privileged status over non-Muslim victims.

Ha.

So I’m going to look at this blame thing in two parts. Muslims and Islam.

Are Muslims (presumably all Muslims) to blame for the Crimes of ISIS?

It is my personal believe that each man is responsible for the crimes he commits. To blame a man for the crimes of his ancestors is unfair, he had no way to prevent such a crime. To blame the man for the crime of his neighbor, too, is not so easily done, especially if the man is ignorant of the crime being committed.

That is my personal view.

However, there is a widely held belief that those around someone who commit a crime and do not prevent it, are responsible. Every time a loan gunman has gone out and killed people, media and populace alike have screamed in loud voices “the family and friends knew this person! They should have realized what was happening! Why didn’t they do something to stop this?”

I see no reason why this position should not be aimed at the Muslim community as a whole. After all, the latest statistics I have heard about support for Islamic extremist views put out by international intelligence agencies was that 1/4 – 1/15 Muslims believed in an Islam Identical to that Islam believed in many “terrorist” Islamic organizations. Meaning that statistically every Muslim family has at least one relative who believes in radical, violent, supremacist Islam.

Now that is statistics, and actual ratios no doubt differ depending on location. In ISIL lands, I’m sure the number is closer to 14/15 Muslims believe in Fundamentalist, Supremacist Islam. But these are the ratios we have, and the lowest is 1/15.

To put this in perspective, on my dad’s side of my extended family we have probably a good 60 living members at least. Say that’s an average “Family size” and double that for Mom, you’re looking at say 120 family members. At the minimum 1/15 ratio, you’re looking at at least 4 family members who support Islamist Islam.

As just one of the attacks in Paris showed the other night, 4 people is enough to kill about 100 people fairly easily, if brutally.

So it is not a unjust assumption to assume that there is at least one radical in every Muslim family. Now ever family has that “crazy uncle/cousin/etc” but eccentricity is no excuse to not be vigilant. After all, if one of my cousins started talking about blowing up some place because it wasn’t Christian and killing people because they didn’t believe in Christ, you can bet your ass that if the whole family didn’t dogpile the shit out of them, at least one of us (myself included) would go over and beat sense into them (or hand them over to the cops with evidence).

So why should Muslim families be held to any different standard?

Now I’ve heard stories of Muslim parents caught unaware by their Children’s radicalization. How much of these claims I believe, is actually hard to say. How do you not realize your child is suddenly wanting to go kill the infidel? Sure, the internet makes secret lives better, but maybe you might actually want to sit down and talk with your children about what they believe. If they’re a fanatic, it will generally slip out.

So that’s families, but what about the Muslim people as a whole?

Well, I come from a religion (Heathenism) with its own fair share of “radicals,” though thankfully our radicals spit a lot of bile and don’t go out and kill people. My experience as a member of Heathenism is that many, many people like to claim “all Heathens are racists.” And it’s true, some Heathens are racists. But we other Heathens step up, and step down on them. While we might not crush every one accused of racism, but those who have actually been racist tend to find themselves surrounded by a bunch of very angry Heathens. The problem then tends to resolve itself non-violently, long before any violence towards others would have occurred.

So if it is fair for my religion to be judged by our worst, and for my religion to police its worst, I see no reason why it is not a fair expectation of Muslims to do the same. A people is made up of both its best and brightest, and its worst and darkest. How you uplift the former and crush the latter is the true measure of a people’s worth.

And frankly, Muslims have done a terrible job of that. ISIS is supposed to have killed 100,000 Muslims and yet the Muslim world has done jack all to actually stop them. If anything, ISIS has clearly spread it’s ability to affect the larger world outside it’s national borders in ways no one thought possible. And I do hold Muslims responsible for that. These are their people, their kinsmen, and instead of massing up and putting ISIS down…they are running away. And not just running away, allowing these extremists to tag along with them into non-Muslim lands who have generously offered safe haven only to receive violence and bloodshed for noble mercies.

If you see a man being butchered on the street, and you do nothing to help, are you not guilty of at least aiding in the crimes of the murderers? I think so. If you know that people are going to go out and murder others, and you do nothing to stop it? Legally, you’re an accomplice. Morally, you have committed a great sin.

Is Islam to blame for the Crimes of ISIS.

There is an interesting trend when it comes to things like this. So I’m going to flip it around.

Is Christianity to blame for the burning of witches and the brutalities of the Inquisitions and Crusades?

I’m pretty sure there will be a resounding cry of affirmation from most people to that question. Christianity has a long history of violence and supremacy behind it. In the name of Christ, thousands, millions have been butchered across history. And even most Christians will admit that yes, the Christian faith is responsible for those atrocities.

So why is it suddenly not okay to blame Islam for the deeds and actions inspired by its holy texts? Indeed, the greatest atrocities we hear coming from ISIS are not only inspired by passages from the Koran, they are directly commanded quotes from the Koran. Those that are not, are taken directly from some of the historically validated greatest scholars of Islamic religious belief.

If a group of Orthodox Jews were to suddenly begin exterminating every non-Jew in the Middle East based on the commandments to do so from the Torah and the Greatest Rabbis of history, I certainly wouldn’t try to claim they were no longer practicing Judaism.

So why do we allow this to happen with Islam?

We shouldn’t. As long as Muslims and others are allowed to claim that ISIS and those like them are not “real Muslims” the the problem doesn’t end. It’s like claiming that the Nazi’s who carried out the holocaust weren’t the “Real Nazis” because they interpreted some parts of National Socialist doctrine in a literal way that said it was a good thing to gas Jews. Or like saying that the Crusaders and Inquisition weren’t real Christians because they interpreted their faith and texts in a way that let them do what they did.

The whole of the “ISIS is not Islam” rests on a logical fallacy known as the “no true Scotsman.”

“Person A: “No Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.”

Person B: “But my uncle Angus likes sugar with his porridge.”

Person A: “Ah yes, but no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.””

This is basically what every Islamist denying “it’s not Islam” person is doing. “No Muslim would commit such acts!” “We have proof that the terrorist was a part of the Islamic State.” “Well, no true Muslim would be a terrorist!”

Except, that all falls apart when you look at who the first and best guide to being a Muslim is to ever Muslim out there: The Prophet Mohammad.

And every action taken by ISIS is a mirror of actions taken by the original Prophet Mohammad and his followers. All of them. The only difference is that ISIS has guns and trucks rather than bows and camels. But all the rapes, all the murders, all the “Destroy the infidel!” things…yeah. Exact same. It’s all in the Koran. Holy scripture. And Mohammad is universally referred to in Islam by all Muslims as “Allah’s Perfect Man.” Which, when you consider the fact that he was deserving of Divine Revelations to a God’s personal message….kinda tells me as a Polytheist that such a man is what that God completely desired to have preaching his message.

Remember, in Islam, Mohammed is held up to the same, if not greater status, as Jesus, Moses, and Abraham. That level of perfection. These guys are Equals. Abraham put YHVH/Allah as the only god, Moses freed his people from life long slavery, and Jesus tried to teach everyone to love thy neighbor. And then Mohammad shows up with “enslave the Jew and Christian, make them 2nd class citizens in your land taxed for their different belief, and just go ahead and kill any pagans, gays, or other people who are not muslims.”

A full list of just what kind of a person the Prophet Mohammad was in his “perfection” would be worthy of an article of its own. But I’ll leave it at this. To say he would be a war criminal and pedophile by today’s standards is a completely factual statement based on his own holy book’s record of his deeds. And this is Islam’s Perfect Man.

So I’m sorry, but if your Perfect Muslim give an example that says ISIS needs to put on their try hard panties because they’re not doing enough to mimic his own actions…I’m going to say Islam is directly responsible. Christianity is responsible for its bad actors and actions, Judaism has been, Heathenism has been, etc. Islam must be as well.

 

 

It’s time to stop treating Islam and Muslims like the child pitching a fit in the supermarket that we’re all to terrified to discipline because he’s throwing shit everywhere, and get the proverbial belt. Christianity has mellowed out extremely because we as a whole world gave it said belt and told it “no, you do not get to go around killing people simply because you don’t like them.” We cannot expect Islam, child of the same god and follower of the same history, to do better without also teaching it.

So yes, I blame Islam for what it’s followers do. And yes, I hold Muslims responsible for their actions, or more accurately, inaction in stopping the growth of ideologies and groups like ISIS. If you do nothing, and evil grows, then you have helped that evil and violence to grow. If you speak the words “kill the non-believer” and people go out and do that, you are directly responsible for those murders.

 

Hela Bless, Bellona Avenge.