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I don't know where this comes from nor do I feel why I have to explain myself, but here goes.
You don't have to explain yourself. However, what you have written is pretty much nonsense, and you might want to clarify that. On the other hand, since your response is pretty much nonsense, maybe it would have been better if you hadn't. To wit:
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A roomate in college...hipped me to the jive of Wahhabism folks.
Interesting. And so the the conclusion you draw from your conversations with your former room mate is that all Muslims are dangerous terrorists? Or all Arabs? Or just brown-skinned people who are devout? Is that really what you room mate was telling you? Odd. I wonder if he was part of the elite of his country (he was studying in this country, after all) and if that had something to do with how he colored the discussions with you. Did he mention that what support the Wahabbis have in Saudi Arabia is mainly a means of expressing fustration and anger at the corruption and nepotism among the Saudi rulers?
I actually
lived in Tanzania for three years. And with the local people, too, not in a walled compound. Half the people around me were Christian, the other half were Muslim. To be honest, except for fasting during Ramadan and going to church on Sunday, I never noticed much difference between the two. The Muslims were pretty peaceful and pleasant. Should I conclude that all Muslims are peaceful and pleasant? Or just the African ones?
I also knew a shop keeper of Indian descent who was Muslim. He told me that it was un-Islamic to force one's beliefs on other people. May I conclude that all Muslims are uninterested in forcing their beliefs on other people? After all, that is something I learned from a Muslim from a foreign land as well. How are my contacts any less reliable than yours?
So, maybe you might want to flesh out your arguement about how the Wahabbis pose a grave and imminent danger to the West, because, frankly, I don't see it.
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If you think I am in some way exaggerating about their hatred for us... then get on a plane. Go on... get on a plane and travel to Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia... find a wahhabism rally... wear a t-shirt that says "Christian American," on the front and "Up with Bush," on the back... and see how long you survive.
Gee. Let's see -- there is one group that is undeniably extreme in its views...so we must fear the entire rabble of the Middle East? And your demonstration of how extreme they are is their potential reaction to a T-shirt supporting someone who has basically declared war on them?
"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt
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