That's right. Therefore it may be more useful to fogget about the all too convenient labels and stereotypes, and start referring to them as "brainwashed, intolerant, violent fanatics" instead (I'm also OK just calling them Assholes for brevity), as the sort of people we all hope to remain what they are: luny fringe groups whose crimes belong in the court room and the criminals taken out of society.Ibrahim wrote:Rhapsody wrote:Well this is an inherent problem with the Islamophobic perception of religious extremism. There are some very extreme, very conservative Islamic schools of thought that are not violent at all. There are Muslims who aren't particularly interested in theology or religious observance who are violent and part of militant organizations. This confusion between violence and religious conservatism is both produced by, and causes more, very inaccurate claims about the subject.Many religious extremist groups, be it Christian, Islamic or other.. do not promote intolerance nor resort to physical violence of the sort we are talking about here. "Religious extremism" I find a way to general container. "Brainwashed, intolerant, violent fanatics" suits better.
And I am with you on another type of Asshole, i.e. the one that throws drone bombs on some other Asshole while being totally insensitive to the civilians that die in the process. You may be right that it is pure and simple racism that lurks behind those drone strikes and the indifference towards civilian casualties of Muslim brownies, but it may also be a faceless sort of indifference because the killers in this case don't need to be afraid to face a court while the public that could vote them out of office is uninformed and more concerned with keeping their jobs and feed their children. And then there are career politicians, business interests in military gear etc.. too. A mix of all that.