Craig, the simplest (and quite accurate) definition of terrorism: violence with a political motive. A bank robbery is not terrorism . . . unless the robbers are using the money to fund terrorist acts. Under that definition, it seems that blacks who target white cops for attack/assassination are terrorists. So we have issues in this country with terrorists who are not Muslim.
Given that Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world (I think . . . maybe Buddhism somewhere close), how can one avoid comparing them? Stop and think historically for a moment, Craig. Much of the Muslim world was under the colonial rule of Christian nations not so long ago. Some of those Muslim nations had to resort to what might be called terrorism--or maybe revolution, depending on how you look at it--to throw off the colonial yoke. If you haven't seen the movie "The Battle of Algiers" about the Algerian war of independence, it's worth checking out. War of independence . . . kinda sounds like us against the British, doesn't it? So, let's see . . . Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon . . . all former French colonies (not to mention a few African nations sub-Sahara, mostly Muslim, that were also French.) Egypt, what was then Palestine, Jordan, Iraq . . . all formerly parts of the British Empire. Not to mention Pakistan and Bangladesh. Again, add to that list various sub-Saharan Muslim nations, also part of Great Britain's empire. Indonesia was a Dutch colony. And this didn't end until after WWII. So pretty darned recent. Begin to understand why many Muslims--who tend, in general, to have very long memories when it comes to history (Sunnis and Shiites don't get along because of a battle that happened well over 1,000 years ago!) aren't always so well-disposed towards Christians and Christianity.
But as I explained previously, law enforcement cannot profile in the same way intelligence can--because they're trying to build cases that will stand up in court, and profiling can be used as a defense by those being charged. And it's not like this country hasn't had relatively recent incidents with non-Muslim terrorists. The radical left, continuing on from Vietnam days for sometime afterwards. Tim McVeigh--the most successful singleton terrorist this country has ever seen, based on body count from one attack. That's from the radical right. But the reason I said that an imam would LIKELY be investigated if he were bad: there has to be some evidence that he is. Law enforcement can't do blanket coverage of every mosque while neglecting every church. That'd be obvious profiling. Intelligence can. And if they can provide reliable information that something's going on in a mosque, then law enforcement can take a harder look.
Complicated . . . but remember, we're a nation that bends over backwards to protect minorities. Maybe because, at various points in our history, we haven't done such a good job of protecting minority rights.
And I don't believe I ever suggested that college should be free. That being said, it's clearly far less affordable now than it was for me. Darned near impossible for a kid without some scholarship assistance--probably quite a bit--to make it through college debt free, even if they work their butts off.
And you need to read what that dean at the U of Chicago wrote to incoming freshmen about safe zones, trigger warnings, etc. At least some indication that some college administrators are realizing that they've gone too far in the PC direction.
Last edited by L. Brown; 09/30/16 05:53 PM.
