Is Kelley Right in his article "The Face of Evil is ISIS"

Posted by Esceptico 9 years, 1 month ago to Politics
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Kelley substantially states the same arguments made by the neocons and standard conservatives, to wit: the Muslims hate us because of our culture. But, could this be wrong? Is there at least one other motive which drives the Muslims even more than that the standard answer? For example, about 90% of the “bad guys” have said the motivation is the Western World putting their noses under the Muslim Tents. So, if the West simply left them alone to live on dirt floors, would they withdraw with this fight against West go back to happily doing something else, like fighting among themselves? Ron Paul (and others) makes a good case for this position.


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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I disagree.... my observations back to when I was a kid were that the oil companies DID try to screw over the oil producing companies by not pricing the oil well to the producers.

    After a bunch of Saudis and others got rich enough to send their kids to Stanford for MBA's, the kids went home and said, "Hey, Dad, they're fucking us over. We need to change that."

    And that's when oil prices started to rise above zero and ten-cent per gallon gas was never seen again.

    But I don't think that's Root Cause.

    I think the Islamist fundamentalists are carrying grudges and 'honor revenge mentalities' that date back to The Crusades and maybe earlier than that.

    It ain't just the oil or the oil companies. It's a cultural memory and THAT kind of revenge-driven belief system is REALLY fucking hard to quench.

    And no, it's NOT Boooosh's fault, either.... not him alone. US policies of trying to pick the winners and losers For Other Countries have a batting average close to 0.000, and THESE are some of the results, too.

    Yes, it's complex, and any simple "they're to blame" or 'nuke 'em back to the Stone Age' "solution" is Guaranteed To Not Work.

    but shit, what do I know?...
    Critical Thinking is DEAD.
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    wigs, the use of atomics as a weapon of control or elimination of islamists just can't work.
    The blast radius is still too small, and I'd let YOU handle all the countries subsequently pissed at us or whoever for the radioactive fallout on Their "Innocent" Citizens.

    Get serious, please!

    The fanatical islamists are not located together where even carpet-bombing would be effective, and to think so is a lack of Critical Thinking.

    Cutting off their financial sources might work, but also hard to do. Everyone keeps thinking that This War Is Like The Last Big Wars and that the strategies, tactics AND Weapons of those wars will work on the Islamist Fundamentalists.

    They won't. A whole new mindset is needed, and for sure, the voting citizens of the US haven't reached that point, and the smart folks in the Pentagon, IF they've got it figured out, have NOT communicated it to us in a way that we can understand and support.

    I hope that helps frame the Problem/Solution discussion a bit.

    Otherwise, my observation that Critical Thinking Is DEAD will stand.
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I try to call 'it' Radical Islamism or something like that.
    I don't believe it's "all Muslims" although I'm still waiting for their Vast Majority to make more noise and try to stop the Radical factions from doing the horrible shit they do.
    Sometimes I call 'em just Islamists: the morons who think they're getting virgins in heaven if they kill non-Believers. Killing people who don't follow the beliefs of their particular cult, and cult is what it is, by any rational definition or observation.
    Fortunately, it looks like more people are waking up to the danger, at least in parts of Europe and maybe a few in the US.
    I just hope it's not too late. I'd love to live out my days in comfort and peace and health, and with my head attached firmly to my body.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    It isn't we who has to do the job it's given to someone else while 'we' sit safely while the message is re-sent. I spent many years as one of those who were sent and then abandoned by those who did the sending.....Remember that next time you choose that solution. Also remember that when a society treats it's military despicably they end up with a military that despises that society.

    You may well be seeing the results of that right now when I state in this forum 'I wonder if the military is going to uphold it' oath of office?'

    You might well discuss... 'why should they?"
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    All gave the same to the Muslims except one in how many are not equipped with the switch. No problem. Appointments are still available. It would be inhuman otherwise.
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  • Posted by ewv 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    It wasn't the western oil companies that made them a threat -- it was the fact that they nationalized the oil fields discovered and developed by western companies and we did nothing about it.
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  • Posted by mia767ca 9 years, 1 month ago
    muslims are anti-life and anti-civilization...when they attacked our shipping during Thomas Jefferson's presidency, he created the Marines and sent them to Tripoli with orders to kill every man, woman, and child...it worked...the muslims left us alone...it is time to re-send the message..
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    God created man in his image and bid him go forth thou art equal. Gave him the capacity to think, but left the manual, the on and off switch location, and the requirement to do so out of the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. What a trick to play on the leftists. Cruel and Unusual? Not in the least . Deserved and unavoidable -..heh heh heh Exactly.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    semantics doth not change the out come of the appointment. That's up to them and their diety. All we do is act as travel agent.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Just arrange an earlier than expected appointment for them - with Allah - face to face. It worked with God and Budda. No customer complaints no refunds.
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  • Posted by wiggys 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    followup; the un chief warns about atomic bomb use by the radicals i.e. isis, and some of you think i am to harsh when i say liquidate all of the muslim world, given the chance they will do it to us and then what will the so called leaders do? they are a JOKE and a bad one at that!
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 1 month ago
    I would like to think that Kelly is right. However, let me tell you about an old friendship I had with an African man who was related to some important people in the struggles in that beleaguered continent. We talked with complete honesty for many hours. I met him in college and saw him off and on over the years. His distillation of hatred for America was nothing like I hear today. I'll try to replicate it for you in a few sentences. He said (paraphrase) "If I went barefoot all my life, and I met someone wearing shoes, I'd want those shoes. It didn't matter if they hurt my feet, they awakened a desire for shoes. But, I can't get them. I have no money. However, as civilization encroaches upon me, I find many things I cannot have. Before my exposure to Western Culture, I was content with what I had. But now I am filled with envy knowing I can never have those things. I am filled with envy which leads to hatred. Then I am told that I am blessed, because if I can help destroy those wealthy people, I will go to a paradise so beautiful that I can hardly imagine it."
    I'm sure you can figure out the rest. This was what this man observed and fervently believed. It combined ignorance, envy, and anger. Throw in a mystical promise to a superstitious people and you eventually have 200 million useful idiots. Actually not idiots, just fools.
    This man disappeared around 25 years ago.
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 1 month ago
    I believe that their hatred has two tiers::: seeing that
    we are living "high on the hog," they resent the hell
    out of our pleasures in life, which contrast heavily with
    their cultural and religious history. . if they couldn't
    see us, we wouldn't be the great satan. . second,
    they are told by their clergy that the world is shaped
    by their men who expect to be in charge of the future
    as they are told. . and whenever they see influences
    which don't match that expectation, they fight them.
    our intrusion is unwelcome on both counts. . we
    should not exist, messing up their expectations. -- j
    .
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 9 years, 1 month ago
    Islam has engaged in conversion by the sword since its inception. The Frankish warlord, Charles "The Hammer" Martel stopped the first effort by Islam to conquer the West at the battle of Tours in 732. The times of peace between Islamic forces and Western civilization have only happened because the Muslims were busy rebuilding for the next round of attempted conquest.

    Falsehood is ingrained in Muslim culture, and the "Western nose under the tent" argument is used because it works with the self-hating, guilt-ridden liberal culture that's infected us. ISIS has stated more than once that their goal is the worldwide caliphate. That's one statement I believe to be true.
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  • Posted by Dennis55 9 years, 1 month ago
    It seems that since the middle ages, the shores of Tripoli, piracy, kidnapping, martyr operations, the reinstatement of a Jewish homeland, they have been killing (and worse) infidels long before our generation had a presence in their sandbox.
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  • Posted by Temlakos 9 years, 1 month ago
    Let's examine that closely. As far as a Muslim is concerned, they own the world. And also as far as a Muslim is concerned, we are the Byzantine Empire reborn, after they defeated it in 1453 by conquering Constantinople and shortening its name to Istanbul.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I made that distinction ...they would of still riding camels...
    But most say exploit...you do realize that these countries took the lions share of profits...not exactly exploitation.
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  • Posted by wmiranda 9 years, 1 month ago
    It is not within Islam to mind their own business. Islam has an fundamental element to conquer and convert by whatever means, using whatever methods. Wishing it were not so, is at one's own peril.
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  • Posted by term2 9 years, 1 month ago
    I do think we are getting retaliation for attacking muslims in their lands. It just makes sense. That said, it IS in their "bible" to kill all infidels, and non-muslims ARE infidels by definition.

    We should leave them alone in their lands, but I think its perfectly OK to not want people in our lands who believe in their culture and are willing to kill me for not believing in it.

    This political correctness about wanting all immigrants no matter what they believe is BS. I want to live around people who think the way I do, and thats that. Why should we be forced to be happy around violent muslims, entitled blacks, socialist south americans, or whatever. Doesnt mean we string up anyone we dont like, but why not have tribal neighborhoods as in most of human history.

    Whats so wrong about people of a culture feeling more comfortable around others who think alike, and wanting to live around them? Probably would make a good topic sometime for an interesting politically incorrect discussion.
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 9 years, 1 month ago
    Islam is a belief. Christianity is a belief. A belief, by definition is neither truth nor fact. Beliefs are chosen, facts and truth are not. Islam's belief system is used to justify what they do, just as the Christian belief is used to justify what they do. As long a Muslims "believe" what is in the Koran, they are justified..... It is not ISIS that is the "face of evil," is the foundation of the belief system: It is Islam.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I would argue that terrorism actually goes back much further, but that it is our constricted notions of civility and nation-states which have changed. I would suggest the Geneva Convention and its definitions of "conventional" warfare as the culprit. Remember, Muslims were terrorizing the trade routes of the Mediterranean well before even the US under Jefferson retaliated.
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