Eric A. Stalee

I think many people have the idea that violence committed by extremists of Islam (i.e., less than 1/10th of 1% of the population from that religion) is done because of one of the following reasons:

• It’s what Muslims have always done!  (but never Christians or Buddhists…naturally)
• They are evil. (oh my god talk about oversimplification)
• They hate us for our freedom!!!
• They are brainwashed into believing the West is evil.
• They want revenge for the death of their friends/family.

For an individual attacker, the last motivation is probably the relevant one most of the time.

However, for terrorist groups, it’s more than just this motivation.
The ultimate goal is creating a world where it is Us versus Them.

A world where coexistence is impossible.
A world where, if you think not everyone in the West is against you, then you are not a good Muslim.
A world where, if you believe that some Muslims are not evil, you don’t love your country.

Da’esh specifically states this as one of their goals in a publication of theirs.

as Shaykh Usāmah Ibn Lādin (rahimahullāh) said, “The world today is divided into two camps. Bush spoke the truth when he said, ‘Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.’ Meaning, either you are with the crusade or you are with Islam” ~ https://archive.is/VE0jj#selection-143.358-143.605

The Muslims in the West will quickly find themselves between one of two choices, they either apostatize and adopt the kufrī religion propagated by Bush, Obama, Blair, Cameron, Sarkozy, and Hollande in the name of Islam so as to live amongst the kuffār without hardship, or they perform hijrah to the Islamic State and thereby escape persecution from the crusader governments and citizens.
~ https://archive.is/VE0jj#selection-463.0-463.388

If the West allows Da’esh to succeed in this goal, then the terrorists truly will have won.  If large segments of the West continues to respond to terrorist attacks by blaming all Muslims and saying they don’t belong in society, this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If the West allows this, it will fail.  Da’esh and other organizations only need to radicalize 6.25% of Muslims worldwide, and then they could easily destroy all major cities in the West.  If all Muslims were actually ‘evil’, the West would be gone in a day (maximum).

And as you should have gathered from the video above, a “solution” to just ‘nuke the place’, is not going to make things better.  Ideas cannot be killed with physical weapons.  It just bankrupts your country trying to do so (…like the United States….awkwaaarddd).

I understand why increasing numbers of people vote for AfD or the PVV, because they’re scared and want to hear a simple solution.  By doing so however, they will just increase the problem.

Terrorists find a major fault line, seek to undertake an attack that will widen this fissure, and reap the whirlwind.
QZ – It’s no coincidence that terrorists keep targeting France

Germany isn’t France, but that article is still very relevant.

I want to be clear however, I am not supporting current political leaders either.  Merkel for instance proved her inability to govern with her personal refugee policy.  Saying Germany had to accept all refugees came in large part from her personal bias.  Meanwhile, Mark Rutte has no idea what the word ‘no’ means if it’s connected to Ukraine.

I think politicians are not supposed to have an opinion once in office.  They are supposed to carry out combinations of opinions from the people that an overwhelming popular (not financial) majority will be satisfied with.

 

So what’s important?

Ensuring that we don’t play into Da’esh’s plan by making this out to be a ‘clash of cultures’.  Because if we do, if we allow our politicians to demonize all Muslims, then we turn it into a clash of cultures and create more extremists.

 

Solutions?

• Encourage the ideas Da’esh discourages (the gray zone).
• Stop giving people in the Middle East reasons to hate the West (i.e., stop causing and accepting collateral damage, quit imposing own political policy or ideals on a different culture).
• Consider making the existence of for-profit military companies illegal.