As a note, scout59 noted and xiggi then posted about a lack of a law about anti-Islamic speech. Those are prosecuted under “hate speech” laws. There have been a number of people fined in France over the past few years for saying things perceived to be potentially stirring up hatred. BTW, most of those comments were relatively innocuous and in one case were obviously political. I think some of these French cases involve politics of left versus right more than religion, but this isn’t an area I know well.
I note that today Sunni Muslims killed about 7 people with a bomb at a Shia mosque, after 4 Shia were killed at a volleyball game. This war between Sunni and Shia dwarfs what we see as attacks in the West. And Boko Harem has apparently killed another 2000 people over the past 5 days in Nigeria.
BTW, one of the murderers said bluntly on the phone before dying that he was financially backed through Yemen by the guy we killed last year. The levels to this are deep.
Consider the kid on trial here in Boston for the Marathon Bombing. His family was basically saved by the US as they bolted from Dagestan. And they repay us with mass murder. Look at Minnesota: Somalis who again literally owe their lives to the US are going to Iraq and Syria to fight with ISIS. People like to say, “It’s all x’s fault for not bringing this or that group into society.” Really? Giving you life isn’t enough?
Remember the Black Panthers? For all the misery inflicted on African-Americans, this small scale spurt of anti-American violence is pretty much the only expression of this since Nat Turner during slavery. But apparently Muslims are different and we can’t expect them to live peacefully. Now remember as I say this, I don’t mean you specifically.
Here are 2 Muslim voices, both Saudi:
First is columnist 'Aql Al-'Aql in an article in Al-Hayat (a London-based Saudi paper), titled “German Jews Defend Islam”:
"Islam and Muslims are in a state of oppression, especially in the West. In the Western subconscious, there is a stereotype linking Islam with violence, extremism, and terrorism. Who is responsible for this worldwide fear of Islam, the so-called ‘Islamophobia’?.. The world witnesses killing and violence towards innocent people in our Islamic world, carried out in the name of Islam. What do we expect Islam’s image to be like among people abroad, when they watch TV and browse social media and see images of innocents killed and having their throats slit just for not belonging to the same [religious] school as this or that group, or women of ethnic and religious minorities being captured [as slaves] in the Arab and Islamic world? This despicable behavior is enough to distort Islam’s image in the West for the next several hundred years. In light of the tragic state of Muslims, we cannot expect those who commit these crimes and tie them to Islam to do anything but exacerbate the religious and cultural conflict and drag Islam itself into it. There is no doubt that Islam is the biggest loser in this era.
“The world reads the statistics of Muslims killed by other Muslims. This data shows the West and Western peoples that Islam is a religion of violence that endangers the entire world. Unfortunately, we Muslims are providing the proof that this is [the nature of] Islam. Non-Muslim societies and countries are busy with their affairs and scientific discoveries, which serve all of mankind, including Muslims, while Muslims are busy killing each other. In this situation, how do we expect the world to treat us? Is it [not] right to fear anything related to Islam and Muslims?”
"In addition to the state of loss, lack of direction, and backwardness afflicting us, and the attempt to emerge from the cultural crisis befalling Muslims, some among us search for justification [and claim] that those behind the hostility towards Islam are an external force that is historically hostile to Islam. This could have happened in the past, and there have indeed been religious conflicts in our region. But is it logical for us to be trapped in these religious struggles? We all know that, throughout history, even in the West, there have been wars among peoples on a religious basis, but that with [the rise] of the industrial revolution and the secular state, the West emerged from the past and the history of the religious state.
The complexity of the cultural crisis in which we Muslims are trapped is that, on the one hand, we [see ourselves] as part of the modern world that is characterized by globalization, with all its economic, political, and social aspects, and of the information [revolution], which has swept across borders and continents. Yet we [still] use religion in our political struggle against the secular West. This is our true crisis. We all read and follow the blatant hostility of the Christian West [against the Muslim world]. But in its struggle with us, does this West ask for religious hegemony? Or [does it pursue] political and economic interests?.. We must not get dragged into [the perception] that the struggle between Islam and the West – which should be called capitalist rather than Christian – or even against Judaism as a religion, is inevitable. Our disagreement with some of the Jews is political, and we can find common ground with members of other faiths."
Here is former Al-Arabiya TV director 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed in the daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (also London-based Saudi paper) writing on the day of the Charlie Hebdo attack:
"It’s not difficult to describe the situation in Germany; there are bad Muslims and bad Germans. The 18,000 Germans who took to the streets of Dresden against what they dubbed the ‘Islamization of Germany’ include racists as well as angry people who have been affected by the heinous and ugly political acts committed by Muslims across the world. Among these Germans are those who blame others for the difficult economic situation they find themselves in, considering the influx of foreigners which has led to competition over jobs and benefits.
“Germany itself is home to Muslim religious and political extremists who succeeded in distorting the image of the other three million Muslims who live peacefully in Germany. Muslim extremists in Germany are more dangerous and harmful to Muslims than angry, racist and fascist Germans. Germany is a tolerant, secular and civil state that has 2,500 mosques. Its regulations, courts and executive institutions protect the Muslim community from racist groups. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned the anti-Islam protests as a detestable act. The justice minister also led a protest against racists in the same square as the anti-Islam rally.”
His point, btw, is that it’s not enough for the Muslim community to denounce but they must act against the extremists in their midst. This is a very important point. The only people who can truly stop this violence are Muslims. They need to spy on extremists, turn them in and sometimes they need to go further.