I don't know who William Haynes is, but he sure makes some good--and frightening--points.
The Peaceful Majority by William Haynes
I used to know a man whose family was German aristocracy
prior to World War Two. They owned a number of large
industries and estates. I asked him how many German people
were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me
and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.
"Very few people were true Nazis "he said," but many enjoyed
the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to
care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a
bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it
all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we
had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My
family lost everything, I ended up in a concentration camp,
and the Allies destroyed my factories."
We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads"
that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast
majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.
Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is
entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make
us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of
fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in
history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage
any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics
who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups
throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire
continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb,
behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take
over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously
spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and
homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the
"peaceful majority" is the "silent majority" and it is cowed
and extraneous.
Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live
in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for
the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful
majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was
peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a
staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not
a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered
its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that
included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese
civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And,
who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could
it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace
loving"?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet
for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic
and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their
silence.
I used to know a man whose family was German aristocracy
prior to World War Two. They owned a number of large
industries and estates. I asked him how many German people
were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me
and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.
"Very few people were true Nazis "he said," but many enjoyed
the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to
care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a
bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it
all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we
had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My
family lost everything, I ended up in a concentration camp,
and the Allies destroyed my factories."
We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads"
that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast
majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.
Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is
entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make
us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of
fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in
history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage
any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics
who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups
throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire
continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb,
behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take
over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously
spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and
homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the
"peaceful majority" is the "silent majority" and it is cowed
and extraneous.
Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live
in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for
the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful
majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was
peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a
staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not
a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered
its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that
included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese
civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And,
who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could
it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace
loving"?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet
for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic
and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their
silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't
speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will
awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the
end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans,
Serbs Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians,
Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful
majority did not speak up until it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to
the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our
way of life.
Lastly, I wish to add: I sincerely think that anyone who
rejects this as just another political rant, or doubts the
seriousness of this issue, or just deletes it without paying
heed to it, or sending it on, is part of the problem. Let's
quit laughing at and forwarding the jokes and cartoons
which denigrate and ridicule our leaders in this war
against terror. They are trying to protect the interests
and well being of the world and it's citizens. Best we
support them.
William Haynes
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
3 comments:
Their are not any peaceful muslims.The very core of the muslim religion is a one world "muslim" religion. Their is no room for "others" in their muslim world.
I agree with your sentiments. The one other thing about Islam is that it is not only a religious but also a political ideology with a set of political, social, and economic agendas akin to communism. This fact, coupled with the fact that most of Islam's adherent are not educated---and many of those educated are often educated with hate, discrimination, and a deluge of conspiracy theories---lead to the dangers that this ideology and political system is currently generating (as in the past as well). A number of scholars of Islam do after all acknowledge that Islam has expansionist aims to dominate the world (e.g., the great scholar Bernard Lewis noted this too).
Therefore, Islam is a dangerous combination of religion, politics, and expansionist government, not to mention colonialist (that's why it does not adhere to separation of church and state as in the West and Israel).
Having said this, there are still many people in the Islamic world who are secular in outlook and who try to project the "peaceful" side of Islam, from their point of view, in an attempt to change to modernize Islam's image in today's world. They do this instead of opposing the religion directly (because that could entail death upon them and their families). So they play it smart and "oppose" it by appearing to side with it by invoking their "peaceful" interpretation. I'm all for that "peaceful" interpretation---one of the best ways to gain allies in that part of the world against those who follow the violent and terrorist interpretation.
The German Nazi leadership was exploiting the bad public image of the local and Eastern Jews and the Slav people, the terrible crimes of the Soviet communist junta to fire up a German pride parade.
Today, Israel is paying very little attention to its own respectability. America has not got a really truly respectable president since Truman
The Saudi, Iranian, Pakistani extremist leaders are corrupting their nations with cheap propaganda.
They must be reminded that they are ruining their people, and should stop the extremism at home.
We in America and Israel should look honestly at our low respectability, and take care of it now.
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