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Radical U.S. Muslims Little Threat - Study

Surely one radical muslim is one too many. Let's not forget the Muslim Major in Texas that went on a killing spree. How many of those do you need before we consider radical muslims to be a threat?

Frankly I continue to fear a faction of a religion that rewards the families of its children for strapping bombs onto themselves and that talks seriously about Jihad. The fact that they are not quite as successful with their message here as they are elsewhere isn't a hell of a lot of comfort. Ask people who ride trains in Spain or the underground in London.

I agree with you, but demographically, and geographically, we have a definite advantage here. If the threat becomes real, have no doubt I will readily get pro-active about it, but there are many people who have an illogical fear of America becoming under attack from radical Muslims. There will always be a nutcase popping off here and there, which is the same with any religious or ethnic group, but it doesn't seem to be a legitimate threat, at least at this point in time.
 
Sure it is little threat because we took the threat seriously.
 
Actually that was the Brits that stopped that. Our government has been very quiet about what terrorist plots have been foiled, with only the occasional story getting out.

Foiled plots are still revealed to the public. The fact that people don't care that much does not change the fact that the government has been fairly self-aggrandizing about about stopping threats.
 
Surely one radical muslim is one too many. Let's not forget the Muslim Major in Texas that went on a killing spree. How many of those do you need before we consider radical muslims to be a threat?

Frankly I continue to fear a faction of a religion that rewards the families of its children for strapping bombs onto themselves and that talks seriously about Jihad. The fact that they are not quite as successful with their message here as they are elsewhere isn't a hell of a lot of comfort. Ask people who ride trains in Spain or the underground in London.

Muslims don't bother me in slightest, it's the radicals that concern me. But then again, Christian radicals concern me too. It's not the religion that matters, it's the lunatic fringe that causes damage. And I trust in our intelligence services to have the issue well in hand. It's their job and I expect them to do it. I believe they haven't told us everything they're doing because it's in the interest of the government to keep the public calm. Panic and rioting in the streets would be worse than anything a terrorist could do. So I intend to remain vigilant, but calm and trust in the experts.
 
Foiled plots are still revealed to the public. The fact that people don't care that much does not change the fact that the government has been fairly self-aggrandizing about about stopping threats.

Sure they are, but not ALL of them. And what's wrong with the govt beating it's chest a little? I don't know about you but I give a little cheer when I find out about a foiled plot. It's good to know our boys are on the job.
 
Foiled plots are still revealed to the public. The fact that people don't care that much does not change the fact that the government has been fairly self-aggrandizing about about stopping threats.

There is no possible way you can know that, because you have no knowledge of plots that have been foiled about which nothing has been said. The one example you gave was in fact a British operation, and not the doing of our government.
 
Muslims don't bother me in slightest, it's the radicals that concern me. But then again, Christian radicals concern me too. It's not the religion that matters, it's the lunatic fringe that causes damage. And I trust in our intelligence services to have the issue well in hand. It's their job and I expect them to do it. I believe they haven't told us everything they're doing because it's in the interest of the government to keep the public calm. Panic and rioting in the streets would be worse than anything a terrorist could do. So I intend to remain vigilant, but calm and trust in the experts.

While I agree with you in principal, it seems to me there is a marked difference between the Muslim brand of radicalism and that of any other faith. For one thing, the shear numbers involved. There is a definite sect within Islam that preaches Jihad and martyrdom and teaches it in schools and mosques. We can argue about how large this sect is - 1%, 5%, 10% - but it exists. I'm not aware of any other religion with large numbers of followers that has one branch devoted to violence.

Do I think the vast number of Muslims are peace loving people who just want to get on with their lives? Of course. But we dismiss the threat and the number of Islamic radicals at our peril.
 
While I agree with you in principal, it seems to me there is a marked difference between the Muslim brand of radicalism and that of any other faith. For one thing, the shear numbers involved. There is a definite sect within Islam that preaches Jihad and martyrdom and teaches it in schools and mosques. We can argue about how large this sect is - 1%, 5%, 10% - but it exists. I'm not aware of any other religion with large numbers of followers that has one branch devoted to violence.

Do I think the vast number of Muslims are peace loving people who just want to get on with their lives? Of course. But we dismiss the threat and the number of Islamic radicals at our peril.

Well, we definitely have to stay vigilant, because the threat is not over. I think Radical Islam will fall out of fashion in the years to come, and we need to stay on our toes for the duration. Radical Islam will most likely be squelched by Rational Islam because peaceful Muslims are getting really tired of the Radicals constantly drawing fire down on their heads.

I don't think there is a specific Muslim sect that is the cause of radicalism. Some may say Wahabism, but I'm not so sure about that. I think it's just loonies trying to explain away their insanity with religion. I don't know what the percentage of radicals is either. It only takes a few to cause a lot of trouble. For now, we just need to keep our eyes on target and fire as she bears.
 
While I agree with you in principal, it seems to me there is a marked difference between the Muslim brand of radicalism and that of any other faith. For one thing, the shear numbers involved. There is a definite sect within Islam that preaches Jihad and martyrdom and teaches it in schools and mosques. We can argue about how large this sect is - 1%, 5%, 10% - but it exists. I'm not aware of any other religion with large numbers of followers that has one branch devoted to violence.

Do I think the vast number of Muslims are peace loving people who just want to get on with their lives? Of course. But we dismiss the threat and the number of Islamic radicals at our peril.

The same could be said of pretty much any demographic, religious or otherwise.
 
Sure they are, but not ALL of them. And what's wrong with the govt beating it's chest a little? I don't know about you but I give a little cheer when I find out about a foiled plot. It's good to know our boys are on the job.

I don't really see a problem with it. I just doubt that they would keep these plots hidden for that long.

There is no possible way you can know that, because you have no knowledge of plots that have been foiled about which nothing has been said. The one example you gave was in fact a British operation, and not the doing of our government.

Google "foiled terrorist plots" and plenty of results pop up. The government has an interest in letting people know when they catch terrorists, because it makes people more accepting of the loss of their personal liberties.

List of foiled Islamic terrorist plots in the post-9/11 United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
The same could be said of pretty much any demographic, religious or otherwise.

Well, when you come up with any other demographic group that is as large as radical Islam, who believes in martyrdom and things like strapping bombs to themselves and walking into crowded marketplaces or flying airplanes into buildings or throwing acid in young girls' faces because they want to go to school, please alert me. I promise to be just as wary of that group.
 
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