Tags
Columbine, Daesh, Donald Trump, Gun-Control, Japanese Internment Camps, NRA, Real Presence, Right to Bear Arms, San Bernardino
“All Daesh members are Muslims. All Daesh members are terrorists. Therefore all Muslims are terrorists.”
Even people whose formal education did not include Logic 101, recognize the fallacy in this contemporary version of the famous ancient syllogism. For those who don’t “get it”, the following might help : “All Catholics are Christians. All Catholics believe in the ‘Real Presence’. Therefore all Christians believe in the ‘Real Presence’ “. They don’t, of course. You can be Christian without believing in the ‘Real Presence’ of Christ in the Eucharist. Such Christians are called Protestants.
Donald Trump not only never studied Logic but would also be incapable of recognizing the fallacy. He wants to stop Muslims immigrating to the U.S., and promises to do so if ever – God (?) forbid ! – he is elected President. He seems not to realize that there are millions of resident Muslims of numerous national origins already in the U.S. God (?) knows what he would do with – or to – them if he is given the keys to the White House. The precedent of Japanese internment camps during World War 2 inevitably comes to mind.
But there is another logical aberration abroad, this one concerning gun-control. In spite of Columbine and the multiple massacres since, including the most recent slaughter of fourteen people in San Bernardino, California – this time by two Muslim terrorists – a new argument has surfaced defending the American citizen’s right to bear arms and to buy weapons at his/her local gun-store. It runs like this : “We very rightly do not condemn all Muslims because of the mass-murders in Paris or San Bernardino by some Muslims, identified as radical extremists. When are we going to abstain from condemning sane gun-owners because of the murders committed by a tiny minority of deranged gun-owners ?”
It seems there are in the U.S. no less than 310 million guns owned by some 80 million Americans. They insist on their interpretation of the right to bear arms as proclaimed in the American Constitution. After every Columbine they say that such murders reinforce, in fact, the obvious need to own guns precisely to protect themselves from the crackpot mass-murderers ! Anyone at any time anywhere in the States can buy as many firearms as he/she likes (there’s a Pistol-Packin’ Momma near you !). Politicians have never succeeded in enforcing effective gun-control, which the powerful National Rifle Association will continue, in the foreseeable future, to prevent from happening.
Believing and practising “moderate”, non-violent Islam is a right which democracy must protect. Gun-owners add that owning lethal weapons is just as much a right. Extremist, terrorist, insane, murderous, kamikaze behavior by the few, they say, is to be condemned, not the behavior of either the non-violent Muslim or the non-violent gun-owner.
It is a clever gambit, with, however, a fatal flaw. The problem with unrestricted access to ownership of guns in the U.S. is not only the repetition of mass-murders by maniacs. The conveniently overlooked reality here is the disproportionate numbers of people killed by firearms in the States, contrasted with such numbers in other countries. The relative gun homicide rate in the U.S. is nearly six times that of Canada, more than seven times that of Sweden and nearly sixteen times that of Germany. More guns owned mean more gun-deaths. Period.
Owning guns obviously increases the risk that they will be used. Non-radicalized Muslims are no more likely than non-Muslims to murder people. On the other hand, gun-owners are far more likely than non-gun-owners to murder people. Unfortunately American rednecks and NRA supporters refuse to see the point. Blindness is not limited to religion.
RIDENDA RELIGIO
atheistsmeow said:
Unfortunately, guns are being smuggled into Canada from the US, & the criminal element seems to have easy access.
Our problem isn’t as escalated as the US issue…….yet……but, sadly, it seems to follow that US lead.
Much of Canada is wilderness where people hunt for food, but legally qualifying to purchase guns is very strict.
Personally, I don’t know anyone in all the places we have lived, who own hand guns, or assault rifles! The only holsters/sidearms I see around us, are on law enforcement people!
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frankomeara said:
I lived in Oklahoma for five years and was the weirdo who had neither two rifles on display in the back window of his pickup nor a single gun at home (matter of fact, I didn’t even have a pickup). Strange, I suppose, for someone who was a Top Gun (.22 rifle) and instructor-specialist in the three-inch mortar in the Australian Cadet Corps. I guess I knew too much about guns and their dangers to want to own one. There are too many people in the U.S. who think they are Rambo or Dirty Harry.
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Laroche said:
Moderate islam ?
The one who sincerely want a moderate islam have to produce a moderate coran
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Thom said:
The Koran has numerous calls for violence against infidels. This is seen by some as a problem that should be rectified. Maybe this is what Laroche means by a ” moderate” Koran – it should be rewritten? The Old Testament also has numerous exhortations by God Himself for wholesale slaughter of the enemies of His chosen people. No one would seriously suggest that the Old Testament be rewritten. So let it be with the Koran. The problem is with the education (or lack of it) of the jihadists. Islamic leaders including Imams and the wider Islamic community must be more outspoken in their condemnation of the actions of jihadists.
Of course they could all go just that little bit further and abandon their myths just as we atheists have done. Too much to hope for I know.
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laroche said:
Ah Tom ! How can you compare the Old Testament with the Koran ?
The Old Testament is for some erudite
The Koran is the rule for Muslims ; they repeat part of it every days !
Muslims leaders ? Chiites or sunnites ?
Don’t you know a well educated priests who try to spread “the good speech” for a while before becoming an atheist ? The time necessary to reach an agreement by this way is unpredictable.
It’s simpler : we have laws in France ; parts of Koran are in contradiction with these laws. Civil leaders have to do their job
I have an other hope : cop21 will perhaps succeed in limiting the use of oil, the main strength of Muslims …
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Pingback: Islamofobie is contraproduktief | From guestwriters
frankomeara said:
I approved publication of the above Pingback, but of course cannot understand it. All comments from readers are welcome here, whether they agree with me or not. But I have chosen to use the English language, because my everyday language, French, is not understood worldwide. Nor, a fortiori, is Dutch. If the author or anyone else can translate this comment for me and all our readers, we would be most grateful. I have met a lot of Dutch people. I never met one who could not express him/herself in English …
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Laroche Jean Paul said:
The calls for murder of non believers in koran are productive for whom, in your opinion pingback ?
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