01-19-2010, 08:43 AM
Quote:I think the global use of about 10% of Muslims supporting terror tactics is well below the threshold of error.
Well I have to agree those are high figures, and support your claim. But then again, I'd ask what they really mean. Here, for example, are the results of a poll by the World Public Opinion Organization from Dec 2006 that's been mentioned in this context comparing Iranian/American attitudes
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf...n_Jan07_rpt.pdf
One of the questions was: "Some people think that bombing and other types of attacks intentionally aimed at civilians are sometimes justified while others think that this kind of violence is never justified. Do you personally feel that such attacks areâ¦justified?"
The response from the Iranian sample was
Often: 3%
Sometimes: 8%
Rarely: 11%
Never: 80%
(Not quite sure why they don't add up to 100% but...)
The response from the US sample was
Often: 5%
Sometimes: 19%
Rarely: 46%
Never: 27%
Do you conclude that 24% of US adults support terrorism (or 70% if you want to be hard core about your definitions)? Of course when it came to whether Palestinians were sometimes justified in attacking Israeli civilians, it was 53% yes in Iran and 13% yes in the US.
Still, I suspect, to give another example, when the provisional IRA was setting off bombs in English pubs, (and the British counter terrorism forces were doing their own spot of torture and false imprisonment) there was probably quite a bit of support for IRA actions in the US, not to mention plenty of Irish Americans who provided "material support for terrorism," though I couldn't dig up any figures --- I guess back in the 1970's and 1980's we were still in the information dark ages.;)
So, it might well be true that 25% (or perhaps more likely 75%) of the human race is quite happy to go out and kill their civilian neighbors or distant strangers, especially if they have another religion, culture, or there are serious political conflicts. But don't I think that making sweeping assumptions about Muslims and terrorism is the way timprove things.