the outcome of the election

[eppie]

Hail eppie,
I tended to see this the same as you, but some recent things have made me reexamine that point of view. Most recent of them: The van Gogh murder. I'm not 100% sure if they got the murderer yet (you'll know better, being from the Netherlands, IIRC), but the evidence present strongly suggests that he was murdered by an Islamistic extremist. Also, when a TV crew interviewed some people from his local mosque, it got relatively clear that there was, if not open support, then at least a sense of understanding, along the lines that "He was offended, and did what he had to do".

So, was that murderer someone flown in from Afgahnistan or Iraq? I guess not, so the poverty argument doesn't really work here. I don't say that all people of the Islamic faith are potential murderers, but lately it seems to me that the capability for violence when it comes to defending their faith is quite big, and "crossing the line" becomes easily justifiable. Remember, we're not talking about someone defending his soil against an invader, but about someone murdering because he had his religious feelings offended.

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Well they got the guy who did it, more or less directly, he is a muslim extremist, had a higher than average education and had a dutch and a marokan passport.
I think I was not complete in my previous post. I think we all know that this extremism is not only in the middle east anymore but also in europe. (you hear more about mosques were extremist Imams are preaching etc.)
Starting in the middle east a them against us feeling is created. And nobody should be surprised if a fewhundred of the millions of muslims that live in europe chose the wrong path (that oif violence) They get influenced by religious leaders who tell them that the europeans disrespect islam etc.etc.
It is not difficult for some radical Imam from saudi arabia to influence guys which have a bit of psychological problems here in europe to do all kinds of strange things. If they get told to chose a side, they chose the side of the islam, and if they are also told that they other side is the enemy crazy things can happen. And this is exactly the same Bush is doing in his "not with us then against us" speeches.
The most important thing we shouild do is not let this escalate. I'm getting a bit depressed how society in Holland handles this latest event. Because how bad it is and all, it is one murder commited by one guy. There is absolutely no reason to start a civil war here. But warmongers on both sides (here I say it myself :blink: ) for sure will try their best to do so.