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July 20, 2003

The End of the World

Note: this is a post recovered from my old blog, before it died of an insufficient backup. Any comments/trackbacks on it have not been brought over, but can be seen with the original. The date is that of a really good post in this week's Carnival of the Vanities, talking about how 9/11 changed international relations, and asking the important question, of whether we should grant the demands of the radical Islamists. After all, he notes, the demands are rather scary:

• Accept Islam as the one true faith
  
• Stop 'fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest'
  
• Accept that the Muslims are entitled to take over all of Israel because they are the 'inheritors of the true Torah'.
  
• Accept Islamic theocracy as the just form of government.
  
• Accept the anti-semitic libel that Jews are a great evil that is controlling our society, government, media, and economy, and act to prevent their influence.
  
• Prevent women from working
  
• Abandon the entertainment industry
  
• Sign the Kyoto treaty
  
• Give up industry and business and capitalism
  
• Ignore human rights abuses in Islamic countries

And yet, if we were to grant some of them (such as disfavoring Israel), would that be enough to satisfy the Islamists' rage against us? In other words, should we listen to the Islamists and give them what they want? And if not, then what should we do?

Posted by jeff at July 20, 2003 12:00 AM

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