Islam fundamentalists who are intolerant to other views of life are generally the ones making the attacks on the western countries. Places like Iran and Syria are led by these such people who boost their own notoriety and prevalence against the "debotchery of the western societies" is ultimately what defines and justifies their actions (terrorists attacks/funding, weapons stockpiling, attacks on foreign buildings, etc...).

In North America and Europe, we have a higher standard of living and different cultures all around us which makes everyone more tolerant to other peoples views, as well as a thriving democracy where no one has to be scared to go to jail for what they believe in, or choose to live their lives.

Your environment ultimately justifies how the general populace will react to situations that may arise, which in the Middle East is extremely hostile towards foreigners. While in North America and Europe there's nothing to worry about.

I agree that not every single muslim person is a suicide bomber, but honestly, not everyone is some tolerant angel. For example, I'm Jewish, and I go to a public school where it is very diverse. There are a large number of muslims, and I frequently get harrased all the time. Jews and Muslims (most of them, anyway) are just natural enemies. I have never in my fourteen years of life, have encountered one muslim that can see past our differences and just accept me for who I am. I was in Israel last summer, and I gotta tell you guys, it was one hell of a trip. Violence, shootings, bombings, the whole shebang. I know all the christians want Jews and Muslims to coexist peacefully, but its like asking a cat and mouse to live in a room together for the rest of their lives. Its not gonna happen, and if it does, it will probably not be in the near future, because there is a whole cycle of violence that is unlikely to stop. Extremist muslims attack areas with large amounts of jews. Israeli jews are naturally aggressive people. Do you think the israeli government is just gonna sit there and watch their people get killed? Hell no! The israelis will attack, then the arabs, and so on until one of us gets a nuclear bomb and just kaplodes the other side out of existance.

That's interesting. So you think that tolerance has something to do with the standard of living? Maybe in better living condition people tend to be less fearful and competitive? What about racism in North America? There is plenty of intolerance, but it's more subtle, not as violent.
Has anyone's opinion changed with the news of Tom Fox, an American activist whose body was found in the dumpster in Iraq today? It made me really sad. He didn't even believe that America should be fighting Iraq.

Maybe partly. But countries with a higher standard of living attract more migrants from those with a lower standard which means the richer countries end up with more diverse populations than the poorer ones. Whether that diversity ultimately leads to more tolerance I'm not sure.

Gotta be honest, most of the muslims I know hate Jewish people as well. Fortunately, there are no jewish people around my area, if there were pandemonium would be a result. I don't understand it myself. When ever I've questioned muslims, I've always been told that (and excuse my ignorance here) it's because of attacks carried out by Jews toward muslims. Is it fair to tar them all with the same brush? I think not.

This post has been edited by tt3: Mar 19 2006, 03:13 PM

I don't think that diversity or living conditions have anything to do with how tolerant we are of others. Look at Ireland, there is a spread of Catholics and Protestants there (admittedly there are towns which are mainly inhabited by Protestants and Catholics respectively) and there's hardly any tolerance of the other religion.

Environment plays a part, but there are a lot of factors to consider, the media being one of them. When you seem to hear about "Islamic miliatants" almost every day on the news, I can understand (but not agree with) the reasons why negative perceptions of Islam are increasing.

yeah, I agree. I never tried to generalise my statement though. It could be probably as a result of misinterpretation. I told that no religion is bad in its real / unmodified form. But muslim clerics these days are trying to change the meaning and morale of Islam. This is probably under influence of proper funding from rich men in saudi arabia. these are the people who fund Jihad or in true sense, terrorism and massacre worldwide. They want to get hold in world politics by using these dirty tricks. Its well known that Osama gets maximum funds from Saudi ameers.

Now the question comes to mind, why should Muslim men follow these clerics?

Some are mindless illierete men who know nothing about politics, others just join terrorism (Jihaad) in sake of money. In Kashmir, 99% jihaadis are paid by ISI to kill innocents. These men are basically poor and so poor that they may be ready for this job only for few thousands. They basically come fro Afganistan and rural Kashmir.

In the similar trend, wherever there are poor and illiterate muslims, there lies a strong fort for terrorism. Be it Indonesia, African nations or Chechenya.

In my opinion, the only force that can contain the spread of fIslamic violence and contain saudi ameers from taking hold of global muslim politics, is literacy amongst muslim youth. More number of children, one has, there is strong possibility that parents can not be able to upbring their child. Poor nourishment poor education, social denibility and an affinity towards multigamy all mixes up and produces a corrupt and criminal brain capable of joining the strong army of barbarian mercenaries. (why I talked about multigamy is because terrorists are given rape as incentives at some places).

Two child policy, mandatory higher education and monogamy amongst muslim youth can stop the spread of jihaad and terrorism.

I hope I am not preaching or insulting someone. If someone is having a difference of opinion with me, please feel free to quote my sentences with proper reasoning, why you are not convinced?

It actually says in the Quran that "until muslims kill all the jews, there will be no redemption".

^ Actual quote

So yeah, I might sound biased and immature when I say this, but they started it!