One hallmark of Islamic behavior is that when Muslims are in the minority in non-Muslim societies, they do not reciprocate the tolerance extended to them.

That is because they are awaiting a future time when they reach a critical mass of the population and will be able to take more aggressive measures to force non-Muslims into submission. (The very word "Islam" means submission).

Whoever you are, if you a non-Muslim, you MUST understand the Islamic concept of Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar_al-Islam

Let's for a moment not think about jerks like "Rio," who dirty these wonderful hot porn sites with their ideological filth.

Islamic societies trample on the rights of women, trample on the rights of gays, trample on the rights of religious minorities, and trample on the rights of straight Muslim men who might want to criticize all the human rights trampling going on in their societies.

Women are about 50% of any Muslim society, gays about 10%, where religious minorities aren't overlapping with those categories they're another 5% or so, and men who might wish to speak out another 5%.

Add that up. 70% of the people in a Muslim society are being held hostage by the 30% that are Koran-crazed, brainwashed lunatics believing they have an Allah-mandated mission to repress gay people, among others.

SPEAK THE HELL OUT, LOUD AND OFTEN, AGAINST OPPRESSION IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES.

It's the most important step we can take towards breaking Muslim strangleholds on power where they are in force. It will do more in the long run to protect us against Muslim insanity than any absurd and immoral "shock and awe" bullshit.

Remember about one year ago, when an Afghani convert to Christianity was going to be condemned to death for having left Islam? The world spoke up for his rights and his life was saved. If we could do that for one man, why can't we do it for the hundreds of millions of oppressed women, gays, religious minorities and men of conscience currently being oppressed by Muslim societies?

Speak up for these poor victims of Muslim insanity on a regular basis and they will become enabled . . . with support from the world community . . . to reject and remove the shackles of their Koran-crazed jailkeepers.

Of course, there are relatively moderate Muslim countries. Turkey is a shining example, and in it, during the past few years, Turkish translations of Mein Kampf have been selling like hot cakes.

Pfui. Good for you Michael, for standing up to "Rio's" disgusting bullshit.

I think it is important to make distinctions, which you seem not to be making. You say this: "In the name of the Qur'an, Muslims have terrorized the entire world for centuries." Scholar Bernard Lewis, no weepy liberal, would disagree with you about this. As would Reza Aslan, author of "No God, But God." I think it's possible to be wary of Muslims who use terror without using broadsides against an entire faith.

peace
james

"There is not a single Islamic country in the world that has a democratic regime, or even a shade of democracy."

I think you forgot Indonesia.

Well Said. Though,not muslims think that way (ie Turkey).

Hey Fella, yeah you, who commented above!

Where the fuck have you been that you don't know what's going on in Indonesia?

For example, in 2002, the Aceh province was given the right to instate Islamic sharia by-laws by the national parliament. The city of Palembang in South Sumatra has introduced jail time and hefty fines for homosexual sex

Fella is soooooooooo right about Indonesia (what an asshole!)

The United States Department of State’s Human Rights Report for 2003 (issued in February 2004) rates the Indonesian government’s human rights record as “poor” and notes that Indonesia has “continued to commit serious abuses.” Murders, torture, rape, beatings, and arbitrarily detaining civilians and members of separatist movements were all documented as abuses by security force members. The government also was accused of having frequently failed to protect adequately the fundamental rights of children, women, peaceful protesters, journalists, disabled persons, religious minorities, and indigenous people, among others.

Michael, I agree with you all the way. The Muslim were trying to control the Philippines but failed when the Catholic religion came. They prepared the new religion over Islam who ruled by the sword. Now the Islamic Liberatin Front of the Philippines used machine gun to convert the innocent.

Some Christians preach fire and brimstone, others will preach peace and love yet both sets do it in the name of God and Jesus Christ - its the same for Muslims. Some preach fire and brimstone, others teach peace and love yet both do it in the name of Allah. The difference is that the "fire and brimstone" type Muslims have unstable countries in which they can enforce their mislead ideologies but fire and brimstone Christians don't have that (the growth of Western Europe was never greatly stunted with the exception of a few years rebuilding of infrastructure following WWI/II; whereas the growth of the Middle East and to some extent Eastern Europe, was disturbed by constant war and occupation which didn't end until the fall of communism which, as you will know, was only in the last few decades and it takes a long time to develop a nation).

My point is to say that most major religions have their good followers and their bad followers, it just so happens that the majority of the world's Muslims live in countries that are underdeveloped and unstable which is a perfect breeding ground for extremists which then allows it to spread (i.e. we're now seeing extremism affecting the West). it is not the fault of the religion - its the fault of the extremists misinterpretations (be they purposeful or not) and the rest of the world for not only causing the underdevelopment but for keeping it there.

i used to think the way that you did, that it was the fault of the whole Islamic Faith but having made Muslim friends during my years at university i have come to understand it; perhaps you should meet with more reputable Islamic groups and discuss your concerns and allow them to explain to you the peace that Islam teaches.

ISLAM is a religion, which carries customs.
JEWISH is a belief, which also carries customs and ways of doing thing (please refer to the old testament of the Holy Bible).

CHRISTIANITY is a relationship with God in the basis of love.

I urge all of you to have a sense of love with all men.

Michael,
I routinely beat myself up for being prejudice towards Muslims. And when people ask why I have no tolerance towards these people, I just cannot articulate why. But you hit the nail on the head.

Michael,

You are so right, & so is Tighthole. I cannot understand, with the civil wars going on in Iraq & Lebanon, Shia against Sunni etc, why no "middle of the road" Muslims condem the killings. They scream, rant & rave (& worse) about a cartoon in Denmark for God's sake, yet every day hundreds of innocents are killed by their own people. Not a word from the Saudis, Iranians, Egyptians, Jordanians. They seem to be afraid to speak up.
IMO, it is unfortunate that the Israelis are smack in the middle of this craziness. For centuries, Palestine was nothing but dessert. Then Israel was created, 60 years later, it is a prosperous country, where not much existed before.
In no way do I condone what Bush has wrought.
The western countries fear what may happen if the output of oil is affected by their condeming the murderous factions over there. Sad, & getting worse. Keep speaking out Michael.

There're always idiotic terrorists out there trying to make themselves and their reasons known. It's plain stupid. But... terorrism can be done by anyone anywhere.

It's just unfortunate that, at this era at this stage, some Muslims just happened to be global terrorists.

The French journalist Robert Redeker is living in hiding under police protection.

That is necessary for him because of an article he wrote.

The article pointed out that while many different populations have had their spasms of violence, the fundamental religious texts of Christianity, for example, do not instruct Christians to be violent, but the Koran and the Hadith and Sharia do instruct Muslims to be violent.

Redeker received umpteen DEATH THREATS for saying that, even though it can be demonstrated as true by comparing the texts of the New Testament and the Koran.

Why are we not now seeing detailed, widely-published and discussed analyses of the Koran, even though it is the battle instruction manual of a declared mortal enemy?

Because publishers don't want truck bombs aimed at their offices, and they know that's what Muslims would do to them, sooner or later, if they published objective analyses of the Koran.

KM, above, is so naive about these matters it's pathetic. The stated goal of Islam is to be THE only human social system in the world.

Muslims have been working towards that goal since the 600s and they have some measure of patience to continue working towards it.

The 9/11 attackers are known to have received instructions from higher-ups in Al-Qaeda that while training in Europe and the US for their mission, they were to do everything possible to blend in with non-Muslims, including going to lap-dance joints.

So, KM . . . and anybody deluded along similar lines . . . do you REALLY think that practicing Muslim students in a non-Muslim majority university are going to tell YOU their REAL weltanschauung if you are not Muslim?

This is not made up out of the blue, and it is not the result of an irrational prejudice. It is based on an objective assessment of the complete contents of the Koran, the Hadith and Sharia.

If you aren't a practicing Muslim, and you don't have thorough-going knowledge of those three elements of Islamic philosophy, then you have NO DAMNED BUSINESS going around saying that Islam is not a threat.

Please, please please, let's stop all the debate. How about more porn?

Michael, you are an incredibly beautiful man. I can't tell you how artfully well-done your photos are. (Scusi mi, but I'm becoming a bit tired of the "pics" term). It must be very different from you living in America, having come from Russia. I am very pro-Israel, being a Christian and feel that Israel has every right to the land that they possessed thousands of years ago. And the fact is, "Palestinian" is a made up term, after the destruction of Israel in 70 AD but the Romans, it was contrived by the Roman Emperor.

I will be following your blog as it is so very well-done, and it is a great pleasure to meet you.

Francesco

Michael asks this guy what part of him if he is gay makes him a muslim? I want to know what part of being gay makes Michael a Jew. The Jewish religion also does not accept homosexuality. Anyone, in my opinion that follows any type of secular religion is just plane stupid. Being gay and Religious is just as upsurd as being gay and a Republican. Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or what have you all are just simple minded people who need to beleive in something bigger than themselves becuase they are afraid to face their own divinity. Their lives and destinies need someone else to guide them for fullfillment becuase they cannot beleive in themselves or have love and respect for themselves as well as others. Freud explains well why the masses have a need to beleive in a higher power.

Michael, as a fellow Jew, I don't know if I could be behind what you said a hundred percent. There is some merit to what you said, but I think the problem lies in the predominance of extremists in positions where they can do so much damage... regardless of their faith. It is true Islam seems to nuture that state, as a faith, more easily than most other religions, but then again, all religions (except Buddhism, if you consider it a faith) have their share of nut jobs. Regardless, I will say that I have felt frustration that moderates haven't come forward in that faith to quash and denounce the acts, although it is quite possible that they have been censored in their attempts to do so by a media that finds hate very useful to their over all sales-plan. My best buddy growing up (and a good friend still) was Persian, and it could be said he carried many of the more casual, benefitual moral understandings of his faith. Still, there were times that his mother, as I remember, a thoroughlly Americanized Iranian still expressed to my mom a dislike of the Jewish community in Persia, although I think it is something that is burnt into many Muslims in their countries of origin by those who have significant power bases, which unfortunately tend to be Orthodox. Fact is, sadly, orthodoxy sticks together a heck of a lot easier in terms of building a power base than less formal faiths. I give no greater example than the Lubavitches in our faith, although believe me I am not comparing the Hassids with the murderous few that "practice" Islam.

Also, for the rest of the people discussing Judaism as a religion only, I don't think you understand what the term connotes. Being Jewish is both a matter of blood and faith. Jews are born from Jewish mothers (and ideally Jewish Fathers), making us a bloodline that traces back through the centuries directly. I don't know of any other faith-circle that does this. Not all born Jews practice Judaism in anyway. For example, I didn't practice (I'm Reform) for many years, but my mother was Jewish so I am. In any regard, I understand your passion Michael, although I don't think blanket statements are always the best way to confront these problems... I think we can make some distinctions for those Muslims that aren't completely meshuggah.