In America 50,000 times more is spent on each American death by terrorism as is spent on each death by cancer. 50,000 times more. Think on'it. (Timothy Egan, in the New York Times, $)
(And this doesn't include the less quantifiable: the increased hassles of getting around the world, the safety checks and so forth, that result from the fear of terrorism).
Egan is right here: we should get our fear of terrorism in proportion.
We are far more likely to die from eating, sitting or crossing the road than we are from a terrorist attack.
For my part, I've never felt the least bit threatened by any Muslim. I've lived, travelled and worked in many Muslim majority countries -- from Sudan to Indonesia -- and never felt the slightest fear.
The original reason for this blog was not for fear, but as a place to archive things I found interesting in the ideology of Islam.
And that I DO find a threat.
But it's not a threat of death or injury to a person so much as potential death and injury to the open liberalism of the west. For it's without doubt that the west is facing great challenges from resurgent Islam(ism), especially within our own countries. This is sometimes known as "creeping sharia", and one sees it creeping daily.
So, get up (don't sit), cross the road, eat (non halal!) to strengthen yourself for the fight: to robustly defend our liberal democracy, with all its enlightened values, in the face of resurgent Islam and its horrid Sharia laws.
(And this doesn't include the less quantifiable: the increased hassles of getting around the world, the safety checks and so forth, that result from the fear of terrorism).
Egan is right here: we should get our fear of terrorism in proportion.
We are far more likely to die from eating, sitting or crossing the road than we are from a terrorist attack.
For my part, I've never felt the least bit threatened by any Muslim. I've lived, travelled and worked in many Muslim majority countries -- from Sudan to Indonesia -- and never felt the slightest fear.
The original reason for this blog was not for fear, but as a place to archive things I found interesting in the ideology of Islam.
And that I DO find a threat.
But it's not a threat of death or injury to a person so much as potential death and injury to the open liberalism of the west. For it's without doubt that the west is facing great challenges from resurgent Islam(ism), especially within our own countries. This is sometimes known as "creeping sharia", and one sees it creeping daily.
So, get up (don't sit), cross the road, eat (non halal!) to strengthen yourself for the fight: to robustly defend our liberal democracy, with all its enlightened values, in the face of resurgent Islam and its horrid Sharia laws.
