Those two are not different. You complain because it's objectively false--but it is the most striking image. It is subjectively true because it is all the people see.

"In my eyes, they're not part of Islam"

Ignoring them only makes it worse.

"'The West', by the way, is just the media, and its the peoples' fault for putting their faith in lies."

There is no lie. The most public face is Islam is terrorism. You don't need media to tell you that. I've seen first hand what radical Islamists do to people who follow a slightly different religious teaching. They shell their schools and murder them at night.

This is not the bulk of Islam--But it is the only part which is visible to the naked eye.

You have this fallacious idea that the burden of change is on the West.

It is not.

The West is not responsible for the 1 Billion being misrepresented--it is their fault for not standing up against those who cause the misrepresentation.

The onus of change CANNOT BE ON OUTSIDERS.

It is not the US's job to change it's view on Iran--it is Iran's job to prove that it is different and change the US's view.

It cannot be the responsibility of The West to change it's view on Islam--it is Islam's job to prove that the minority are not the majority.

By sitting idle, the majority of Muslims are allowing the extremists to dictate the image of Islam.

The only way to change the popular perception of Islam is to remove the element which is altering it for the bad.

Covering your ears and humming to yourself is not a solution. And that is exactly what washing your hands of the extremists by saying "they're not Muslims" is. You're ignoring the problem and expecting outsiders to see what cannot be seen.

Unless you make it be seen.

You are bashing people who are intolerant and then you yourself exercise intolerance against a person who has done nothing but call attention to the fact that the extreme minority control the image of Islam in the world.

Instead of being upset that the West sees Islam as violent, fight against the minority of Muslims for whom Islam IS a religion of violence and who are setting the image of Islam in the rest of the world.

Don't attack the symptom, attack the disease.

Otherwise, you're part of the problem.

OMG! It's GEORGE LUCAS! Check out my Tauntaun costume!

The same thing happened to Christianity. When it was winning, everything was cool. Until they started losing and then you had the inquisition, genocide and whatnot. Then the tide turned back and it was all cool again (in mainstream sects).

Islam is under threat still: not from religion, but from liberal democracy.

This happens when irrational religion is confronted by rational philosophy.

[Edited by Dhampy, 4/4/2009 9:13:08 AM]