The Myth Of The Tiny Radical Muslim Minority

[stromboli]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7TAAw3oQvg

Six minutes and eighteen seconds. I think it is pretty clear. Watch it.

[pr126]

I watched it, what's more I have posted this on another thread.

[Poison Tree]

I can also cherry pick stats, make up and shift my definition and make sweeping generalizations.
Gallup says that residents in member countries of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation are less likely to view attacks on civilians as justified, so that is 1.4 billion Muslims who are less likely to be radical than non-Muslims, right? Or I could point out that Americans and Israelis are more likely than even Bangladeshis to think that military attacks against civilians are sometimes justified; that Americans are more than 16 times more likely than Egyptians or Qataris to think that attacks against civilians are sometimes justified.
Why not point out that Pew found than only between fifteen and ten percent of Muslims in Kosovo, Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, Tunisia and less than ten percent in Albania, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbijan, Indonesia, Morocco and Iraq believe suicide bombings can be justified.

Frankly Bill Maher, who I think is often a blow hard, made his case more pervasively than this guy.

[josephpalazzo]

The definition of a radical Muslim in that video is based on belief in "sharia law", or "honor killing", or "the killing of civilians is sometimes justified" or "any sympathy for bin Laden", and this leads to over 600+ million radical Muslims. I'n not sure I can buy that. I'm pretty sure if you would poll Americans on similar questions, you would arrive at a very high number of Americans being radical. To me, you have to look of how many would actually act on their "impulse" to kill innocent lives based on ideology. I'm not sure all of those 600+ million Muslims, who expressed an opinion that we consider radical, they would necessarily act on that "impulse". It's true in the past, a good number of Muslims were silence after a terrorist attack. But this is no longer true. Many groups of Muslims are now expressing their outrage, and many individual Muslims are cooperating with the authorities to unmask these terrorists. And we should encourage more to come forward.

[SGOS]

The definition of a radical Muslim in that video is based on belief in "sharia law", or "honor killing", or "the killing of civilians is sometimes justified" or "any sympathy for bin Laden", and this leads to over 600+ million radical Muslims. I'n not sure I can buy that.

That doesn't automatically put them in the terrorist camp, but it suggests a level of sympathy towards terrorism that raises red flags.  When is an honor killing ever justified!?  That sounds like pretty radical thinking to me.  While there is a level of sympathy there, the questions are how deep does it run and how widespread is it?  The numbers don't indicate the depth, putting everyone in a position where they must rely on their own opinion.

[pr126]

No Muslim would refer to himself as either moderate or a radical. He is simply a Muslim.
Those labels are only used by the western media and politicians.

No other religion gets this special treatment, for there is no need for it.

The idea of a "Tiny Minority of Extremist" or the "Vast Majority of Moderate" Muslims are but a myth, a fallacy, a feel good panacea that we the non Muslims are constantly repeat to reassure ourselves, and deny reality as long as possible, contrary to all evidence.

We cannot know what Muslims think.
There is no sure way to distinguish between a moderate or a radical Muslim.
Fancy playing Russian roulette?

[Munch]

Ben Affleck is a fucking idiot and needs to get sucked up the vortex of his own asshole. Obama is just a public tool for trying to win votes from the muslims in america.

Islam is one of the most violent and intolerant religions on the planet, you can quite simply type in 'islam' into goodle and find countless stories of islamic extremists who follow violence as there goal in life, but even those who keep claiming islam is a peaceful nation live in ignorance, pushing for the faiths backwards system of how to control women or there thoughts on homosexuals or other religions.

Muslims have pussy wiped public american ultra liberal figures into believing there bullshit.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Yeah, because Christians have no history of violence against anyone else.. 

[pr126]

I was wondering how soon somebody will mention the Christians. 
It is a Pavlovian reflex. Can't be avoided.
One can never discuss Islam without Christianity.

Only in America.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I was wondering how soon somebody will mention the Christians. 
It is a Pavlovian reflex. Can't be avoided.
One can never discuss Islam without Christianity.

Only in America.

Yeah well.. Not everyone can find a boogie man under every bed.. You should get a reality TV show, In Search of the Boogieman..

[Munch]

Come come now, both Christianity and Islam are cancers, just different types. The subject was just on Islam, not Christianity to start

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Come come now, both Christianity and Islam are cancers, just different types. The subject was just on Islam, not Christianity to start

Oh..so let's just have nonstop thread after thread about how mean Islam is and ignore Christianity's problems.. Gotcha..

[pr126]

Oh..so let's just have nonstop thread after thread about how mean Islam is and ignore Christianity's problems.. Gotcha..

Well now, there are far more threads on Christianity in the Christian section, but no one mentions Islam there.
Why is that? 

[stromboli]

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/opinion-polls.htm

A "Tiny Minority of Extremists"?

"Strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be
unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is their destination." 
Quran 9:73

Have you heard that Islam is a peaceful religion because most Muslims live peacefully and that only a "tiny minority of extremists" practice violence?  That's like saying that White supremacy must be perfectly fine since only a tiny minority of racists ever hurt anyone.  Neither does it explain why religious violence is largely endemic to Islam, despite the tremendous persecution of religious minorities in Muslim countries.

In truth, even a tiny minority of "1%" of Muslims worldwide translates to 15 million believers - which is hardly an insignificant number.  However, the "minority" of Muslims who approve of terrorists, their goals, or their means of achieving them is much greater than this.  In fact, it isn't even a true minority in some cases, depending on how goals and targets are defined.

The following polls convey what Muslims say are their attitudes toward terrorism, al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the 9/11 attacks, violence in defense of Islam, Sharia, honor killings, and matters concerning assimilation in Western society.  The results are all the more astonishing because most of the polls were conducted by organizations with an obvious interest in "discovering" agreeable statistics that downplay any cause for concern.

(These have been compiled over the years, so not all links remain active.  We will continue adding  to this).

Terrorism

ICM Poll: 20% of British Muslims sympathize with 7/7 bombers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1510866/Poll-reveals-40pc-of-Muslims-want-sharia-law-in-UK.html

NOP Research: 1 in 4 British Muslims say 7/7 bombings were justified
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
http://www.webcitation.org/5xkMGAEvY

People-Press: 31% of Turks support suicide attacks against Westerners in Iraq.
http://people-press.org/report/206/a-year-after-iraq-war

YNet: One third of Palestinians (32%) supported the slaughter of a Jewish family, including the children:
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/04/06/32-of-palestinians-support-infanticide/
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4053251,00.html

World Public Opinion: 61% of Egyptians approve of attacks on Americans
32% of Indonesians approve of attacks on Americans
41% of Pakistanis approve of attacks on Americans
38% of Moroccans approve of attacks on Americans
83% of Palestinians approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (only 14% oppose)
62% of Jordanians approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (21% oppose)
42% of Turks approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (45% oppose)
A minority of Muslims disagreed entirely with terror attacks on Americans:
(Egypt 34%; Indonesia 45%; Pakistan 33%)
About half of those opposed to attacking Americans were sympathetic with al-Qaeda’s attitude toward the U.S.
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/feb09/STARTII_Feb09_rpt.pdf

Pew Research (2010): 55% of Jordanians have a positive view of Hezbollah
30% of Egyptians have a positive view of Hezbollah
45% of Nigerian Muslims have a positive view of Hezbollah (26% negative)
43% of Indonesians have a positive view of Hezbollah (30% negative)
http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/

Pew Research (2010): 60% of Jordanians have a positive view of Hamas (34% negative).
49% of Egyptians have a positive view of Hamas (48% negative)
49% of Nigerian Muslims have a positive view of Hamas (25% negative)
39% of Indonesians have a positive view of Hamas (33% negative)
http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/

Pew Research (2010): 15% of Indonesians believe suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified.
34% of Nigerian Muslims believe suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified.
http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/

16% of young Muslims in Belgium state terrorism is "acceptable".
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/1275/Islam/article/detail/1619036/2013/04/22/Zestien-procent-moslimjongens-vindt-terrorisme-aanvaardbaar.dhtml

Populus Poll (2006): 12% of young Muslims in Britain (and 12% overall) believe that suicide attacks against civilians in Britain can be justified.  1 in 4 support suicide attacks against British troops.
http://www.populuslimited.com/pdf/2006_02_07_times.pdf
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist

Pew Research (2007): 26% of younger Muslims in America believe suicide bombings are justified.
35% of young Muslims in Britain believe suicide bombings are justified (24% overall).
42% of young Muslims in France believe suicide bombings are justified (35% overall).
22% of young Muslims in Germany believe suicide bombings are justified.(13% overall).
29% of young Muslims in Spain believe suicide bombings are justified.(25% overall).
http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf#page=60

Pew Research (2011): 8% of Muslims in America believe suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified (81% never).
28% of Egyptian Muslims believe suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified (38% never).
http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/

Pew Research (2007): Muslim-Americans who identify more strongly with their religion are three times more likely to feel that suicide bombings are justified
http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf#page=60

ICM: 5% of Muslims in Britain tell pollsters they would not report a planned Islamic terror attack to authorities.
27% do not support the deportation of Islamic extremists preaching violence and hate.
http://www.scotsman.com/?id=1956912005
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist.html

Federation of Student Islamic Societies: About 1 in 5 Muslim students in Britain (18%) would not report a fellow Muslim planning a terror attack.
http://www.fosis.org.uk/sac/FullReport.pdf
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist

ICM Poll: 25% of British Muslims disagree that a Muslim has an obligation to report terrorists to police.
http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Poll%20Nov%2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Nov04.asp
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist

Populus Poll (2006): 16% of British Muslims believe suicide attacks against Israelis are justified.
37% believe Jews in Britain are a "legitimate target".
http://www.populuslimited.com/pdf/2006_02_07_times.pdf
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist

Pew Research (2013): At least 1 in 4 Muslims do not reject violence against civilians (study did not distinguish between those who believe it is partially justified and never justified).
http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf

Pew Research (2013): 15% of Muslims in Turkey support suicide bombings (also 11% in Kosovo, 26% in Malaysia and 26% in Bangladesh).
http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf

PCPO (2014): 89% of Palestinians support Hamas and other terrorists firing rockets at Israeli civilians.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/08/poll-89-of-palestinians-support-jihad-terror-attacks-on-israely

Pew Research (2013): Only 57% of Muslims worldwide disapprove of al-Qaeda. Only 51% disapprove of the Taliban.  13% support both groups and 1 in 4 refuse to say.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-concerns-about-extremist-groups/
http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-concerns-about-extremist-groups/

See also: http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Muslim_Statistics_(Terrorism) for further statistics on Islamic terror.

This source quotes multiple polls over a period of time and includes Pew and several news media sources. Some of the information is old, but still indicates an attitude  Please read the article and decide for yourself.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Go ahead and fixate.. I'm off to do more important things today like make some fresh coffee..