There have been 50,000 plus documented instances of jihadist terrorism in the last 100 years. It surely is a minority but that's a whole lot more terrorism than any other religion is doing.
That's the entire story of our human history. Violence was needed to protect nations and was often used to take land or resources from others. Any one of these acts could be framed as "terrorism" which is simply violence used for political means. If you were genuinely against terrorism you would push back more against the western neoliberal/neocon states' actions today.
Jihadists are not psychopaths. Someone like Osama bin Laden was perfectly sane and rational.
Psychopaths can act sane and rationally they just do not feel guilt/empathy and can often times delight in cruelty.
They are religious zealots who truly believe they are doing the bidding of the creator of the Universe.
Bin Laden specifically had an issue with western militaries involved inside the holy lands of the middle east.
Which you could actually make a good argument for - why should the US be allowed to put hundreds of military bases around the world inside any country they choose? Would they have allowed a Saudi base in the US? Definitely not. So he had a legitimate gripe with them.
Jihadists are very clear in explaining why they do what they do, and it's not mental illness or anything prosaic like that. They will quite clearly point to the Quran and the hadith and explain that the founder of their religion, who communicated directly with God, tells them to do this. It doesn't even require deft interpretation of arcane scripture. It's right there.
Often time people will point to religious doctrine as an excuse when the real reasons are much more simple and usually based on money or land/resources.
Ah yes, Afghanistan, a true beacon of freedom for women.
I'm sure the women who get stoned to death by their own families after being raped feel respected.
There are 50 countries where Islam is majority religion and many of these countries are the some of the safest, technologically innovative, welcoming, respectful etc. They love their countries, including their islamic culture and they are horrified when they look at some cultural practices in the west that you would consider normal or beneficial for society. So who the fuck are you, as a lowlife degenerate in their eyes, to criticize what makes them happy or what they want for their lives and societies?
It's funny and super ignorant that you'd use such a barbaric and extreme example to somehow represent religious justice in the region. I just had a quick look comparing Saudi and the USA:
USA in total crimes per capita = 11 x more than Saudi
Intentional homicide rate = 5 x higher than Saudi
Robberies = 50x more
I'm not blaming people or their governments. I'm blaming their belief system. Unlike race, eye colour, height, beliefs can be changed and so beliefs are fair game for criticism. But it should be noted that Islam is one of the very few belief systems that currently justifies murdering "critics" like people who write fiction or draw cartoons. That says it all, imo.
"The Koran does not specifically prohibit insulting the Prophet. There is no agreement within mainstream Islam over what constitutes blasphemy, what the response to it should be, or how it should fit within the context of freedom of speech. It would therefore be a mistake to reduce an entire cultural identity to a narrow question of religious law"
(which is what you're doing).
So really you should be blaming governments. Because I dare say the majority or potentially all of the gripes that you have are issues with governmental policies. Just because a country happens to be majority Muslim doesn't mean that every single law of that country is representative of the belief system which is obvious with the wide disparity of enforced laws across different Islamic nations.
This is a red herring. Of course they can be. They can also be dogmatic, vicious murderers and if you can't tell, it's those ones I'm talking about.
Yes you are talking about an extreme minority, without showing any genuine desire to understand the beliefs that you rally against, in order to paint an entire group (billions of people, mind you) as an
"other", to excuse or defend atrocities happening against them. Most muslims wouldn't give two shits about you being a degenerate little westerner they just don't want that stuff in their countries. And their citizens are rarely trapped and can emigrate if they so wish.
