Much is made in the east about the dreadful history of European colonialism, the bitter legacies of humiliation and dysfunction that empires leave when they withdraw. But who is the victim, and who the victimizer?
Paul Fregosi in his book Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries calls Islamic Jihad “the most unrecorded and disregarded major event of history. It has, in fact, been largely ignored,” although it has been a fact of life in Europe, Asia and Africa for almost 1400 years. As Fregosi says, “Western colonization of nearby Muslim lands lasted 130 years, from the 1830s to the 1960s. Muslim colonization of nearby European lands lasted 1300 years, from the 600s to the mid-1960s. Yet, strangely, it is the Muslims…who are the most bitter about colonialism and the humiliations to which they have been subjected; and it is the Europeans who harbor the shame and the guilt. It should be the other way around.”
Well, yes. But that’s different.
Real time testimony of one who was a part of it all, and just recorded this a few days ago.
Yet…it’s all about the Crusades being a bad thing…done for no reason.
We are under siege! It’s like that guy, in that movie, what’s it called?
“Under Siege?”
Nope, the other one.
“Under Siege 2″
No,that’s not it.
“Under Siege 3?”
That’s the one!
“That movie hasn’t been made yet sir…”
Hey, I can dream, can’t I?
All I can say after reading this is we’d better keep our powder dry and our written letters numerous. It won’t help a whit, it merely means that when we do fight back we cannot be said to have done a sneak attack.
It also means, at some point, I’m going to have to fight against several friends of mine.
My little girl is worth it. She will live under Sharia over my dead body.
– Max
Plus, when people point out the colonial errors of Europeans, the accused tend to guffaw and sheepishly apologize.
To level accusations at the others tends to draw fatwas and jihads.
Cutting the heads off the opposition tends to silence it rather effectively.
I don’t harbor shame or guilt. Conquests have gone on forever, well before recorded civilization. You take your chances, and the winners write the history. Don’t bother whining.
That said, yeah, the expansion of Islam was long and very bloody. It was supposed to be, you see. Mohammad was a psychotic. He liked killing almost as much as he liked getting a cut of all the money and slaves.
In India, the Mughal may have had nice architecture, but they made lousy neighbors. Forced conversions under pain of your children being slaughtered right in front of you, for example. Hardly what one wants in a neighbor.
Hehe…”in India” is right now and not just from the Mohammedan… Brahamanism is still pretty energetic…I like “The Great Heresies” by Belloc and “The New Jerusalem” by Chesterton for perspective. Having lived in the Congo “post=Belgique” and listening to my grandaddy discussing his life in Stalinist Soviet Union, I liken all of the above to “the cure is often worse than the disease…” But of course this all depends on whether your particular family is secure….Sotomayorism at its best…or put another way: “deconstructionism”. I eagerly await the emotive rage…oh wait…I’m not posting on Huff-Po…(-*
“Yet, strangely, it is the Muslims…who are the most bitter about colonialism and the humiliations to which they have been subjected.”
I think it’s because they lost.
Oops. It turns out that colonization by Europe is a particular good determinant of the durability of institutions necessary for good governance (democracy) and economic development.
Even moreso, colonization by the English. The French and Belgians, not so much. The Italians and Germans, not at all.
It’s no coincidence that, however strained, it’s an English-speaking coalition in the front lines of the counter-jihad.
Just anti-Muslim propaganda. Lies, myths all. Everyone knows Islam is a religion of peace.
Make that “religion of pieces”. There, that’s better.
How cynical! So very cynical!
Yabut, is Islam a “religion?” After all, we wouldn’t want “church/state” separation violated and all, would we? That would be a cardinal sin, like–…
So prayer rugs, and special foot washing stations on state land-grant universities are ok, aren’t they, since Islam is *just* a cultural thing of peace, right? And keeping all of a face save the eyes covered for photo I.D.s is not a bad thing, since it’s not a religious thing, just a cultural thing (oh, wait–the “religion of peace” demands the face not be exposed, lest some horn dog start acting like a horn dog–so it *is* a “religion of peace,” after all? I’m cornfoozed!!)
Shirley I’m not mistaken here, am I? I know, I know–don’t call you Shirley…
All in the name of PC…
Sigh…
Shawley, you jest. And Shirley, you must know the difference between a religion and a cult.
Any group that wants me dead because I don’t belong to it is a destructive cult, and Islam fits that bill, Shirley. I can’t think of a single religion that takes that approach.
[...] Neptunus Lex on the one that no one ever brings up. [...]
Jim (#8) don’t you just love PC, I refuse to get under it’s yoke…read “the luxury of integrity” in Stuart Chase’s book “the Nemesis of American Business , 1930…back to “Colonialism” I suggest every parent make Oriana Fallaci’s writings be required reading and then discussion at the dinner table, especially..The Rage and The Pride, and The Force of Reason…she once asked Kohemni, “how do you swim in a berka” and he left the interview…Henry Kissinger said the interview he had with her was his worst interview ever….she nailed him…we either face up to the Islam threat or we die…individually and as a nation…
lv4921391/
First, what’s you’re call-sign represent, your former prisoner number at the State Pen, or what?–reminds me of the Beagle Boys.
Second, couldn’t agree with you more about Oriana. She was a real Lion, Tiger, Bull-dog–you name it–all rolled into one. ABSOLUTELY FEARLESS–and a highly articulate advocate of Western civilization’s cause who never suffered fools gladly and railed against the cant and hiprocy of the left. We lost a great champion when she died, and Western civilization is much the worse for it.
PS: In fact, how can I be sure you’re not actually one of the last of the conniving brood? Am I and my many millions (ha) in any danger?
Signed:
Concerned
You will have to have Gyro Gearloose make you a Beagle Boy Repeller.
I believe this is one area where we should have it both ways: Take unearned pride in the accomplishments of our forbears while we both acknowledge and disavow responsibility for their bad behavior. Such as: Slavery was an evil kept alive by hypocrisy. We sure kicked some Yankee butt before Old Dixie went down. Easy.
I agree with Jim above..I do not think it is really a religion, per se….it is a socio-theological form of (oppressive) government. A fourth century construct devised to subjugate a diverse, subsistence level populace.
A slight digression, since we are on the subject of Islam.
Barry has solved the problem of Gitmo. The prisoners have been declared to be fetuses, thereby solving any and all problems regarding their treatment. Isn’t being pro-choice great?
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/scottott/Obama-declares-Gitmo-detainees-to-be-fetuses-45836127.html
QM/
BWAAHAHAHAHAHAhahaha!!!!!!!
Slight digression indeed…LOL. Nicely put, QM.
This is a very important and valuable insight, I plan on using it, but it will not do any good where it’s needed, because one feature of Muslim culture, or at least Arab Muslim culture, is a virtually complete lack of self-criticism or empathy with anybody else.
It’s also an incurious culture. I have read, and I have idea if it’s true, that the entire Arab world translates fewer books into Arabic every year than Greece has translated into Greek. And most of what is printed about the rest of the world is self-satisfied, smug, or propaganda. Not many other kinds of books about the west are in Arabic.
So this might be worth pointing out to westerners, but the chances of anyone in the Arab world snapping his fingers and saying, “You know, the westerners have a point here” is about equal to my chances of Lucy Lawless ringing my doorbell and asking if she came come in and get out of these wet clothes–it could happen but don’t hold your breath.