I can see both sides here.

On one hand we do have to remember not all people who follow the religion of Islam are violent. In fact the great majority are not out to blow up buildings and kill people. I have met people that are Muslim and they seem to follow it properly. Yeah they won't eat bacon but that's about it. Normal people. Of course these were Americanized Muslims.

On the other side of this coin, however, is the indisputable fact, that Islam, is in a dark age in its history. During the Religious Wars of Europe in the 1600s the vast majority of Christians were not killing others, but a there was a significant enough number that it became a continental problem. Germany lost a third of its population in these wars.

Islam is the same way right now. There is a fundamental problem with a growing number of Muslims, who take the Quran literally to the point of blowing themselves up. It is a regional problem, with the exceptions of Turkey and the Balkans.

There is also a huge cultural divide between Middle East and West. Right now, I can say, "Joe Biden" is an asshole. And I'm not going to be arrested. But the freedoms that Western civilization, influenced by Rome and Ancient Greece and the philosophers of the Enlightenment, seem incomprehensible to some of these people. Some of them are utter hypocrites. We'll demand special privileges and that you treat us with respect but we don't like the way you're women dress, your cartoons of Muhammad, the fact that there are too many Jews, etc. You can't have it both ways. You either integrate into the culture you immigrate to, or you get the hell out. No exceptions. And these bastards that killed these people at Charlie Hebdo are in that exact same mold. Leeching off the free society that willingly accepted their kind, and they turn around and shoot them in the head with machine guns.

Bottom line, you can have your religion. But it does not become before basic fundamental principles of freedom of the press, speech, and others that we strive for. That goes for all the major faiths. But in this case involving conservative Muslims, we cannot appease a small minority under threat of violence. Europe needs to understand this. No multiculturalism, no open immigration, or allowing the kind of environment that allowed this to happen.

Last edited by rockstar_man45; 01/10/15 09:08 PM.