reality check

[callmeslick]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... close.html

[Will Robinson]

Yes, some people need a reality check with regard to statistics and the deceitful application of them used to obfuscate an issue. You can find lots of articles like that.

[callmeslick]

well, I fact-checked at least 3 of the assertions in the article before reposting it, and they check out.


edit: feel free to lay out which 'statistics' were manipulated, or, for that matter, what 'issue' is being obscured by looking at it objectively.

[Will Robinson]

It seems to me he is, and you are by holding it up as evidence, using a silly selection of stats to prove something that isn't really a relevant part of the debate.
If Fox did something wrong then bad on them but those stats and Fox's spinning is not proof that Radical Islam isn't a powerful catalyst for a concentrated terrorist threat relative to a crazy Scandanavian or murder rates in America that are not anything close to decades of religious zealots shaping the minds of millions of people that give rise to thousands of deaths every year in the name of 'Islamic' justice.

The comparison is ludicrous. It's an attempt to deflect and/or diminish the impact that Islamofacists have had on the world.

It is a misrepresentation of reality to say all terrorists are Muslim but in today's world the topic of terrorism is focused on the Middle East and almost all of those terrorists are Muslim.
Last time I looked at the Hotspot map Muslim countries or factions dominated the carnage. It has been at the heart of way to much terrorism for a rational person to deny it is a leader in terrorism.
Why would you adopt such a stance?

[callmeslick]

in today's world the topic of terrorism is focused on the Middle East and almost all of those terrorists are Muslim.

thanks for illustrating his point. First off, the topic is focused on attacks in Europe and the West at the moment, and as pointed out, most of those over the past decade have been from separatist groups, and only 2% were from Muslims. That is the whole thrust of the peace. And, as my title suggests, that is the reality.

[Will Robinson]

The focus is on much more than those attacks that were selected to deliver the statistical result that author wrote about.

Nations are turning to radical Islam. Iran in the 70's alone is responsible for all sorts of terrorism. Now the big fear is Iraq and Syria could turn. Disaffected people flock to the cause or wrap their own twisted anger in the banner.
The 9/11 plot wasn't handed down from some command structure it was conceived at a low level and brought to bin Ladden for funding and approval after it was well under way....Muhammed Atta was rich Egyptian kid of a barely religious upbringing studying architecture in Germany when he was radicalized in part by his unhappiness with being such a mediocre student and insignificant person in his new home after having a more elite status in Egypt.

Awkward geek lashes out by joining the romanticized movement ....jihad...'Kill infidels for Allah'

Your stats don't even touch the big picture. To have a debate based on them is to put your head in the sand! And I bet if Obama wasn't taking such a naive tact you wouldn't be either...

[Spidey]

The guy makes a valid point, but that point only holds but so much water.

The main problem I see here…besides reducing people to numbers is, the apples and oranges aspect, he is taking an international world wide type of terrorism, where the groups have basically declared war on the entire civilized world, and compares them to local groups.

But if you need to see numbers…well just compare deaths by the global terrorists to any single local group, and you can see the proper difference in scale.

And I am not in any way defending the media here, but then I don’t watch local news, so I couldn’t tell you if those other events are being reported on. (which would be a local news thing, I only watch the world news)

I also find some other problems with that article, such as that damn racist crutch. (brown people)

[vision]

I remember a time when I associated the word terrorist an Irish person instead of a Muslim. The media really does have a nasty effect on people's perceptions. Articles like this help snap you out of it.

[callmeslick]

this discussion has been decent so far, keep it up. It does prompt me to start a related thread, which I'm about to do.