Shapiro = GOAT wrote:
Was hoping someone would post this
In the video (above), Shapiro explains that there are approximately 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, then breaks down the radical Muslim populations of 15 countries based on Pew research polling. He defines radicalization as being a broader category than just the extremists actively carrying out terrorism; radicals are those in favor of such things as Sharia Law, honor killings, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc, says Shapiro.
Oh right, he redefines 'radicalization' in a way that is poorly defined and he doesn't seem to understand. It's easy to prove anything if you have an idea first, a huge bias and then twist things until they fit to what you want. Being an orthodox Jew doesn't give him much of an objective starting point.
Here's the first example, he chose Sharia as something that makes someone a radical. Pretty much every Muslim follows and agrees with some part of Sharia law. Some of it is in the Qur'an, but it is not defined in any one place wholly.
The issue is he doesn't fully understand or care to be specific (a deliberate move) about what this really means. Supporting Sharia law in a general sense is not radical. Sharia law governs lots of things, Islamophobes just pick out examples of brutality and feel that that is what Sharia law means to them.
To the people polled, to ordinary Muslims all over the world, Sharia governs the fair terms for borrowing money, for divorce settlements, wills etc. It is regularly used to settle legal, business and family disputes. As is Jewish law.
He also states that people that believe the US or Israel are to blame for 9/11 are counted as radicalized and included in his poll. Why? That statement as a concept is so open to interpretation.
Israel and Palestine have been at war for many years. Both sides commit atrocities against one another daily. Why are anti-Israeli views included in his signs of radical Islam? Is an Israeli-Jew a radical Jew? A Palestinian Muslim likely has had friends, family, property destroyed by Israeli air strikes. Should Palestinians and Muslims abroad support these actions?
This is the perfect straw-man argument. Redefines what being a radical is and then uses that to imply all these people support terrorism. Sharia is not terrorism. Anti-Israeli views are not terrorism.