It's more the way 'muslim' has become virtually synonymous with the word 'terrorist'. That's a more serious problem.
In regard to Muslims my man, what happened? Did people one day spin a bottle for what religious group should be associated with terrorism and it just happened to land on Muslims? Is that what happened?
What happened? Well, by pure chance, the worlds richest and most sought after energy resources happened to reside in that part of the world. To quote/paraphrase (i may not recall the quotes verbatim) President Eisenhower, the middle east is, "the greatest material prize in world", "a tremendous source of strategic power" and that "whoever controls mid-eastern oil reserves controls the world". Muslims are the worlds primary **VICTIMS** of terror, mostly western (or western backed) terror - shall i run through the list?. Seeing as you like them so much, that is indeed a FACT.
No one in the world believes that all Muslims are terrorist. Especially not those in their own community but the fact that Muslims in that part of the world which is pretty much Muslim are world known for using extreme measures to force their way of life or even WILL of life on others can't be denied.
Even as a kid I remember there ALWAYS being suicide bombings in the middle east and growing up it did and still does seem like something normal that happens there. I know it shouldn't be but it in FACT is.
Are you aware that the US and the UK funded and supported extremist groups? It's standard policy - in fact, we've done something very similar in Libya. Our strategic interests (when i say 'our', i dont mean you and me, unless of course you're in the oil industry, arms trade, a financial investor etc...) coincided with a bunch armed, quite brutal and extreme bunch - the 'rebels'. If you look over declassified files, or just read a book by someone who has done the leg work for you, you'll see that government officials recognise these extremist groups to be, as you say, 'extreme' and also anti-UK/US. Policy goals come first in foreign affairs, so we have no problem with supporting brutal groups and regimes if our interests are mutual - in fact, brutal regimes are preferred by our democracy loving leaders. It's all publicly available information from internal records.
Furthermore, who is 'forcing their way of life on anyone' in the US or UK? Muslims? Hardly... try the socio-economic policies imposed on you and me, and, worse, the same ideologies imposed on say, innocent Iraqis and Afghans, by violence and aggression, carried out in your name and mine.
Also, the Muslim community, IMO, has not done enough to stand up to and against these extremist who 'give them a bad name'.
Err, just because you don't know of any personally, or haven't read any Muslims openly standing up against acts of violence, doesn't mean the community hasn't "done enough". Maybe it means you haven't done enough to investigate your own claim? Maybe you are looking in the right places? Food for thought, surely? Also, given that terrorism can be perpetuated by anyone, against anyone, irrespective of race or religion, is it not a bit odd (not least hypocritical) to request muslims condemn other muslims, while at the same time, we heap praise upon our 'brave' sevicemen and women? Or, by default, refer to soldiers as 'heros' who 'defend our country'...?
If a group of Catholics went into a mosque in Iran or where ever in the middle east and committed suicide bombings not only would the pope be on TV condemning and maybe even apologizing for the act but Catholics and Christians world wide would be, I think, VERY vocal in speaking out against acting like that as well as even being sorry that the act was committed by someone waving 'their' flag.
You're a christian, right? Why then aren't you out there speaking out against and condemning western state terror? A million dead Iraqi's as a result of the invasion, on top of 500,000 children under the age of 5 left dead as a result of 'genocidal' (quoting Denis Haliday) UK and US imposed sanction during the 90's, 4.5 million people displaced, and the town of Fallujah completely fucked:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/toxic-legacy-of-us-assault-on-fallujah-worse-than-hiroshima-2034065.htmlAdd to that, conservative estimates of 40,000 dead Afghans, tens of thousands dead in libya after our support for violence, a couple thousand dead in pakistan as a result of drone attacks (euphemistically called targeted assassinations but reality just murder with a fancy toy). I won't even bother with support for vicious regimes, Israel/Palestine etc...
