Q: Of course, when the children of Muslim parents grow up in westernized nations, they begin to question the customs and cultures of their heritage, and often revolt in favor of those lifestyles.
Well I know a Pakistani woman who was raised partly in Pakistan and Malaysia, went to university in the U.K and is presently working as a psychologist in Cambodia. From the looks of her she could be from NY, she doesn't wear a hajib, she can drink alcohol and even smokes cigarettes at a party but she doesn't see herself as 'in revolt' nor would she deny being 'muslim'. Any suggestion of that would make her cringe in the same way a Jewish person would think someone a moron for expecting them to adhere to kashrut and telling them they are somehow in 'revolt' or questioning their culture and its customs; some do some don't but those who dont are still considered 'jewish' are they not? Or better yet its like thinking a catholic is somehow revolting against tradition by using birth control, we never expect a woman who calls herself catholic to be a 'staunch catholic'. All of a sudden if a muslim woman wearing a dress and heels in a western environment is 'revolting against customs and tradition' when in her eyes she is just being a modern muslim woman.
Q: US foreign policies are not the same as the conflict between the Islamic state and Westernized lifestyles. Muslim here often make that mistake as they blame the west for their own internal problems and shortcomings.
U.S foreign policy has brought about a clash of religion. Where do you find a conflict between the Islamic State and western lifestyles? And in those examples what would that have to do with you as a westerner who does not live in those States? How does these conflicts affect you? The fact that western policies have presently and historically created internal problems within much of the muslim world is so well documented I don't know how anyone can deny them. Maybe if we left them alone long enough and treated them fairly they wouldn't have an excuse not to focus on those issues and would, given their own time, organically find ways of addressing their own problems.
Geoff: Sam is actually similar: earlier on in a debate, she opined that non-muslims who didn't like living in an islamic country should just leave.
Big Difference!! Diamonds is quoted as saying all non-muslims should be forced to leave muslim countries without a context. Sam is suggesting that if a non-muslim doesn't like living in an islamic country then they should just leave. Now what could be wrong with that? How is that a similar opinion to that of Diamond? In the U.S they used to say 'Amercia love it or leave it'. I prefer to live in Asia because the USSA pisses me off so much that I prefer to simply leave it.