Last night I had the privilege of attending a lecture by this simply amazing and inspirational man named John Esposito, whom many of u have probably seen on t.v. He is president of the Center for Peace and Global Studies and is also an expert in Islamic studies.

The title of the lecture was "Islamic Threat: Myth Or Reality?" I thought some of the key points he made may b of interest 2 many orgers here so altho' I have temporarily left the forums due 2 my disapproval of what's been going on, I've come back 2 post this. Deal with it.

Here r some really great points he made, and since I didn't take notes I'm relying on memory here.

He spoke briefly about bin Laden, saying that because of extremists like these, there is a danger that mainstream opposition in the Middle East may be mistaken 4 extremist opposition. Not all people who oppose the U.S. r extremists, 4 example, he talked about the issue of U.S. foreign policy and how wishy-washy the president can seem 2 be (disapproving of Russia's actions in Chechnya then later on saying that he found some sort of kinship with Mr. Putin upon looking in2 his eyes...or something). He pointed out how when a people dislike their government, they dislike the countries that SUPPORT their goverment as well, and often this means the U.S.

(I remember Cheney saying that we would have 2 deal with some "unsavory characters" in order to "root out" terrorists, but these "unsavory chatacters" r still leading authoritarian regimes, which love 2 deflect attention away from their own human rights violations and on2 the extremists.
The U.S. is just feeding the fire when they do that, is what he seemed 2 b saying.)

He told a (true) joke about some sort of meeting he went 2 where Congress or something like that was interviewing a North African representative about his leader's government. the panel asked him if his leader was for democracy. "Yes." So he is for holding elections? "Yes, he is very much 4 that." So if ur country held elections and an opposing party won, would they b allowed 2 govern?

answer: "Y would we ever allow them 2 do that?"



ANYway...I thought that was funny.

There were many other intricate things he mentioned that were kind of hard 2 grasp unless u were really paying attention, which I tried, but there was a bat flying around the room, which was unfortunate since it caused quite a stir and the whole thing was webcast!

Anyway, I'll b back later with more on what he said. he's very smart, 2 say the least!

Esposito is a cool dude. His book "Islam: The Straigth Path" is a pretty good straightforward presentation of Islam that's an easy and quick read.

NuPwrSoul said:

The lack of responses tells me just how ignorant the org is.

They dont want 2 read anything if it's more than 3 sentences or isn't about sex.

But thanx 4 ur input nupwrsoul. I agree with u, dude really knows what he's talking about.

Nep2nes said:

I think the lack of responces has more to do with the author or the thread...but dont quote me on that.

Nep2nes said:

You got 53 people who have READ this, don't be so ignorant yourself.

As for RESPONDING... well, maybe some of the people here are not well enough informed to make any kind of statement, and maybe they just don't care.

These forums aren't here to educate on anything other than Prince. So if you reach one person with your oh-so-damn-important rhetoric, you've done more than most. And I don't mean that facetiously either.

Nep2nes:

"Muslims vary as much in their interpretations of Islam as followers of other faiths with theirs. For the vast majority of believers, Islam, like other world religions, is a faith of peace and social justice, moving its adherents to worship God, obey His laws, and be
socially responsible."

John Esposito, Political Islam: Beyond the Green Menace


This is very true!
It is the the VAST majority, that I'm happy about,
and the FAITH OF PEACE. This is good to read.



Like I have always said before, a religion might
influence a person, but it is the person/persons
who decide whether or not to be intolerant of
others beliefs!

That's very interesting! I would love to read more from John Esposito, since I am not very familiar with him.

Thanks for posting this Nep2nes!

Foreign policy seems to be at the root of most of the hate directed at the United States. While fingers are pointed at excuses such as religious extremists or radical groups and individuals who hate the U.S. because of its freedoms lets find the truth behind the hate.

Nep2nes said:

How very brilliant of you...

Maybe people just don't respond because they don't like YOU! Did you ever think of that?

neps, its you not the subject.

anyway, do have any other memories of ppl. talking about this topic? thanks.

IceNine said:

Well, thats pretty immature.

nLA said:

How do u know that 53 people have READ this? people r 2 lazy 2 read nowadays..they want everything done with the click of a mouse. TRY 2 tell me that those people didnt click on this thread, c the length of the post, then get scared away.HA!

Nep2nes said:

no...like i said prior..people arent responding because its your thread... ive posted longer threads about political or world issues and seem to get plenty of responces...if you want your messages to be respected, maybe you need to start learning how to gain respect yourself...

then people will be jumping to read what you have contributed...




make love to the edit!!
[This message was edited Fri Sep 6 18:25:38 PDT 2002 by SkletonKee]

Sad but true neps.No one is interested in what you have to say now.Somebody else could put this up and get fifty hits quick.You can justify why you don't think people are posting here but DEEP inside i THINK you KNOW

I found the points made interesting but it's really distracting when you replace to/two/too with 2, you with u, why with y, etc, esp when it's a somewhat long/intellectual statement.

I read fast, and it hinders the process when I'm trying to skim something. It would be a helluva smoother read if you put aside the Princely-talk and replaced it with real English.

Just my two cents on your "lack of responses" comment.

Natsume said:

This seems more likely, altho' byn now people's eyes should be trained 4 Princespeak by now..with the amount of people who use it, which is probably half.

But it seems more likely than "They hate u so they dont want 2 have an educated discussion about something that actually matters."

Whatever. C, even when I try 2 b on-topic, intelligent all the time, and a straight up stickler, every1 still talks shit so whats the point?

I should keep being me. That's the point.

SkletonKee said:

hehehehehehehehehehe