This is excellent! This woman gets it, more so than Al Sadr gets it.

Click Here (http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1050wmv&ak=null)

I think she gets it too... unfortunately... I'm afraid her words are going to fall on deaf ears... and she might just wind up with a Muslim "present" in her mailbox or they may find some other way to shut her up.

How can the fanaticism of radical Muslims be "validated" and expected to be respected? Agree or disagree, believe or don't believe... but why not just let people live their lives the way they see fit? Why does it have to come to killing innocent people, burning and destroying churches and embassies?

She sounds like the voice of reason in a storm... but who will listen? It would seem that certain Muslims (radical leaders etc.) would claim she is speaking heresy, and therefore can't be trusted or reasoned with.

We can hope that the voice of reason and tolerance is heard and that people listen. If Muslims / Palestinians / (insert radical flavor here) wish to be recognized by the rest of the world, they need to wise up and realize that killing people is not winning them any popularity contests.

How long before lawmakers pass laws restricting the observance of certain religious practices because of inherent violent activities related to those practices? How long before Muslims can no longer worship because too many radicals are strapping bombs to their bodies and killing people?

Nobody wins.... but more people die each day. My heart grieves for mankind as a whole.

Wise words overall, but as a secular woman she acquire more fatwas than attention I'm afraid. Still, it's a start.

Here you go making me look stuff up...

fat·wa ( P ) Pronunciation Key (fätwä)
n.
A legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar.

I'm not trying to be a tard, but how does fatwa apply in your last statement. Even though I looked it up, I'm still having trouble with it.

She's going to acquire more legal opinions or rulings by Islamic scholoars than she will attention? Do you mean that they are going to denouce her or make her illegal/immoral to listen to?

She sounds like the voice of reason in a storm... but who will listen? It would seem that certain Muslims (radical leaders etc.) would claim she is speaking heresy, and therefore can't be trusted or reasoned with.

You may be right Gan, she may be yelling at the top of her lungs at an unpeneratable wall.

On the other hand she may represent the seed that will begin to grow a new movement of thought in the mideast.

If she only changes one radicals thinking she will be ahead of the game. Who knows she may have already inspired a resident of the mid east to take up her message. Perhaps that resident will have as dramatic effect on the thinking of the mid east population that Martin Luther did on North America. One can only hope.

And I think we are down to that now, hope, hope that the inevitable world war 3 will some how be avoided. It is quite obvious that we cannot count on politicians and the military to resolve this peacefully. They don't give a rats ass about peaceful resolutions, they only care that their profits in the hands of the military machine continue on in a never ending cycle of technological advancement and death. Apparently lucrative military contracts, killing people and the pursuit of power are the only real bastions of success left in this world.

If she dies due to a suicide bomb or kidnapping then she will be the 'true' martyer, someone who dies for her beleifs and refuses to take up arms to kill others to get that point across.

Passivity does NOT equate to weakness.

Cheers,

I'm not trying to be a tard, but how does fatwa apply in your last statement. Even though I looked it up, I'm still having trouble with it.

Fatwas can also be issued against individuals, essentially calling for their heads. Iran's Ayatollah Khomenei, for instance, issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie over his novel, The Satanic Verses.

SNIP

Passivity does NOT equate to weakness.

Cheers,

Spoken like a true Canadian ;)

Sadly in that world a male voice would be more widely accepted. I wish her the best but think her days are numbered.

I dont think this is so much about changing the opinion of even one extremist. It is more about changing the opinion or an alternate viewpoint being seen by those whao might gravitate towards extremism.

Common sense seems to be lacking in the muslim world or is it that common sense is something that those in positions of power, Mullahs, Leaders of business and dictators, dont want the people to have.

I think that the world has an opinion of muslims that is skewed, but skewed not by racist policies against them but by the policies that the muslims have themselves placed upon the world.

This woman has hit a dead on bullseye and is saying things that our own leaders and the leaders of other nations are too chicken to say.

If you think about it, probably 90% of the people in the US have no other issues with the muslim religion other than if you question it they blow you up or a bunch of other people get blown up. The whole freaking cartoon thing was so overblown and manipulative on the part of the leaders of the muslim nations.

If she dies due to a suicide bomb or kidnapping then she will be the 'true' martyer, someone who dies for her beleifs and refuses to take up arms to kill others to get that point across.


Sadly, I'm afraid that she would have to be a martyr for her story to be told and accepted. I do not know how the Middle Eastern mind works and therefore have no basis upon which to form an opinion. It may be possible that since people from that part of the world seem to idolize martyrs, the imams may go out of their way to NOT make her a martyr.

You are so right Fildien, if it were a male voice, the reasoning might be more readily accepted. All we can hope for is that someone, anyone... might hear and be moved by her words.

The Middle Eastern mind is not that much different than say the mind of a Westerner, or a Far Easterner.
What matters is how the person is brought up.
Backwards, ignorant people live in all parts of the world. In The US they are called Rednecks; in Europe, Soccer fans; in the Middle East, Islamic Jihadists.
These are people who tend to be xenephobic, and easily manipulated by others.
Thier lives are not glamorous, they tend to have a poor education. They do however have a belief in the Religion of thier choice.
To me Religion is just another way for 1 man to manipulate another, through promises of things to come in the afterlife.
Nevermind that there is no way to be sure if there are 72 virgins waiting for you in the afterlife or 72 Virginians, all that matters is the manipulation.
As for this lady's message of peace, blame the media for it not getting out. Why listen to 1 voice of peace, when there's car bombs to cover.

As for this lady's message of peace, blame the media for it not getting out. Why listen to 1 voice of peace, when there's car bombs to cover.


That shows the short sightedness of the media. Given todays environment in the middle east it would be a good bet to cover her as she will probably get blown up by a car bomb. Kind of the two birds with one stone thing.

...in Europe, Soccer fans...
Okay, that made me chuckle.

I don't know how much opinions like this woman's reach the air waves in the Middle East. There are a few female jounalists and commentators I'm aware of pushing for these kinds of values (tho' not necessarily secular) in their home countries, but obviously such ideas haven't taken root. I don't know that one can blame the media so much. Obviously some Middle Eastern outlets allow these commentators and activists. Others may simply fear being blown up (or are hardline or under regimes that disapprove of that sort of thing).

LOL, Glad I made you laff a little. I heard something many years ago about the media, and it seems to be true.
"If if Bleeds it Leads".
That generally means if someone is killed and or maimed, it's the top story.
Just watch any network news broadcasts, and it seems to be the rule, even on Fox.

'...in Europe, Soccer fans...
Okay, that made me chuckle. '

- Some of us Liverpool fans have, with time and medicine, come to be of a passive nature.


die.die.die.

Found an article about the woman in the video. Good Read (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/international/middleeast/11sultan.html?incamp=article_popular)

Wow, what a brave woman.
We need a 10 million more just like her to stand up and say "Enough!"
Her words are so on the ball. It's not a war against Islam, as much as it is a war against people who have a strangle hold on the ignorant; people that have no other way to learn anything other that what is taught in the madrassa.
Religion is just another way for a human to control another human with promises of an afterlife.
I hope she lives a long and prosperous life. The Israelis should provide this woman protection, and President Bush would do well to make light of her.

I wonder if you can liken it to when the first African-American sat in a "only white" seat on a bus, way back when. She may have started something but it will be a heck of a long time before we will see changes in people. However, it is a start. :)

A start indeed. And as corny as it sounds it's like a glimmer of hope for the Middle East.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/03/stop_making_excuses_for_muslim.html

Another interesting read on the subject.