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Audacity of Truth
Spinsational:
"We were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values."
-Obama, explaining recent Democrat losses, 1/20/10
Velvet Lair- The sexiness of winning the battle of good versus evil January 26, 2010
- Ever wonder why? January 12, 2010
- The decision to bench Peyton Manning: Right or wrong? December 28, 2009
- Is my dad turning into a metrosexual? November 24, 2009
- My “Things To Do For Christmas” list November 23, 2009
Fewer people link Islam, violence
I can only scratch my head on this one (make sure to scroll down for more comment from me):
The percentage of Americans who believe Islam is more likely than other religions to inspire violence has declined in the past two years, according to a poll taken after the London bombings.
Just over a third, 36 percent, now say the Islamic religion is more likely to inspire violence, while 44 percent said that in July 2003, according to the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
“This may have to do with some backing off of negative opinions the American public had of Muslims in 2002 and 2003,” said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center.
Really?
“The more people know about Islam, the less critical they are,” said Kohut.
People who were more knowledgeable about Islam tended to have a more positive view of Muslim-Americans and their religion. Only a third of Americans said they have some knowledge or a lot of knowledge about Islam.
Doesn’t Kohut’s quote and the last sentence on the 1/3rd of Americans strike you as a bit on the contradictory side? Per the poll, only about 1/3 of Americans say that have some or ‘a lot’ of knowledge about Islam, yet the poll also states that only 36% of those polled view Islam as a religion that would likely inspire 
violence and trumpets this as a ‘decline’ from a year ago. So are we to take from Kohut’s comments that a more informed audience would be even LESS likely to view Islam as a religion that would inspire violence even though the number of people who actually know something about Islam make up only about 1/3rd of the responses whereas 2/3rds of the responses were made by people who apparently knew nothing about Islam? Is this poll even worth the paper it’s written on? Are you tired of me asking questions?
I need a Tylenol.
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11 Responses to “Fewer people link Islam, violence”
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I think poll results like these reflect the American public’s awareness of PC liberal efforts to stigmatize Christians and condemn those who express negative opinions about Islamists. In other words, Christian bashing is progressive and liberal; Islamist bashing is judgmental and Islamophobic.
People are ignorant about the Islamic threat? Well, they have been for over 300 years. In 1683, Islamic armies were finally driven out of Europe by Polish forces, in the Battle of Vienna, which various historians have determined was fought on Sept. 10, or 11, or 12, 1683 (does that date sound familiar).
It has become all too clear, that since that time, the West has been in a second Dark Ages, totally blind to the fact that the current war did not start on 9-11-2001, or during the 1990s, but rather, it began 1,400 years ago, shortly after the death of “the Prophet” Mohammed, as the Islamic armies raided and conquered the Christian lands in present day Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and North Africa, before storming into Europe and getting half-way to Paris before they were stopped in 732.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tours
ST,
Ma’am, it is likely this drop in the polls is also partly due to the success of the Iraq elections, the growth of the Iraqi security forces and the victimization of Iraqi citizens by the Islamofacsists.
When we see the voting, when we see hundreds of Iraqi Muslims fighting alongside our troops and scores of innocent Muslim civilians being killed by the terrorist thugs, it is very difficult to think of the mass-murdering Jihadists as even of the same race as the Iraqi citizens and security forces, let alone as of the same religion.
“So are we to take from Kohut’s comments that a more informed audience would be even LESS likely to view Islam as a religion that would inspire violence even though the number of people who actually know something about Islam make up only about 1/3rd of the responses whereas 2/3rds of the responses were made by people who apparently knew nothing about Islam?”
The correlation can exist even if it the independent variable (knowledge about islam) does not fully explain the dependent variable (views about islam). There can still be a tendency to have views about islam improve with knowledge.
Mike: Intersting perspective. I hadn’t thought about that but you may be on to something.
Mark: Oh, indeed. Even after the horrific attacks on 9-11, and the various attacks that have happened in other nations since, it’s amazing that there are so many people out there ill-informed about the enemy we face today.
Tyler: I’d like to think you’re right re: the success of the Iraqi elections, but I’m not so sure. Especially considering the fact that only 1/3 of the poll participants knew anything at all about Islam. However, saying that, what do you want to bet we have a different poll in a few weeks that gives us a very different (opposite) result? LOL – that’s just how polls are. Different day, different style of questioning, different results
Actus: But there weren’t many knowledgeable participants to begin with, yet the belief that Islam can cause violence has gone *down*? Mebbe I just need some caffeine to give my brain a jumpstart this morning
“But there weren’t many knowledgeable participants to begin with, yet the belief that Islam can cause violence has gone *down*? ”
It could be correlated to other things too, like general tolerance, or decreases in xenophobia.
Just because a third are knowledgable about Islam and a third thinks they are no more violent than the Amish doesn’t mean we’re talking about the same group of people in both cases.
Hi RJ – it’s kinda hard to figure out who knew WHAT as it related to that poll
Mohammed married a six year old girl when he was 50. You decide what kind of prophet and religion that is. How much do you really need to know before you denounce it as a religion any civilized man would follow?
“Mohammed married a six year old girl when he was 50. You decide what kind of prophet and religion that is. How much do you really need to know before you denounce it as a religion any civilized man would follow?”
What kind of prophet and religion is it? Its the religion of such prophets as David Koresh, and Charlie Manson, and Jim Jones — the religion of some schizophrenic, narcasistic psychopath loser who harbors grudges against his enemies and exploits those around him for his own pleasure and seeks to kill everyone one who opposes him.
“Mohammed married a six year old girl when he was 50. You decide what kind of prophet and religion that is. How much do you really need to know before you denounce it as a religion any civilized man would follow? ”
I guess not all knowledge is correlated with tolerance.