Why do naive westerners call people who do violence in the name of God "extremists"?

Question

During any exercise of Jihad, western jounalists (mostly leftists) quickly label the Jihadist an "extremist" because westerners believe, according to their own pathetically pacifist religious beliefs, that any violence done in the name of God must be done by an extremist.

Doesnt this assume that everyone else also comes from a western value system? What if you were raised in an eastern religious culture that believed that violence done on Allah's (Gods) behalf is a good thing and the sign of a pious believer? What if most of those people, in that culture, didnt at all believe that violence done for Allah is a signature of "extremism"?

Maybe we could call this naive leftist viewpoint outright bigotry. Could we not? Isnt it bigotry to castigate the acts of people, outside your religion, simply because they dont adhere to the norms of your belief system as opposed to theirs?

Mind you, I loathe politically correctness, Im just showing the absurdity of leftist politics.

Answer 1

I don't think anyone is that bad. aside from maybe the suicide bombers. lol.

a dollar to a doughnut says that you'll get 20+ angry responses from ppl that didn't read that last line. lol.

Answer 2

In said fact, violence has never been the answer. True, many actions of the west may be hypocritical to Christianity, but they give a bad image to the religion. In any religion, when a human inflicts harm on another human for whatever said reason, this is an extreme act. The KKK is an extreme group. Extreme just means to the end of a spectrum. There are Muslims who are pacific in nature, so they are extremley pacific (if you will), those who commit violence, are on the other end of the spectrum. If the Koran really does say that you must commit violence for God, then are the majority of Muslims not faithful, Just as all religious works, including the Bible, the perspective of the writer must be understood, before jumping to literal conclusions (otherwise, all Christians would've been Creationists!)

Answer 3

Considering that most religions, including Islam, promote PEACE as their core value, anyone who embraces the opposite - violence - as a means of proving their faith obviously holds a somewhat unusual interpretation of that religion. Since most mainstream members of the the religion agree that peace, and not violence, is the heart of Islam, it is reasonable to define jihadists as holding an "extreme" view, a view at the edge of what is considered Islam.

Of course, if you want to get into a philosophical debate about whether or not you can ever apply objective value judgements to a subjective interpretation, we could be here all day and just keep going in circles. However, by your own argument, if you accept that leftist/westerners/journalists share a set of common norms, then you must agree that FROM THEIR VIEWPOINT, jihads are at the fringe of their set of norms, and therefore it would be accurate for them to classify jihadists as extremists.... just as from the jihadists' point of view, it would be accurate to describe the leftist westerners as "pathetically pacifistic."
In other words, each group is entitled to their own opinions and definitions. Your logic is weak - I suggest a introductory college course in philosophy and/or sociology.

Answer 4

I think they came up with that terminology to be politically correct, or at least politically polite. I personally would use much stronger words, which would end up being either reported or being mostly asterisks on here.. I would say to put it mildly, "religious zealots" or perhaps "batsh!t crazy people" would be appropriate "labels". It does not matter weather these folks are western or eastern or south-northern, indescriminately killing innocent people is unacceptable. There is no defense, or justification for it, period. Lets get down to humanity, and leave the politics out of it. Allah does not want innocent poeple being slaughtered, Allah is God, and God is love. I am aquainted with many Muslim folks, and they are peace-loving and follow the Koran (sp?).

Answer 5

because we are brainwashed by our own government. i'm from the west and also a Christian. i do not have pacifist beliefs. i'm am an extreemist like you. for example i believe in Canadian troops killing the Taliban and liberating the people.

i do not agree with Iraq war just so you know. i hope that you can drive the Americans out. it is your country. if someone tried to "liberate" my country i would do the same as you.

i was listening to the radio and they were calling people who are against the government of one country "freedom fighters" while at other times people against the government are called "rebels". who gets to decide what people are? Goerge Bush in his speakes tells the people that these are "evil terrorist Muslims". he says it over and over again. video is show of people cutting their heads and dancing around wiping blood all over them. they tell us this is Islam. that is only a small group of Islam. they show us the threats made towards innocent people. what are we suppose to think that killing innocent people is the will of God and the act of a true believer? what God would want suffering.

also Christians are called extremists to. they kill abortion doctors in the states to stop them from murdering babies. there is a Catholic at quantanomo bay. tell and Christian to deny his religion and if he is a true Christian he will rather die. is this not extreem.

in the Bible it talks about anyone who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God. it is the world that has this idea of extreemists. aren't all religions extreem if the person would die for it? the world judges others by their actions and does not look at the reason for the actions. but doesn't God judge the heart of a man, and see his intentions?

don't get me wrong i'm a lover of peace. i have been in the army to keep the peace. because i love those people in my country i will fight for them to keep them safe. i'm Canadian.

Answer 6

You haven't shown anything but your bias against liberals (or moderates, for that matter). I have no problem with any religion until some of its practitioners try to force it on others. That makes it extremism in any civilized culture.

The fact that they may belong to an uncivilized culture means nothing - they are still trying to force their religious beliefs on those who eschew them or have other beliefs. Those others have the right to resist them and, if there is no other way, to extirpate the extremists (not the peaceful practitioners of that religion) to protect themselves.

Answer 7

Control freaks and people without passion like to label people -- uh-oh! Look what I just did! Anyway, other people tend to get labeled, too, like Christians who want to follow all the ten commandments, etc. Maybe "extremist" and "fundamentalist" are not dirty words at all. I just saw a t-shirt today that said, "If you're not living on the edge, you're just taking up space!"

Answer 8

They are rightly called extremists because violence is an extreme act. It is a personal judgment whether the extremism is good or bad.

Answer 9

Violence begets violence. War breeds war. War is contempt for all that is called Holy. Hence no such thing as a Holy war. Nothing good ever comes out of war.

Answer 10

You rage about the degree to which groups of people are educated or uneducated about the other.

Westerners no more fully understand others than others fully understand westerners.

What nonsense.

Best wishes,

pup

Answer 11

Both sides of extreme is bad. Anyone that use God to justify doing things to the extreme is a nut case.