I think the problem is in the middle. Neither are the people natural idiots, nor is Islam at it's core worse or better than other monotheistic bullshit.
Extremist jerk-offs can always interpret a religion violently, not the religion's "fault".
Most likely the biggest issue here is society. Many middle-eastern countries never experienced a serious *social* revolution. They're still rooted in a religion-dominated, fundamentalist-led social pattern. They never had the Enlightement like the West had (America was founded on such principles in the first place). Most Asian countries have different religions, cultures and morals.
Africa almost as a whole got so screwed up by the colonial entities it's no wonder the place is still in shambles.
The only thing I do have specifically against Islam and/or it's interpreters is its treatment of women. If a young girl gets raped it's seen 9 out of 10 times as her own fault. WTF is that?
I consider myself an open-minded and mostly un-prejudiced person, but I've noticed stories like this tend to make me more judgemental on Islam and Islamic countries. I say things I know are gun-jumped-conclusions, I know they're not well reasoned through, and the scary thing is I find more and more people tending to develop these same prejudices. And then I'm not talking about the stupid, right wing village youth here in Netherlands, but the educated, leftist, liberal punk scum hippy youth.
It may not be right, and I realize that. But also based on the immigrant problems we have in the Netherlands, the issues France has with it's immigrants, it sows a lot of bad seed with the "natives". One thing that sickens me to death is, no matter what happened, I almost never see a muslim/arab/north african take responsibility. It's never their fault, they think. Raping a 12 year old girl? Her fault since she had no veil and I couldn't help but feel seduced by her long brown hair!
An annoying Moroccan/Dutch youth getting a whack from a cop's stick? But he was only standing there, they say! He did nothing!, we hear. Yeah, did nothing except nothing.
Their communities are so damn protective of each other they'll never fess up to something done by "their own".
And from all over the world and also in my own country I keep hearing stories like this, and in all honesty, there's only so much one can take before even a liberal starts to get cynical about it.
If immigrants want to work, live and be here, that's fine. I don't expect them to fit in perfectly within 5 years. I don't expect them to throw all their own morals, values and ideas overboard as if they meant nothing. I don't expect a beer-guzzling, sausage munching, Frisian speaking Muslim within 5 years.
If you come to live here, you're welcome as you are, but for fucks sake understand that this is not "your" country. Here are other rules, other customs, other demands being made of you as a citizen. You may not agree with everything, but you need to respect and accept them, period.
When a Western woman goes to visit Iran, she needs to weir a veil. FINE! Their country, their customs, their rules. You're visiting, you adapt.
But that adapting here works the other fucking way around as well. Because here in Holland we keep hearing stories like a Muslim that punched his doctor because he gave his wife a handshake. Young Moroccan youths threatening firefighters and ambulance personnel up to the point where the medics are afraid to get out of the car. The incessant hassling of random people on the street, mostly women. The group-forming and picking random fights with smaller and younger white kids.
The beating up of a white woman because she "walked through their neighbourhood without wearing a veil".
A woman without a veil may be an outlawed lust-object to treat as you fucking please where you come from but here it is fucking not.
Back in the day when I was young my mother was kinda afraid to go to the public pool anymore because she kept getting touched and felt up by immigrants. Not drunken Poles, not stoned Antillians, but Turks and Moroccans.
Now it's 6:47 am and I'm kinda stoned and I apoligize if I offended anyone during this rant. But on the other side I don't really apoligize.
This is how I really feel after hearing these reports for years and years and it's beginning to take it's toll on me.