Moderation is not to be found among the weak
Reader comment on item: The Forcible Removal of Israelis from Gaza

Submitted by Constantine Kipnis (United States), Apr 23, 2005 at 02:03

The gentlemen commenting on India's experience are quite right that Muslims have thrived in India whereas non-Muslim Indians are all but extinct in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

It's always a one-way process: once a land has been proclaimed Muslim, it stays that way. What changes from time to time is the degree to which dhimmitude is benevolent.

It looks like throughout history powerful Muslim regimes have tolerated minorities while shaky ones see no reason to bother. Even 200 years ago Europeans who found their way to North Africa were routinely enslaved and only occasionally ransomed by family and friends - but this was done without much fuss or fierce hatred - a fly which fell in a spider's web was deemed to belong to the spider.

Ever since the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East has been a host of weakling nations with smoldering hatreds and great machismo but little power to do more than engage in mob actions. The massacre of Baghdad's Jews was such an act, the expulsion of Jews from most of the Arab countries, and of course the war of 1948 and all that followed were all emblematic of the modern mob politics. I imagine that, given time, once Malaysia becomes 90% Muslim, the remaining minorities will flee...

Today, with the world one global community, the anxiety of one Muslim is shared by all. It is not enough to be firmly in charge of one's own land - as long as the media is awash with stories of poor Muslims being abused elsewhere, the idea of benevolent tolerance for the dhimmis is unacceptable. In essence, modern media makes it difficult for moderate Muslims to stay moderate and "close their eyes" to the various causa belli which saturate the air.

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