# I pit the American PR arm of ISIS and murderous Muslim Radicals. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 20, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912 "2016-06-20T19:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/61 "2016-06-21T14:03:26Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Awww… am I insulting your intelligence? Or am I straining its limits? Yaawwwwn. Try harder. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/62 "2016-06-21T14:10:00Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Not clear on your question. Can you restate? Your explanation for certain actions is this mindset about wanting everyone to be treated equally, a position you agree with, but ignoring the actual facts that you would say should affect that. To restate, is that the only explanation you think is plausible to explain this kind of action, or are there other explanations that you’ve discounted for one reason or another? > [@](#): > > Not sure of the percent, but the point is that even if it’s tiny, the resultant number is significant. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. 1% would equate to 16 million. 0.1% equates to 1.6 million. Neither of those numbers are comforting. And when you add sympathizers into the mix, thanks quickly get much more troubling. If you’re not sure of the percent, how do you know it’s near enough to 1% or 0.1% to make your point workable? > [@](#): > > I know the Pew poll has been shared on these boards many time. [Here it is again.](http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview) I have to admit that I had to very quickly skim that poll to read it, so very possibly I’ve missed something, but I didn’t see a question pertaining to how many Muslims are interested in killing me (or you). ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/63 "2016-06-21T14:28:56Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Yaawwwwn. > > Try harder. Try answering the question you’re working so hard to avoid answering: Step 1: Identify the Enemy… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/64 "2016-06-21T14:33:53Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Try answering the question you’re working so hard to avoid answering: > > Step 1: Identify the Enemy… Anyone not exactly like MEEEEEE! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/65 "2016-06-21T14:51:10Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > And if this were 700 BC, you might have a point. But in the world we live in TODAY—you know, the one where Muslim Extremists are beheading journalists, blowing up innocent people, throwing homosexuals off tall buildings, stoning women, mutilating young women, subjecting family members (usually women, of course) to honor killings, flying planes into buildings and going on shooting sprees against innocent civilians…all in the name of Allah—you don’t. My point is there exist Muslims who are trying to follow the example of the Semites and paranoid winguts like yourself aren’t helping matters. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/66 "2016-06-21T14:58:24Z")
[Try a smaller brush, van Gogh.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19420334&postcount=29) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/67 "2016-06-21T15:57:44Z")
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/20/i-reported-omar-mateen-to-the-fbi-trump-is-wrong-that-muslims-dont-do-our-part/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/20/i-reported-omar-mateen-to-the-fbi-trump-is-wrong-that-muslims-dont-do-our-part/) Muslim acquaintance of Orlando killer reported him to the FBI. > [@](#): > > …[Editor’s note: A federal law enforcement official confirmed the author’s cooperation to The Washington Post.]… Who was that mosqued man? I wanted to thank him! Anyway, sorry to interrupt with facts. You guys were saying? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/68 "2016-06-21T17:07:12Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Since you seem to have such a difficult time with Step 1, I won’t waste my time. > > Work on embracing Step 1. Our actual material enemies – those who carry out attacks or materially support them – are a very small portion of Muslims. This very small group of Muslims are our enemy in terms of ISIS-inspired and related terrorism. And fortunately, there are very, very few in America. In fact, we’ve done a magnificent job of assimilating Muslims in America – they’re significantly more open to homosexuality than evangelicals and Mormons, for example. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any shitty Muslims here – there certainly are, including Omar Mateen. Considering that we’ll be far more likely to defeat the actual enemy with most Muslims on our side, then it seems reasonable to me to use nuance and specificity when discussing our real enemies. This doesn’t require holding back 911 calls – that seems pretty silly, and I’m glad they changed their minds. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/69 "2016-06-21T21:03:15Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Oh, please. You can certainly argue about not giving him any press, and we’d probably agree. I did argue about not giving him any press, and you clearly don’t agree. Or perhaps you agree, but you feel it’s far more important to paint a red target on 1.6 billion people because their wrathful god is different from your wrathful god. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/70 "2016-06-21T23:33:50Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Try answering the question you’re working so hard to avoid answering: > > Step 1: Identify the Enemy… Step 2: Use that identification to whip up sentiment against everyone who looks like and believes like that enemy. Step 3: Once public opinion and fear is sufficiently heated, begin the Crusade. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/71 "2016-06-22T02:08:23Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > . . . mutilating young women . . . That’s a regional-cultural thing, really. It is not practiced in all Islamic countries, it might well predate Islam where it is practiced, and the mullahs agree Mohammed neither commanded nor recommended it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/72 "2016-06-22T02:14:17Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > They also ignore the facts when it comes looking at black crime. They present the disparity in numbers (in say, incarceration rates), to build the narrative that societal/institutional racism is the culprit. But it ignores the inner-city culture in which many blacks are raised. You can’t possibly believe there’s no connection between the two. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/73 "2016-06-22T02:20:11Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You want real genius, I’ve got someone for you. Identify the people who are funding the guys who want to kill you: > > The Saudi royal family and large parts of the Pakistani government. Well, what can we do about that? The Taliban has a heavy presence in Pakistan, and the House of Saud’s main domestic opposition is ultra-Wahhabists who think the royals are too secular and Westernized. We can’t risk destabilizing either country, or more radical-religious statelets might spring up, and their respective regions might even descend into regional war. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/74 "2016-06-22T02:26:06Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Since you seem to have such a difficult time with Step 1, I won’t waste my time. > > Work on embracing Step 1. Step 1 begins with recognizing that the next guy you see on the street who looks Middle Eastern to you is really not, to any statistically significant degree, more likely to be a dangerous person than the next Euro-white person you see. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/75 "2016-06-22T03:40:57Z")
This kind of reminds me of the furor over Benghazi, where it’s really not quite clear if anyone knows what they’re mad about, but they’re mad about SOMETHING, by gum!!! Everyone knows that the asshole had declared his allegiance to Islam. Everyone had reported that. It was not a secret. There was no coverup. Is it reasonable to omit the precise words he used in the 911 conversation in order to attempt to prevent him from being used as a martyr, or attempt to prevent glorification of ISIS? And was that why that decision was made? Beats me. But there was no downplaying, no keeping of secrets, no hush-hush-let’s-pretend, because everyone already knew, and everyone already knew that everyone already knew. To the extent that it was a stupid decision, it was stupid mainly because it gave right wing idiots like the ones in this thread free ammunition, not because their claims actually have substance. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/76 "2016-06-22T03:47:06Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > To the extent that it was a stupid decision, it was stupid mainly because it gave right wing idiots like the ones in this thread free ammunition, not because their claims actually have substance. It would have been free ammunition no matter what was done. I’m sure there was a statement prepared for every possible situation. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/77 "2016-06-22T04:44:39Z")
Magellan, before I start on the invective, I remember you being, if not the most reasonable poster on the board, at least above _this_. This thread sounds more like something **Clothahump** would post. So let me ask you two questions. 1. Why, exactly, does censuring the man’s mention of ISIS turn the censures into the American propaganda arm of ISIS? They’re trying to _reduce_ ISIS’s exposure, and I think it’d be pretty hard to argue that reducing ISIS’s exposure would help their recruitment effort. Everyone knows this guy was a Muslim, everyone knows he pledged allegiance to ISIS - that all made the news a week or so ago; it’s not being hidden from us. It’s common knowledge. So why does this act as propaganda _for_ ISIS? 2. Who are our enemies, exactly? When you keep saying “step one”, do you honestly think there’s some confusion? ISIS is the enemy. Islamists are the enemy. But my friend Bilal who lives down the street is not the enemy, despite being a practicing Muslim. (By the way? He knows I’m bisexual and is perfectly fine with that.) Hell, Obama [had a speech talking about exactly this issue not long ago](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/14/482041137/president-obama-slams-yapping-over-radical-islam-and-terrorism). He’s actively trying to win the hearts and minds of Muslims, because if we can’t do that, there’s no way in hell we can win the war on terror - after all, there are more Muslims in the world than Americans. Why do you keep acting like Obama legitimately doesn’t “know who the enemy is”? He gets it. I kinda think you don’t. I hope you’ll give these questions serious answers. It’s the pit, but I’d like to think you are above… Well, _this_. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/78 "2016-06-22T06:17:13Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > I have to admit that I had to very quickly skim that poll to read it, so very possibly I’ve missed something, but I didn’t see a question pertaining to how many Muslims are interested in killing me (or you). [Pages 15 and 55](http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/04/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf). Page 15 shows the percentage of the Muslim population that supports Shariah law, and page 55 shows the percentage of Shariah law supports that support the death penalty for apostasy. Turkey’s pretty good, in that only a few percent want to kill ex-Muslims, but it’s 60% in Egypt and Palestine, and 80% in Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/79 "2016-06-22T10:30:52Z")
**I pit the American PR arm of ISIS and murderous Muslim Radicals.** > [@magellan01](#): > > [It’s called The White House.](http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/20/benghazi-orlando-transcripts-loretta-lynchs-partisan-agenda/) > > What a bunch of short-sighted douchebag apologists. PR arm of ISIS. The White House. You have got to be one of the dumber people that I will cross paths with today. Try not to stick your fingers in any electrical outlets. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912/80 "2016-06-22T12:57:09Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I did argue about not giving him any press, and you clearly don’t agree. Or perhaps you agree, but you feel it’s far more important to paint a red target on 1.6 billion people because their wrathful god is different from your wrathful god. No. Not giving him any press might be the best thing, but it’s just not possible in todays world. Or do you disagree? Do you think it is possible for an event like that to occur and the government work with media—ALL media—to not talk about it? I don’t. And that’s not even what the government was trying to do. They, with this instance and others, do not want Islam to get a bad rap. They have this Kumbaya attitude, which is nice, but doesn’t work in a world where Muslim Extremists want to kill innocent people. We’re told to keep our eyes open and support suspicious activity or individuals, that that’s is the best thing we can do. Okay, well don’t you think that knowing what to keep an eye out for is helpful information. Every time the White House, a police department or news outlet tries to protect Islam (or minorities) but not giving us as much info about the perpetrator as possible, they make people less safe. If there was a serial rapist raping women in a city and there was information describing him as being black or Arab-looking, or Asian or having red hair, don’t you think that information is helpful to women? This knee-jerk mistake made by The White House was just that: knee-jerk and a mistake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-american-pr-arm-of-isis-and-murderous-muslim-radicals/757912.md?page=5)