Everything Warner says, about why Islam is dangerous, is of course completely true.
But…
We should strongly object to the use of the word “extremism” to describe what’s wrong with it.
Why? Because the surface message – that Islam is dangerous – masks a deeper message – that all extremes are bad.
What’s more, the obvious truth of the surface message puts us in an accepting frame of mind and makes us all the more susceptible to the deeper message.
And this is a very effective way to deliver a thought virus.
When we repeatedly hear the word “extreme” used as though it means “extremely bad” we gradually come to behave as though it really means that, even though we consciously know better.
And if they can make you behave as though you believe something, cultural Marxists don’t care if you actually believe it or not. To them, contentious social issues are nothing but means to an end, and that end is to engineer a docile and compliant populace.
They want us to believe – or behave as though we believe – that no person, group, belief system or way of being is better than any other. Thus, if Islam is bad, then it is bad not because of its content, but because it is extreme.
As long as they can get you to internalize that, they don’t care what you believe about Islam.
The thing is, if we condemn Islam for its extremism, then we must embrace moderation. But if we are moderate in our rejection of Islam, then Islam will win and we will lose.
But it goes much deeper than that. There is a huge down side to the idea that extremes are bad, just because they are extreme.
If hate is bad because it is extreme, then love is bad for the same reason.
If failure is bad because it is extreme, then excellence is bad for the same reason.
And so we descend into stultifying sameness and abject mediocrity, as determined by the lowest common denominator.
Of course, there is some truth to the idea that moderation is a good thing. But we only need to look around to see how destructive moderation is, when taken too far. And this should be enough to remind us where the true balance lies:
I would bet that Bill would agree with you as well.
While I do not know this, I presume that this video is a response to a very specific form of apologetics: that only a small percentage of Muslims feel obligated to practice the violent, oppressive and supremacist and phrasing it that ‘only a small percetage of Muslims are extremists’. Thus, he measured the percentage of Muslims who would act out the teachings of Islam which are extremely bad.
But your point is extremely valid!
Thunderf00t, another thinker in the webosphere, has expressed your very point in a video a few years ago where he points out that the more of an extremist a Jainist is, the less we all have to fear from him…
What I’m getting at is that the few who do are roundly execrated by the many who have been conditioned to believe that standing up to a bully is as bad as being a bully – Islamic or otherwise.
Because because fighting back is so… you know… extreme.
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 
December 6, 2014 at 00:45
Xanthippa:
Everything Warner says, about why Islam is dangerous, is of course completely true.
But…
We should strongly object to the use of the word “extremism” to describe what’s wrong with it.
Why? Because the surface message – that Islam is dangerous – masks a deeper message – that all extremes are bad.
What’s more, the obvious truth of the surface message puts us in an accepting frame of mind and makes us all the more susceptible to the deeper message.
And this is a very effective way to deliver a thought virus.
When we repeatedly hear the word “extreme” used as though it means “extremely bad” we gradually come to behave as though it really means that, even though we consciously know better.
And if they can make you behave as though you believe something, cultural Marxists don’t care if you actually believe it or not. To them, contentious social issues are nothing but means to an end, and that end is to engineer a docile and compliant populace.
They want us to believe – or behave as though we believe – that no person, group, belief system or way of being is better than any other. Thus, if Islam is bad, then it is bad not because of its content, but because it is extreme.
As long as they can get you to internalize that, they don’t care what you believe about Islam.
The thing is, if we condemn Islam for its extremism, then we must embrace moderation. But if we are moderate in our rejection of Islam, then Islam will win and we will lose.
But it goes much deeper than that. There is a huge down side to the idea that extremes are bad, just because they are extreme.
If hate is bad because it is extreme, then love is bad for the same reason.
If failure is bad because it is extreme, then excellence is bad for the same reason.
And so we descend into stultifying sameness and abject mediocrity, as determined by the lowest common denominator.
Of course, there is some truth to the idea that moderation is a good thing. But we only need to look around to see how destructive moderation is, when taken too far. And this should be enough to remind us where the true balance lies:
Moderation in all things… especially moderation.
December 6, 2014 at 17:32
Quite right, CodeSlinger.
I would bet that Bill would agree with you as well.
While I do not know this, I presume that this video is a response to a very specific form of apologetics: that only a small percentage of Muslims feel obligated to practice the violent, oppressive and supremacist and phrasing it that ‘only a small percetage of Muslims are extremists’. Thus, he measured the percentage of Muslims who would act out the teachings of Islam which are extremely bad.
But your point is extremely valid!
Thunderf00t, another thinker in the webosphere, has expressed your very point in a video a few years ago where he points out that the more of an extremist a Jainist is, the less we all have to fear from him…
December 7, 2014 at 00:02
Xanthippa:
Excellent example!
But there is another aspect to my point, which I would like to emphasize again.
When extremists go up against moderates, the moderates always lose, unless they outnumber the extremists many to one.
But in the case of Islam against the West, they outnumber us by at least two to one.
Therefore we must be twice as extreme as they are, just to even the odds.
We have to be twice as resolute. Twice as motivated. Twice as aggressive.
Just to get our chances to 50/50.
And that… is a sobering thought.
Because that’s not what I see when I look around me.
December 7, 2014 at 16:52
I’m trying!
December 7, 2014 at 20:10
Xanthippa:
Yes, I know you are.
What I’m getting at is that the few who do are roundly execrated by the many who have been conditioned to believe that standing up to a bully is as bad as being a bully – Islamic or otherwise.
Because because fighting back is so… you know… extreme.
December 7, 2014 at 21:16
Thanks for the recognition, CodeSlinger!
Keep smiling!