But how do we know this?  How would you expect a non-extemist to be heard?  Its 
not like a non-extremist is going to blow up an extremist group…  Sort of by 
definition.

Plenty of people have spoken out against the events this week.  But what more 
can they do?  The bombs are news worthy.  The people speaking out against the 
bombs just don't have the same bang.

Goes of course for catholics as well.  I constantly hear about another priest 
having raped another set of children.  I don't hear much about the good acts of 
catholics,  though I assume their must be plenty -- just doesn't make the news 
the same way.  

Where have the leadership and majority been on that issue?  I keep hearing 
about Bishops that have covered up for this or that bad priest,  but are there 
Bishops speaking out against this behavior?  I bet there are but I don't hear 
it very often.  And when I do it is said almost matter-of-fact-ly like, 'of 
course this is wrong'.  

Very much in the same way we hear muslims speaking about extremist violence, 
'of course this wrong'.  It just doesn't stick the same way as the images of 
violence.  

--joshua

On Sep 14, 2012, at 4:29 PM, Owen Densmore wrote:

> My interest is not the extremists, but the fact that the leaders and majority 
> do not protest against them, do not make themselves heard.
> 
> So it is about religion, but it could equally be about the NRA or racism or 
> human rights or whatever.  Where the majority is silent.  And the leaders do 
> not lead.
> 
> Not that I don't understand the religious issues, and your clear points 
> against them (and with which I am sympathetic), but that I'm looking at 
> another, broader issue that seems to appear not only in religions but many 
> other areas.
> 
> Is it not striking to you that the leaders and majority are silent?  We know 
> many Muslims here in Santa Fe who are sane and gracious.  They deplore the 
> extreme events. But they have not yet found a platform for inserting Islam, 
> the Good Parts, and their deploring the extremists, into the public discourse.
> 
>    -- Owen
> 
> On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 10:24 AM, Douglas Roberts <d...@parrot-farm.net> 
> wrote:
> Let's see if I understand you correctly, Owen. 
> 
> There are a bunch of fundamentalist Islamists all up in arms shouting "Allahu 
> Akhbar" whilst burning down our embassies and killing our diplomats because 
> there is a film out that is derogatory of the Muslim religion.
> 
> And this is not about religion?
> 
> I don't see it.
> 
> Or you don't see it.
> 
> What I do see is that there is one very large disconnect on this particular 
> issue.
> 
> --Doug
> 
> On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 10:17 AM, Owen Densmore <o...@backspaces.net> wrote:
> I do not believe this to be a religious issue at all.  The question is of 
> groups and institutions.
> 
> When a faction of a group becomes apparently insane, do we not expect the 
> entire group, its leaders and majority, to speak up and to mend?
> 
> When civil rights were an issue in the south, many of us (I was at Georgia 
> Tech) spoke up, and indeed many churches of all stripes did so.  Many NRA 
> members also speak up about the extreme position the organization takes.  
> Examples abound.  And yes, I consider this a Complexity domain, much like 
> Miller's Applause model.
> 
> Isn't this possibly a cultural issue?  Possibly regional?  The largest Muslim 
> population is not Libya or Egypt or even all of the middle east, its 
> Indonesia.  They do not appear to have this issue.
> 
> So my question stands as Kofi stated:
>     "Where are the leaders?  Where is the Majority?  Nobody speaks up."
> NOT the religious leaders but the leaders of the culture in which the 
> religion lies.
> 
> And Hussein, forgive me, but your inward religious stance has nothing to do 
> with speaking out against injustice.  It is not a religious issue, but a 
> civic, cultural one.
> 
>    -- Owen
> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Doug Roberts
> drobe...@rti.org
> d...@parrot-farm.net
> http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins
> 
> 505-455-7333 - Office
> 505-670-8195 - Cell
> 
> 
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> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
> 
> ============================================================
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> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

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