I received the following e-mail, and was struck by how true it is. I copied it here for everyone, that they might have the blinders in front of their eyes removed.
There's nothing hateful in this. It is blunt and to the point and it is entirely correct. Read fast - something tells me it might get deleted anyway.

The Peaceful Majority

I used to know a man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War Two.
They owned a number of large industries and estates.
I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.

"Very few people were true Nazis "he said," but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen.
Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control,and the end of the world had come.
My family lost everything I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that Islam is the religion of peace,
and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.

Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant.
It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better,
and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.

It is the fanatics who march.
It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.
It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.
It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill.
It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.
It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.
The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority" is the "silent majority" and it is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people.
The peaceful majority were irrelevant.
China's huge population was peaceful as well,
but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist.
Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing
that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And, who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.

Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany,
they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold;
we must pay attention to the only group that counts;
the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

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Never Forget a Friend. Or an Enemy.

This email is misleading and a symptom of the ignorance many have about peoples and history.

Just one example of many. You quote;

The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist.
Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing

You of course realize the centuries of hate between Japan and China, that still exists today to some extent? The allies did as much of an orgy of killings as any - how may bombs were dropped on Dresden? How many were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Etc. etc.

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flaming balloons

This email is misleading and a symptom of the ignorance many have about peoples and history.

Just one example of many. You quote;

The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist.
Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing

You of course realize the centuries of hate between Japan and China, that still exists today to some extent? The allies did as much of an orgy of killings as any - how may bombs were dropped on Dresden? How many were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Etc. etc.

...which beggars the question...who started it in the first place. What goes around comes around. The Japanese slaughtered nearly as many people as the atomic bombs did during their rape of Nanking, but they did it up and personal.

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Don't these replies to Chuck's post miss the point of the email he received, namely, that when the reasonable majority do not act against the fantics, they cede power and control to them?

That's an issue worth addressing, imho.

I don't have the time to do it now, but I agree with the assertion that fanatics need to be taken seriously, and not dismissed simply because they are a small minority.

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Don't these replies to Chuck's post miss the point of the email he received, namely, that when the reasonable majority do not act against the fantics, they cede power and control to them?

That's an issue worth addressing, imho.

I don't have the time to do it now, but I agree with the assertion that fanatics need to be taken seriously, and not dismissed simply because they are a small minority.

If you are going to make points then don't make bland inaccurate facts to try to support them. You don't need to point to events 60 years ago to prove the Nazi's and Japanese are proof that fanatics exist today. The reason fanatics exist today are because of circumstances today, not because of circumstances 60 years ago. If you are to try and understand why the world is the way it is today, then you might understand why fanatics become fanatics, what drives them, and what makes us impotent against them (if that is what the email is trying to say). Although I'm not sure if the email is trying to be a history lesson (inaccurate if so) or simply trying to take a pop at Muslims ("Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy").

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Um, I read that email differently. To me, it's a warning against complacency in the face of a fanatic minority. Rightly or wrongly, it's trying to make the case that this has happened before. (Hence the "history lesson" lecture, which is maybe too condescendingly written to be palatable). I can speak to the situation in Germany though: family members, who lived there at the time, have told me that the Nazis weren't taken seriously in Germany until it was too late.

FWIW ;)

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didnt everyone miss the point? the nutters already have control, we sheep just follow and keep our head to the gound, munching on grass. take this forum as an example :)

It ain't over 'til the Fat Lady sings!!!

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"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana

didnt everyone miss the point? the nutters already have control, we sheep just follow and keep our head to the gound, munching on grass. take this forum as an example :)

Sheep? Baaaaaaa!

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Although I'm not sure if the email is trying to be a history lesson (inaccurate if so) or simply trying to take a pop at Muslims ("Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy").

I vote for option number 2...

Odd that chucky would reappear so shortly after my return... I must have ruffled a few feathers again... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

Although I'm not sure if the email is trying to be a history lesson (inaccurate if so) or simply trying to take a pop at Muslims ("Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy").

I vote for option number 2...

Odd that chucky would reappear so shortly after my return... I must have ruffled a few feathers again... ;)

well we all have are Demons.....

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Although I'm not sure if the email is trying to be a history lesson (inaccurate if so) or simply trying to take a pop at Muslims ("Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy").

I vote for option number 2...

Odd that chucky would reappear so shortly after my return... I must have ruffled a few feathers again... ;)

well we all have our Demons.....

I don't believe in them so they leave me alone...

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Although I'm not sure if the email is trying to be a history lesson (inaccurate if so) or simply trying to take a pop at Muslims ("Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy").

I vote for option number 2...

Odd that chucky would reappear so shortly after my return... I must have ruffled a few feathers again... ;)

well we all have our Demons.....

I don't believe in them so they leave me alone...

Thats cause your already a Devil Dog.....

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IMO The politically active in ANY country,organization or whatever will always have more say than the nonpolitical active ie the rest of the population.
For politics to be steered down the middle course better than 50% of the eligible voters must use that vote! THIS also goes for established religions.

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Old enough to know better(but)still young enough not to care

IMO The politically active in ANY country,organization or whatever will always have more say than the nonpolitical active ie the rest of the population.
For politics to be steered down the middle course better than 50% of the eligible voters must use that vote! THIS also goes for established religions.

Well stated...

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Odd that chucky would reappear so shortly after my return...

Well someone has to counter the utter bullcrap and baloney you spew out
non-stop, Jeffrey.

I do get tired of repeating the same thing over and over like, to take a random example, READ 'OASIS IN SPACE YET JEFFREY? ONLY BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR THE PROOF?'

I can see that will simply go in a circle again...

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Never Forget a Friend. Or an Enemy.

I must have ruffled a few feathers again...

And again... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

"Very few people were true Nazis "he said," but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

"Very few people were true cronies "he said," but many enjoyed the return of American patriotism, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the cronies were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything we ended up in a homeless shelter and the Allies destroyed our home."

Yep... History sure does repeat itself... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .