Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
^I do think it's pretty arbitrary at this stage. That set of values isn't shared by all Canadians when compared, to, say, their identification with so-called French or British or US values, which vary somewhat but aren't really all that much different in principle. I'm probably more American on freedom of expression than Canadian; I'm more Canadian than American on the role of government, etc.
First, this is obviously inaccurate no matter your definition simply because the range of people who hold any set of views in Muslim majority countries varies wildly country to country, so there's no baseline.
Second, what does "true extremists" mean? Does it mean people who are willing to be suicide bombers? How about people who support suicide bombing but wouldn't do it themselves? How about people who think violence is awful and unjustified, yet want Sharia imposed over all countries? How about people who want Sharia, but only want it to be imposed on Muslims? How about people who practice Sharia principles but don't want them imposed on anyone?
Third, this is obviously not a random population sample. What the effect of that is, I don't know.
This is, all told, an unhelpful line of inquiry.
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I think it's reasonable to have a discussion on how we define extremism. If only so we can make the word useful in our discussions.
But how to define extreme/moderate is a discussion that tends to get shouted down by the left, as they feel the entire discussion is inappropriate.
I will say that the average Canadian makes the assumption that a "moderate" muslim is someone who is like "us". I think people would probably slide a larger portion of muslims into the "not moderate" camp if they heard directly on various topics like freedom of speech, freedom to blaspheme, gay rights, etc.