SZA's Blog: September 2017

Note:
I decided to make this quick and not dedicate much research and time into this because I really wanted to go back to TROP and finish my refutations on them, the next part on Ben Shapiro will deal with how non Muslims are more likely to support terror than Muslims, however after this article I shall return to TROP
so i apologize for any short argument or refutations or rushed conclusions, but i really wanted to go back to TROP (the religion of peace website)

we stated and discussed how one might be radical and what lead them to radicalization, and we proved it academically that it was not religion that is the driving factor but continuing to our discussion regarding Bangladesh

in an article in 2007 by pew center

“The percentage of Muslims saying that suicide bombing is justified in the defense of Islam has declined dramatically over the past five years in five of eight countries where trends are available. In Lebanon, for example, just 34% of Muslims say suicide bombings in the defense of Islam are often or sometimes justified; in 2002, 74% expressed this view. However, Palestinians stand out for their broad acceptance of suicide bombing. Seven-in-ten-Palestinians say this tactic is at least sometimes justified.”[1]

we are here looking at an article in 2007, so how could ben miss this?

“Among the most striking trends in predominantly Muslim nations is the continuing decline in the number saying that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilians are justifiable in the defense of Islam. In Lebanon, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia, the proportion of Muslims who view suicide bombing and other attacks against civilians as being often or sometimes justified have declined by half or more over the past five years.”[2]

by half or more? that’s quite of a punch in the face of Ben Shapiro argument

now what about FGM? ben, as we know, relied mostly on Pew center for research, but I couldn’t find a single article produced by Pew center regarding FGM in Bangladesh, so this baseless claim is dismissed

I’m going to make short refutations to each country he cites from now on, I won’t go into detail about sharia law and radicalization since I already rested my case for them, and as I said before, any time he mentions sharia law and radicalization (including honor killing) please refer to part 2 and 1

@02:56

“Nigeria, 75.7 million Muslims live there 71% failure sharia law that’s 53.7 million people”

again as discussed before, support of sharia law doesn’t equate being radical, I will not repeat myself, read part-2 and part-3 for more details

@03:05

“Iran, 74.8 million Muslims 83% favored implementation of sharia law as of last year so that’s 62.1 million more radicals”

again as discussed before, support of sharia law doesn’t equate being radical, I will not repeat myself, read part-2 and part-3 for more details

@03:13

“Turkey has 74.7 million Muslims and 32% this is a moderate Muslim country, probably the most moderate Muslim country 32% said honor killings of Muslim women can actually be justified sometimes so that’2 23.9 million radical Muslims in our moderate ally Turkey”

ok, let’s fact check this, 32%? hold on, I was trying to look up this claim, the closest I got was on Wikipedia.

“Honor killings continue to receive some support in the conservative regions of Turkey. In 2005, A small survey in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey found that, when asked the appropriate punishment for a woman who has committed adultery, 37% of respondents said she should be killed”

now hold on, just in Diyarbakir? really ben? that is your method? you took one city in turkey and made it representing all of the countries? let’s see Diyarbakir population in comparison to turkey

Diyarbakir population is roughly 1.3 million minus turkey 74.7 that’s 73.4 that’s about 48100 radicals, Ben, really? that is your methodology? how did you pull this on your fans?

you made about 48100 represent 74 million people?

@02:29 “morocco 32.4 million Muslims life there, just over quarter support sharia law that’s 24.6 million radical Muslim”

again as discussed before, support of sharia law doesn’t equate being radical, I will not repeat myself, read part-2 and part-3 for more details

@03:37

“Iraq 31.1 million Muslims live there 78% say honor killing can sometimes be justified that amount to 24.3 million Muslims radicals”

now that is my home country and is what he says true?

the closest I got was Wikiislam stated that there have been 11 incidents of honor killings in Iraq, they didn’t verify their sources but let’s take them for sake of argument, 11 incidents of honor killing, ONLY 11, and we have ben Shapiro claiming that 78% of Iraqis support honor killing?

I looked into his primary source (pew center) and I couldn’t verify his percentage

but the percentage they offered are not 78%

“Beliefs About Family Honor

The survey asked Muslims whether honor killings are ever justified as punishment for pre- or extra-marital sex.29 In 14 of the 23 countries where the question was asked, at least half say honor killings are never justified when a woman stands accused. Similarly, at least half in 15 of 23 countries say honor killings of accused men are never justified. In only two countries – Afghanistan (60%) and Iraq (60%) – do majorities say honor killings of women are often or sometimes justified,”[3]

in similar statistics done by Pew center

“Pew Research (2013): Large majorities of Muslims favor Sharia. Among those who do, stoning women for adultery is favored by 89% in Pakistanis, 85% in Afghanistan, 81% in Egypt, 67% in Jordan, ~50% in ‘moderate’ Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, 58% in Iraq, 44% in Tunisia, 29% in Turkey, and 26% in Russia.”[4]

44% now?

first, it was by Ben 78% then later by pew it was 60% then now its 44%?

now since Ben is bringing Honor killing as a theme for his cited countries let’s now dedicate a small section regarding why Muslims justify honor killings and is it truly based on religion?

I will cite few footnotes from “Is Honor Killing a “Muslim Phenomenon”? Textual Interpretations and Cultural Representations by Recep Doğan”

I’m not going to define Honor Killing assuming we already know what we are talking about, I’m going to assign several sources and arguments that Honor Killing is a cultural rather than Islamic phenomena

I know Ben isn’t claiming that Honor killing is an Islamic thing, but if we understood how it works and where did it came from, his claim that Muslim societies are radical in nature for being Muslim is wrong

honor killing, isn’t an Islamic exclusive practice that being it’s performed over women, it’s also suffered by men, honor killing isn’t exclusive to adultery or fornication at all, honor killing is diverted and wide, basically in a nutshell it’s anything that is done by a member of a family that is considered “dishonored” or “shameful” by member of that family or that community[5], it’s particular a cultural phenomenon[6]

“If a woman refused to comply with the rules set down by her cultural community, her ‘immoral behavior’ contaminated the whole family. If other strategies to make the women comply failed, the only remedy was for her male relatives to kill her in order to protect the family honor. Thus, the murders were culturally sanctioned and designed to uphold a specific moral order”[7]

Honor is often reflected on the purity of man or daughter on their parents, and therefore violence at that case was created to protect the honor of father and mother[8]

According to Peristiany and Safilios-Rothschild, who examine the Greek concept of honor and shame, the Greek concept of philόtimo determines whether any action must be taken against dishonorable conduct or whether such conduct must be responded to with violence in order to restore honor[9]

“Etymologically philόtimo means ‘love of honor’ and is used to identify the character of a Greek who is concerned with his honor and his good name above all and who is willing to safeguard it at any price. Philόtimo acts as the sensitizing catalyst which makes the individual feel shame when one of his own or of his family’s dishonorable actions are exposed and which drives him (her) to the culturally appropriate action.”[10]

therefore honor killing which can be traced back to ancient Greek relies heavily on the cultural aspect of men having the duty of taking the dishonor of the family

this proves that contrary to popular claims, honor killing isn’t exclusive to Islam

In the case of Surjit Athwal, 27, a Sikh British woman who went missing in 1998 on a visit to her in-laws in India, was found to have been murdered in the name of honor. On 19 September 2007, Bachan Athwal, 70, Surjit Athwal’s mother-in-law and Sukhdave Athwal, 43, Surjit’s husband, were jailed for life for ordering the murder of Surjit Athwal, whom they claimed had disgraced their traditional Sikh family by having an affair (Timesonline, 20 September 2007).

The 2002 and 2003 Reports of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, and other available data also shows that honor killing is not

restricted to the Muslim communities[11]

For instance, in Upper Egypt, it was found

that Coptic families (Egyptian Christian) were statistically as likely as Muslim families

to commit such crimes[12]

further more read Muslim Phenomenon”? Textual Interpretations and Cultural Representations by Recep Doğan

but for the sake of brevity, we will continue with Ben Shapiro, when ever he mentions honor killings go read that article I cited

@3:48 Ben start with “Afghanistan 24 million people a huge majority 76% support at least occasionally just ones in a while honor killings of women 99% want sharia as law of the land it’s like a Cuban election over there”

again back to sharia law and honor killing, please refer to the article I gave and the previous parts of sharia law

@4:04 “Jordan, smaller Muslim country 6.4 million Muslims right now Hamas is like enjoying 60% approval rating so 3.8 million radical Muslims”

this is actually quite unique, Ben didn’t use Honor killings no sharia law here, but rather just a name of a radical group the original article in pew center state the following

“Among the eight countries with sizeable Muslim populations surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project in 2008, Hamas received a positive rating in only one, Jordan, where 55% voiced a favorable view of the organization while 37% expressed an unfavorable opinion. Still, Jordanian attitudes toward Hamas were less positive than in 2007, when 62% gave the group a favorable rating, and 36% a negative one.”[13]

ironically this date 2009 tells us something about Lebanon, for those who don’t know Lebanon had a war with Israel back in 2006 where Israel launch a number of airstrikes as “response” to Hezbollah killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two in Zar’it border thousands of civilians and combatants were killing, millions displaced

so we already now see where the support came from

this article was published back in 2009 so it’s already outdated but there is another article from the same year stating the opposite

“Before Israel’s Invasion, Hamas Popularity Was Waning Among Its Neighbors — Even in Gaza Itself”[14]

“Still, Jordanian attitudes toward Hamas were less positive than in 2007, when 62% gave the group a favorable rating, and 36% a negative one.

Hamas’ image also declined in neighboring Egypt. In 2007, Egyptians were split (49% favorable, 49% unfavorable). By 2008, however, only 42% had a favorable opinion, while 50% held a negative view.”[15]

“and between 2005 and 2008, it dropped from 57% to 25% among Muslims in Jordan.”[16]

@04:15 “Palestinian areas we are sending literally hundreds of millions of dollars to the Palestinian areas we are the American tax payers, 4.3 million Muslims live in the Palestinian areas 78% of those had positive or mixed feelings about bin laden 89% support terror attacks on our ally Israel 89% support sharia law, we should give them a state folks”

really ben? really? “89% support terror attacks on our ally Israel” you do realize these are the Palestinians we are talking about here, the direct victims of Israel terror and aggression

what about ben laden, this is the part that shocked me the most, this 70% support for bin laden is only one part of the article, the article state that the support declined from 2003 to 2011 to 34% why the hell did Ben Shapiro took out that part that state the support for bin laden in Palestine was declined?

also again we are talking about Palestine here, bin laden had sympathizing views of them

“Over time, support for bin Laden has dropped sharply among Muslim publics. Since 2003, the percentage of Muslims voicing confidence in him has declined by 38 points in the Palestinian territories”[17]

In the West

Now Ben Shapiro takes us to the West and how Muslims are viewed there

@04:40 “France 4.7 million Muslims live there, a 2007 poll shows 35% of France Muslims said suicide bombing could be justified its 1.6 million radical Muslims living in France”

Now this has been circulating even in idiotic right wing Donald trump reddit forms, I couldn’t find the source for this claim, I searched all over pew center and couldn't find a single source that verifies the claim

@4:55 “great Britten, 2.8 million Muslims living there 78% want cartoonists of Muhammad legally prosecuted so we are talking about 2.2 million radical Muslims in Great Britain”

again apparently his sources this time are turning out to be Reddit forms and not pew center, but BBC did provide a link to an associated survey from ComRes[18]

the survey asked, “Do you agree or disagree with these statements about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad ...?”

the answer was “Organisations which publish images of the prophet Muhammad deserve to be attacked” the answer to the survey was 11% agree 85% disagree

so we are actually facing 11%, not 35% that support killing cartoonist

Not so bad Ben and Reddit right wingers, you just took a survey and pumped the numbers high enough for your silly propaganda

@05:50 “how about here in the united states well we have a very moderate Muslim population we do 2.6 million Muslims live here according to Pew research 13 percent says violence against civilians can be justified 19 percent say they were either favorable toward al Qaeda or just didn’t know you know because who knows really? that’s almost 500.000 radical Muslims”

now did he pull that from Reddit again? or did he actually used pew center as claimed?
keep in mind this is Muslims in the US we will come back to them shortly

Now we do actually have a pew and to be fair to him he is correct here, the actual number is 12%, however, 84% say it’s never justified[19]

however Pew center did provide detail context behind this 12 percentage

“The new question finds that among the general public, Americans with a high school degree or less education are somewhat more likely than those with more education to say there are circumstances in which violence against civilians can be justified.”

so this is a matter of ignorance and not religious devotion

let’s read more

“Although the survey question was intended to probe the morality of targeting innocent people to advance a cause – as suicide bombers and other terrorists often do – some respondents may have interpreted it more broadly. For instance, one man in his 80s said that violence against civilians is acceptable “just in self-defense.” And another man in his 50s said: “If I’m walking along and I’m peaceful, and somebody wants to hurt me or my family because of their political, religious, social views, by all means, I think … our law enforcement has every right to put them down.””[20]

Ok, so the justifications behind killing civilians can widely vary from self-defense, and not strictly religious reasons like how Ben would assume

Supporting killing of civilians isn’t always a matter of religion, I could support killing civilians in case of self-defense for example

Conclusion

Ben in this entire weak sorry excuse of a video made the following arguments

1- if you support sharia law you are radical

2- you are religiously devoted if you hold radical beliefs

3- honor killing is a Muslim thing

now he might not have objectively made these statements explicit, but nevertheless, his video screams of these 3 bad arguments that lack any credible scientific research

[1] http://www.pewglobal.org/2007/07/24/a-rising-tide-lifts-mood-in-the-developing-world/

[2] ibid

[3] http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-morality/#_ftn9

[4] http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf

[5] John George Peristiany, ed., Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966, p. 11.

[6] Mikael Kurkiala, “Interpreting Honour Killings: The Story of Fadime Sahindal (1975–2002) in the

Swedish Press”, Anthropology Today, Vol. 19, No. 1, February 2003, pp. 6–7, 6.

[7] ibid page.7

[8] Julian A. Pitt-Rivers, “Honour and Social Status”, in Honour and Shame, ed. John George Peristiany,

op. cit., pp. 19–77, 53

[9] John George Peristiany, “Honour and Shame in a Cypriot Highland Village”, in Honour and Shame,

ed. John George Peristiany, op. cit., pp. 171–190, 179; Constantina Safilios-Rothschild, “‘Honour’

Crimes in Contemporary Greece”, The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 20, 1969, pp. 205–218, 205

[10] Constantina Safilios-Rothschild, Ibid., p. 205.

[11] Honor killings take place in countries including Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, Iraq, Israel and the occupied territories, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Qatar, Sweden,

Syria, Turkey, and Yemen (Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against

women (2002), Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women

(2003)). See also Rana Husseini, Murder in the Name of Honor, Oxford, UK: One World Publications,

2009. According to Bettiga-Boukerbout honor killing also took place in Italy. Maria Gabriella

Bettiga-Boukerbout, “‘Crimes of Honour’ in the Italian Penal Code: An Analysis of History and

Reform”, in “Honour” Crimes, eds Lynn Welchman and Sara Hossain, op. cit., pp. 230–244, 235.

[12] CEWLA (Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance), “‘Crimes of Honour’ as Violence against

Women in Egypt”, in “Honour” Crimes, eds Lynn Welchman and Sara Hossain, op. cit., pp. 137–159,

155, 159.

[13] http://www.pewglobal.org/2009/01/08/views-toward-hamas/

[14] ibid

[15] ibid

[16] ibid

[17] http://www.pewglobal.org/2011/05/02/osama-bin-laden-largely-discredited-among-muslim-publics-in-recent-years/

[18] http://www.comresglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/BBC-Today-Programme_British-Muslims-Poll_FINAL-Tables_Feb2015.pdf

[19] http://www.pewforum.org/2017/07/26/terrorism-and-concerns-about-extremism/

[20] ibid

SZA's Blog

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Returning to TROP

Sunday, September 3, 2017

Fact Checking Ben Shapiro’s “myth of the tiny minority” part-3 (final)

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