The myth of Muslim support for terror

Posted by: Lister | May 30, 2007

The myth of Muslim support for terror

From the Christian Science Monitor (Feb 2007):

Those who think that Muslim countries and pro-terrorist attitudes go hand-in-hand might be shocked by new polling research: Americans are more approving of terrorist attacks against civilians than any major Muslim country except for Nigeria.

The survey, conducted in December 2006 by the University of Maryland’s prestigious Program on International Public Attitudes, shows that only 46 percent of Americans think that “bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians” are “never justified,” while 24 percent believe these attacks are “often or sometimes justified.”

Contrast those numbers with 2006 polling results from the world’s most-populous Muslim countries – Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Terror Free Tomorrow, the organization I lead, found that 74 percent of respondents in Indonesia agreed that terrorist attacks are “never justified”; in Pakistan, that figure was 86 percent; in Bangladesh, 81 percent.

Posted in Propaganda

Responses

A comment I left on a blog linking here. I was responding to this bit:

74 percent of respondents in Indonesia agreed that terrorist attacks are “never justified”; [...] That leaves 26 percent

You note that 74% isn’t 100% — and miss the point of the survey. Only 46 percent of Americans agreed that “bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians” are “never justified,” while 24 percent believe these attacks are “often or sometimes justified.”

46+24 isn’t 100% either, so some are undecided or whatever. Take account of that category when totally up how many Indonesians support terror. And don’t forget the important point: Americans are MORE supportive of attacks upon civilians than Indonesians, Pakistanis, etc.

At least understand the article before you disagree with it. Christian Science Monitor, btw, not my blog.
By: misterlister on June 5, 2007
at 5:18 pm
Snake Oil replied with:

the question refers to military strikes in which civilians are certain to be killed – like shooting a missile at OBL while he is in a crowded market place

I said:
No it does not. It does not say “attacks intentionally aimed at combatants near to civilians” it says “attacks intentionally aimed at civilians”. It is very specific, very clear.
By: misterlister on June 8, 2007
at 9:27 am
hey there. Thanks for the info . It was rather nice reading this at this late hour. i wud bump here later. t/c
By: Bangladesh on July 3, 2007
at 10:45 pm
Who speaks for Islam? That’s the title of a book which summarises opinion of Muslims, as recorded by Gallup polls.

book, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, presents the results of six years of Gallup polling in the Muslim world between 2001 and 2007.

[...] In totality, we surveyed a sample representing more than 90% of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims, making this the largest, most comprehensive study of contemporary Muslims ever done”

But I think what they did was gather data from several surveys.

“[The Gallup data shows that] contrary to what the ‘They Hate Our Freedom’ thesis might predict, Muslims do not recommend or insist upon changes to Western culture or social norms as the path to better [Western-Muslim] relations. … Rather they call on the West to show greater respect for Islam, and they emphasize policy-related issues [U.S. interventionism; unqualified support for Israel; and protection for authoritarian Arab regimes]” (159).

[...] Over and over again, Esposito and Mogahed show the nearly complete absence among Muslims of a desire to destroy America’s equality of opportunity, liberties, or democracy. Indeed, the Gallup data show that these are the aspects of U.S. society that Muslims most admire. “[T]he sentiments of vast majorities of those [Muslims] surveyed,” the authors write, “[show] they admire the West’s political freedoms and they value and desire greater self-determination” (31).

But, of equal importance, Muslims do not believe that greater democracy and self-determination in the Muslim world require a Western-like separation of church and state.
By: Lister on March 25, 2008
at 8:09 pm