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DemocratSinceBirth

(99,708 posts)
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 10:40 AM Sep 2014

On a scale of 1-10 how large a threat is ISIS?


21 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
10
2 (10%)
9
0 (0%)
8
1 (5%)
7
3 (14%)
6
1 (5%)
5
1 (5%)
4
0 (0%)
3
0 (0%)
2
2 (10%)
1
11 (52%)
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Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll
39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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On a scale of 1-10 how large a threat is ISIS? (Original Post) DemocratSinceBirth Sep 2014 OP
Threat to whom? Scuba Sep 2014 #1
Exactly. ZombieHorde Sep 2014 #2
That was my first thought ....? etherealtruth Sep 2014 #38
10's??? NightWatcher Sep 2014 #3
I think Ebola is No. 1 fadedrose Sep 2014 #4
There are two axes to the threat matrix lumberjack_jeff Sep 2014 #5
Threat to the US mainland, I'd give it a 7. TwilightGardener Sep 2014 #6
giant threat to syrians/iraqi minorities. not so much to north americans. La Lioness Priyanka Sep 2014 #7
To what? With out that answer, it's impossible to rate. sinkingfeeling Sep 2014 #8
Very little threat to me (nt) bigwillq Sep 2014 #9
As big a threat as the “knock-out game” N/T Chathamization Sep 2014 #10
Has the knockout game killed hundreds? n/t. PlanetaryOrbit Sep 2014 #13
This threat goes to 11 Capt. Obvious Sep 2014 #11
To whom? They are a huge threat to some people and not much of one to others. Marrah_G Sep 2014 #12
Threat to Iraqi Christians? Extremely high. PlanetaryOrbit Sep 2014 #14
What an insensitive question frazzled Sep 2014 #15
I don't think I specified who the threat was to and nor did I categorize the magnitude of it./NT DemocratSinceBirth Sep 2014 #16
There's something called implicature frazzled Sep 2014 #17
I merely asked a question. I can not control other people's inferences nor do I want to./NT DemocratSinceBirth Sep 2014 #18
A very stupid question frazzled Sep 2014 #21
I regret the fact you are using this poll to cast aspersions on my character./NT DemocratSinceBirth Sep 2014 #22
They are the face of the year for a dangerous movement Tom Rinaldo Sep 2014 #19
This message was self-deleted by its author CJCRANE Sep 2014 #20
I was not originally concerned about them hitting the homeland, but Frustratedlady Sep 2014 #23
A threat to whom? LittleBlue Sep 2014 #24
I am not going to give a number but they are a serious threat to the people of the hrmjustin Sep 2014 #25
To the United States? Zero Autumn Sep 2014 #26
And also presumably those Iraqi people that Isis executes and kills ? nt el_bryanto Sep 2014 #28
Yeah, bush and dick should be on trial for what they did. Autumn Sep 2014 #29
Can't answer. I don't have enough information. MineralMan Sep 2014 #27
1, unless we do all the miraculous shit we did right before and on 9/11 whatchamacallit Sep 2014 #30
A threat to what and whom? BainsBane Sep 2014 #31
To me they are a 1 or 2. To other folks in the world they are a 10. Should I ignore them pampango Sep 2014 #32
"10. Serious to the amount of 10." Donald Ian Rankin Sep 2014 #33
Our militaristic police and for profit prisons are a far bigger threat to us than Isis is. Initech Sep 2014 #34
I don't know. Rex Sep 2014 #35
I never understood why people usually rank things on a scale of 1 to 10, instead of 0 to 10. (eom) StevieM Sep 2014 #36
Today the threat is very small Taitertots Sep 2014 #37
I picked 10 Mojo Electro Sep 2014 #39

etherealtruth

(22,165 posts)
38. That was my first thought ....?
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 06:56 PM
Sep 2014

To folk in Iraq and Syria ...11, to others in the middles east .... 7, 8, 9,or 10, to the residents of Belize ...0

fadedrose

(10,044 posts)
4. I think Ebola is No. 1
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 10:59 AM
Sep 2014

But since other countries are getting involved in defeating ISIS, the threat is going from 10 to a little less....

PM Cameron (Britain) is a cheerleader opposing ISIS and our leaders are finally showing the passion to fight them, so it would have been a "10" a few days ago.

 

lumberjack_jeff

(33,224 posts)
5. There are two axes to the threat matrix
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 11:00 AM
Sep 2014

severity and probability.

ISIS are a 6 on the severity scale and a 4 on probability. This is unlike sea level rise for example, which is a 9 on the severity scale and a 9.5 on probability.

TwilightGardener

(46,416 posts)
6. Threat to the US mainland, I'd give it a 7.
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 11:43 AM
Sep 2014

Threat to US interests/personnel in the middle east and Asia, I'd give it a 9.

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
15. What an insensitive question
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 12:15 PM
Sep 2014

You might as well have asked what threat the Ferguson police department is to me, an older white woman who lives in an entirely different city and state. Well, none, obviously. Does that mean I don't think the Justice Department should not be devoting time and resources to investigating (and possibly prosecuting) them?

ISIS is a large threat to those who happen to be non-Sunni Syrians or Iraqis. Let's recall the current toll:

Start with Monday’s testimony before the U.N. Human Rights Council. The documented incidents include 1,700 captives executed in Tikrit, Iraq, and 650 in Mosul, Iraq. Some 1,000 Turkmen massacred, including 100 children. More than 2,000 women and children kidnapped. “Systematic hunting of members of ethnic and religious groups.” Women raped and sold. Young boys executed. Girls enslaved for sexual abuse. Children recruited as suicide bombers. More than 1 million refugees, half of them kids.

Then read the report Amnesty International issued Tuesday. Its title is “Ethnic Cleansing on Historic Scale: The Islamic State’s Systematic Targeting of Minorities in Northern Iraq.” The report details, with eyewitness testimony, several more ISIS atrocities in Iraq. At least 100 men and boys herded together and shot to death in Kocho. “Scores of men and boys” summarily executed in Qiniyeh. More than 50 men “rounded up and shot dead” near Jdali.

Human Rights Watch also released a report on Tuesday. It offers new evidence about the massacre in Tikrit. “Information from a survivor and analysis of videos and satellite imagery has confirmed the existence of three more mass execution sites,” says the report. That brings the death toll to “between 560 and 770 men.” The captives were shot dead while lying in trenches with their hands bound.

For a more complete tally of the carnage, check out the U.N.’s latest casualty figures for Iraq. The 1,265 civilians killed in August, combined with 1,186 in July and 1,531 in June, yield a total of 6,861 so far this year, and 9,826 over the last 12 months. The report doesn’t specify how much of the killing was done by ISIS, but it does say that “thousands continue to be targeted and killed by [ISIS] and associated armed groups simply on account of their ethnic or religious background.” These figures don’t include the uncollectible data from Anbar province—which covers half the Syrian border and nearly one-third of Iraq—or any of the nearly 200,000 people killed in the Syrian civil war.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/09/don_t_watch_isis_s_murder_of_steven_sotloff_honor_him_by_remembering_the.html


Your question should rather be: what is the best way to proceed (or not) to prevent more killings and ethnic cleansings. Who cares what threat ISIS poses to any one of us?

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
17. There's something called implicature
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 12:23 PM
Sep 2014

And more than half the respondents in this thread are questioning your question. The other half are taking it as the threat to themselves or to the US. So you need to think seriously about rewording it to be specific. Absent that, this is just a trash-thread candidate: flame bait, pure and simple.

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
21. A very stupid question
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 12:29 PM
Sep 2014

which, as you well know, invites stupid answers. So if you want to be king of shit-stirring, keep asking these kinds of questions. You are no innocent here: it was a pointedly obtuse question that does not invite rational discussion. Be proud, be very proud.

Tom Rinaldo

(22,911 posts)
19. They are the face of the year for a dangerous movement
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 12:26 PM
Sep 2014

It is the ideology of murderous religious extremism that is the threat, more so than this particular collection of extremists at that place at this time. Murderous religious extremism historically has never been solely Islamic, virtually all mega religions have out breaks of it from time to time. At the moment it is most virulent at the Muslim fringe where circumstances make its advancement viable. But t can trigger extremist reactions in other religions also; be it Christian vs. Muslim in Nigeria, or Hindu vs Muslim in India, or Jewish vs Muslim in the Middle East, and it can contribute to the rise of extreme right wing Christianity in America alsp as the world wide climate for religious tolerance deteriorates.

So while I rate ISIS as a 3 or 4, I rate jhadism as a 7 and religious extremism in general as 8 or higher.

Response to DemocratSinceBirth (Original post)

Frustratedlady

(16,254 posts)
23. I was not originally concerned about them hitting the homeland, but
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 12:49 PM
Sep 2014

recent reports of missing planes (hitting US interests/embassies), Americans joining forces with ISIS and growing conflict in the Middle East by religious factions, I'd rate it a 7-8.

It doesn't take that many living in the US to make a point. Not to the degree of 911, but enough to scare the bejeebers out of most normal, caring individuals. Look at the targets that would be easy marks. Football games, fall festivities, large churches. It only takes one.

For one, they need to kill the promise of 72 virgins on the other side. Should have been done many years ago. Once believed, it's like a catnip trip that won't shut off. Sheesh! Ignorance abounds.

 

LittleBlue

(10,362 posts)
24. A threat to whom?
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 12:52 PM
Sep 2014

To the US? 1. At worst they could create terrorist attacks, which create lots of panic and fear but really are no actual threat to the country overall.

 

hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)
25. I am not going to give a number but they are a serious threat to the people of the
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 12:54 PM
Sep 2014

Middle East and around the world.

Autumn

(44,980 posts)
29. Yeah, bush and dick should be on trial for what they did.
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 04:06 PM
Sep 2014

You notice I said to the United States zero threat. There are atrocities going on in other countries also.

MineralMan

(146,254 posts)
27. Can't answer. I don't have enough information.
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 01:57 PM
Sep 2014

Further, a threat to whom? That's not clear at all in your poll.

whatchamacallit

(15,558 posts)
30. 1, unless we do all the miraculous shit we did right before and on 9/11
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 04:18 PM
Sep 2014

Like ignoring protocol, diverting resources, and shutting down key defenses...

BainsBane

(53,012 posts)
31. A threat to what and whom?
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 04:20 PM
Sep 2014

That is the question. Your poll doesn't provide options for that so I can't answer.

pampango

(24,692 posts)
32. To me they are a 1 or 2. To other folks in the world they are a 10. Should I ignore them
Thu Sep 4, 2014, 05:21 PM
Sep 2014

because they are not an immediate threat to me?

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.


First they came for the women, and I did not speak out -
Because I am not a woman.

Then they came for the Shia, and I did nothing -
Because I am not a Shia.

Then they came for the journalists, and I did nothing -
Because I am not a journalist.

You know the rest.
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