Happy Draw Mohammed Day!

[Silent3]

76. Muslims will have to make not slaughtering each other a priority first...

...before much is accomplished. The greatest number of victims of Islamic extremism are followers of not quite the right brand of Islam. Certainly outside interests foment some of those conflicts, but if your sage advice about priorities is so great, why don't the people killing each other fix their own priorities, unite, and fight against the fomenters together?

In the meantime, I support politicians who are less likely than others to bang the war drums, protest those who are warmongers, I speak against military actions I disagree with -- short of jumping into politics or diplomacy myself, I do what I can.

In the meantime, there are real risks to people who dare offend the sensibilities of religious extremists, and a deliberate chilling effect created even when the feared violence doesn't go beyond death threats. Islamic extremists have certainly done quite a bit on their own without evil non-Islamic war profiteers having to stir them up. I don't considering recognizing facts of deliberate intimidation "perpetuating" anything.

Exactly how do you "rearrange your priorities" to stop Muslims from being slaughtered? Had much success yet? I simply understand intimidation and censorship a lot more than how to solve long-standing, very thorny problems of peace in the Middle East, problems which have thwarted smarter people with more power and influence than me. So I'm more likely to speak about what I understand more than what I don't, which is not at all the same as a prioritization of goals.

If you can record your activities for a week, measure the time spent on each, and sort the activities according to those times, see how well that sorting reflects your own priorities for world problems. I suspect you'll find you wouldn't want someone using tired old rhetorical tactics about priorities on you after you perform that exercise.