Where were you 9/11/2001?

[EgoDeath]

Okay, it is beside the point, I admit that. I just saw you saying "This war they're fighting is very real, and this is the type of shit that Jihadists and Islamic extremists want to do to us simply for being who we are (not Muslims). While I'm not championing America as some proud, noble country that's never done anything wrong, we didn't deserve anything like that" and figured some added  perspective was in order. The ISlamists are an existential threat (or at least they want badly to be), but the way I see it, not the most powerful one at the moment.

Sorry for derailing the thread.

They're not an "existential threat"; they're a very real threat, as evidenced by the attacks on 9/11. Starting the body count on 9/12/01 and then saying, "See, it's right wing extremists you should be worried about!" is fucking nonsense. Playing with the numbers to fit your narrative is nonsense, and you know that brother.

The reality is, it's very, very unlikely that you'll be hurt by any kind of terrorist in your lifetime, statistically. However, if we're going to look at the numbers, post 9/11 for whatever reason, and say that based on those numbers, Islamic terrorism is only an existential threat and not something to be worried about, then we should be saying the same for far-right extremism, because the numbers are not dramatically higher.

I really don't understand the tendency of the left to make these post 9/11 numbers such an important distinction. Why leave out 9/11 when tallying the body count? It simply doesn't make sense. I know we'd all like to treat 9/11 as if it was this one-time thing that will never happen again, but that's only wishful thinking. It doesn't mean we should live our day-to-day lives in fear of some attack, but it doesn't mean we should discount terrorism from Muslims as something that will never happen. Because if so, we should also be discounting terrorism from far-right extremists as something that will never happen.

This bizarre attempt to shift the conversation in hopes of "adding some perspective" is a little strange. Though not surprising. I've seen plenty of liberals do it. Any time Islamic terrorism comes up, some liberal will swoop in, completely unprovoked, at some point and say, "Stop! We should really be talking about far-right terrorism!" As if they're afraid to even talk about the fact that Islamic terrorists exist.

I'm not sure what perspective needs to be added. Islamic terrorists killed almost 3000 people 18 years ago on 9/11. There's not much perspective to add there; it's just a horrible tragedy that occurred because of religious extremism, which is wrong no matter who it comes from or what country they live in.