An Islamist Apology

Daniel Pipes has been issued an apology. It was extracted via a libel suit, but it is an apology nonetheless.

It is perhaps a good sign. Perhaps some insight and self-awareness is developing? Maybe it is even the beginnings of acting responsibly? Like Daniel Pipes, I certainly hope so.

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred have more thoughts. One of the commenters quoted in the post cites a 45 year old alcoholic who still blames his parents for his alcoholism, and says, "At some point, you need to be accountable for your own action."

Yes. You do.

At some point, Islam must grow up and accept responsibility for what is going on in its name. It cannot hold the West responsible, when their own holy book has passages that justify and exculpate mass murder, enslavement, and oppression of others.

Once, in its early days, Islam was a vibrant and creative force for its followers. Those days have been over for a thousand years. Yet, like the 45 year old alcoholic, the blame for the sorry state most Muslim countries are in is laid at the feet of the West.

It won't work. You may find some countries (e.g. Spain) willing to take the blame. But it will do you no good in the long run. You won't get better; your lives won't improve; your societies will remain barbaric--until and unless you begin to take responsibility for what you believe, say and do.

I am not foolish enough to think even for a moment that the solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will end the anger and rage of the Muslim/Arab world. What I see clinically all the time is that if you change the circumstances that the patient claims is the source of their failure in life; they will only find yet another circumstance that can be pointed to as the new reason they don't get better and are unable to have happiness and success. It will always be someone else's fault that they cannot reach the happiness they just know is right around the corner.

No one can change the past. An accumulation of injustices and grievances is a surefire way to establish permanent victimhood. And a victim will remain a victim--until the courage is found to take responsibility for one's own life and future.

Recognizing what you are doing to contribute to and perpetuate your own victimhood is a good first step to ending it. A second step is to take responsibility for the consequences of your own actions.