tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555502.post115733330116343139..comments2023-10-30T08:12:13.060-07:00Comments on Thosethingswesay: Never, ever, criticize a hostage.Mike M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14716539792698477275noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555502.post-1157422503746743442006-09-04T19:15:00.000-07:002006-09-04T19:15:00.000-07:00Adam Graham is a despicable, mewling halfwit. It ...Adam Graham is a despicable, mewling halfwit. It makes perfect sense that he worked for Alan Keyes. <BR/><BR/>Graham and guys like him talk a tough game on the internet, but if you put them in a room with a bunch of fanatics with guns who told them, "Convert or die," you'd have to use picoseconds to measure the time they agonized over that one before converting. <BR/><BR/>That time might lengthen to microseconds if they were given the choice between converting to Islam and never eating hotwings again.<BR/><BR/>Would I have pretended to convert if I thought it would save my life? Absolutely. I probably wouldn't kill an innocent or even endanger an innocent in order to save my own life. But I'd tell pretty much any lie to escape dying or even getting severely beaten if, as happened here, the only consequences of my lie was to let a bunch of overly macho blogers bleat about my lack of fortitude from the safety of their home offices. It's not like the journalists told state secrets or even betrayed confidences. No one got hurt, except possibly the journalists themselves, and the only possible harm there is a matter for them to work out with their god and their spiritual advisors.<BR/><BR/>And don't give me this nonsense about the conversion being a big propaganda victory. It might help the cause of radical Islam in places already sympathetic to it, but the best ideals of this country and of the free world reject kidnapping people or forcing them to profess a faith in which they don't believe. Every time some asshole with a bag over his head and a bug up his ass about a sadistic, childish version of Allah pulls a stunt like this, he strengthens the resolve of his enemies (including me, including moderate Muslims worldwide.)<BR/><BR/>Also, for what it's worth, I'm not even sure the staged conversion makes those journalists look like cowards in the eyes of most Muslims. As I understand it, Islam itself has explicit provisions allowing the faithful to disavow the faith if doing so will save their lives. Sensible provision.Jon E.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07879175378866305992noreply@blogger.com