September 11, and Islam Versus the West

Yesterday (American Eastern Time), six years ago an act of war was committed against the West, and its underlying values of individualism and capitalism. It was committed by a group of Islamic extremists, acting in the name of Islam and the Medieval value system that it currently implies. The acts weren't just random bad acts committed for a random reason, like the Oklahoma City bombings half a decade before. This was an act of war, against the West and its incredible achievements of man's mind.

In response, America itself started a war against Afghanistan, where many Islamic extremists were hiding at the time with the help of the oppressive Taliban government (and it should be noted that not a great deal of progress has been made).

The War on Terror is not a war against religion, or particular nations per se, it's a war against the underlying values of the Islamic extremists that want us and all we stand for in the West all dead, and for a new Islamic medieval period to sweep the world.

Right now, the ideals of the West and the ideals of Islam are not compatible. Indeed, the same was true with Christianity until the Reformation and Protestantism came along, and one outdated and primitive value system was replaced with another updated and liberal value system. Christianity became more liberal, and free speech was allowed. Without this reformed Christianity and value system, there would've been no enlightenment, no industrial revolution, and the world wouldn't be particularly different today than what it was back in the 1500s.

Unfortunately, Islam has had no Reformation. It is still a religion similar to what Catholicism was in the Middle and Dark Ages, when people were burned at the stake and sacrificed daily in the name of God. Its value system is also similar. Until the Islamic value system is replaced with a new set of values, until its own little Reformation, we can expect the same outcome of the same values: torture, oppression, murder and terrorism.