“Liberty provokes diversity, and diversity preserves liberty.”
—John Dalberg-Acton

A disgusting terrorist animal (whose name will not be mentioned) donned his camera and his rifle last weekend—along with an arsenal of sh*tpost memes—and took to live-streaming the murder of 50 innocent men women and children. His motivation for this horror was based solely on his victims’ religious preference.

The terrorist bragged about wanting to kill Muslims on multiple online forums and last week, this bragging turned into action as he slaughtered innocent people. On one forum in particular, 8chan, this terrorist posted the link to his live stream, along with a link to his manifesto, and told thousands of followers what was about to happen.

Instead of immediately chastising this hate-inspired act of terror and calling for him to stop, hundreds of people on the forum espoused their support as they watched his rampage—up to and including leaving comments praising him for individual kills, some of whom were children.

What this support highlights is that there is a growing sentiment in this country and around the world that fosters hatred over religious views. Because of certain acts carried out by those who claim to be members of one religion, all members of this religion are deemed a threat, and therefore their lives rendered expendable, according to this philosophy.

But those who wish to exterminate Islam are ignorant of why Islamic extremism is so prevalent in the first place.

For decades, the US and its Western allies have been violently and frequently meddling in the Middle East. Beginning with the clandestine overthrow of democratically elected leaders, moving on to financing violent extremist groups, and morphing into full blown invasions of entire countries, the Middle East has been the target of destruction since at least 1953.

Ignoring all of the treachery, corruption, and death exported from the US in the last 70 years, the troglodytes in D.C. continue to assert that ‘the terrorists hate our freedom.’ Sadly, the propaganda being shoved down the throats of Americans by these ill-informed political puppets and their parrots in the media, preserves this idiotic assertion.

Millions have died in the West’s relentless pursuit of nation building and controlling oil, all of it is written off as “collateral damage,” and the complicit politicians march on.

The West is constantly perpetuating the dangerous lie that a massive ‘terrorist threat’ will always and has always existed, and poses a constant threat to you because they disagree with your lifestyle—completely ignoring the last 70 years of death and destruction doled out by their predecessors.

Thanks to the sycophants who worship the military industrial complex, their decades of meddling and funding strategic terrorist organizations who supported their temporary interests have manifested into an actual threat.

Do you think that the children of those slain by a decade of bombing and constant threats of drone strikes will simply forget about the atrocities inflicted upon them? Do you think that the parents who watched their babies blown apart by predator drones, or the hospital workers who watched as US bombs rained down from the sky — will just turn the other cheek?

The reality is that since 9/11, the US and their NATO allies have fostered a breeding ground for extremist and fundamentalist groups. As Americans sat back on their couches and watched the “Shock and Awe” on CNN, the US was sowing the seeds for perpetual war and pouring gas on the fire that is religious extremism.

They were planting a garden in which a million Osama Bin Ladens would later bloom.

This blood-filled garden has spread across multiple countries in which a holy war of extremism is playing out as tyrants find easy recruits thanks to the ‘war on terror.’ This militant army of Muslim extremists carries out despicable acts of slaughter against innocent people of all faiths—including other Muslims. 

Instead of attempting to call out the foreign policy that fosters the growth and spread of this extremism, uneducated people like the terrorist in New Zealand, blame the entire religion, despite the overwhelming majority of Muslims being peaceful.

To make brash sweeping statements about hundreds of millions of people is not only dangerous but it’s entirely false. As The Free Thought Project’s Will Grigg points out,

These claims must be perplexing to Will Coley, an observant Muslim who serves as national director of Muslims4Liberty, a libertarian organization promoting “charity, voluntaryism,” and mutual respect among people of all backgrounds. Rather than seeking a centralized, despotic theocratic state, Coley maintains, Islam in its original manifestation promoted a decentralized social order in which the believer enjoys unmediated access to God, and all men and institutions are equal before the law.

From Coley’s perspective, sharia law does not require universal submission to Muslim rule, but rather dictates that Muslims are to respect the liberties of those who follow a different faith.

Aside from the insanely off keel generalization that highlights a deliberate ignorance among those pushing such fear, as the recent terrorist act in New Zealand illustrates, the effects of said fear are very dangerous.

The impact of fools spreading hate have been materializing for several years now, sending Muslim extremists into a fury of celebration – as creating a divide between Muslims and everyone else is their stated mission.

If there is one thing that Islamic fundamentalists and Islamophobic fascists like the New Zealand terrorist agree on, it’s that there should be no “gray zone;” only black and white.

For those who may be unaware, the gray zone is the zone of peaceful coexistence. Eliminating the gray zone — and rendering a world as black & white as the flag of the Islamic state — is the ultimate goal of fundamentalists on all sides.

In fact, an ISIS publication, titled Extinction of the Grayzone made clear that the strategy has been at play for the past 18 years.

“The grayzone is critically endangered, rather on the brink of extinction. It’s endangerment began with the blessed operation of September 11th, as these operations manifested two camps before the world for mankind to choose between, a camp of Islam… and a camp of kufr – the crusader coalition.”

These are the same sentiments expressed by George W. Bush when he infamously said,

“Either you are with us or with the terrorists.”

ISIS's goal from their own publication. A black & white world. What they call "grayzone" is our coexistence zone. pic.twitter.com/dDPqigam4t

— İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي (@iyad_elbaghdadi) November 14, 2015

Now, the terrorists and the demagogues in the West are getting closer to their goal of divide and conquer than ever before and the media is playing right along. For decades, Western media has fomented hatred and fear toward Islam as it was necessary to dehumanize them before slaughtering them and now the chickens are coming home to roost. Extremists have capitalized on this and used it as a recruiting tool.

Now, this is happening with the New Zealand terrorist whose calls to “subscribe to PewDiePie” and mention of Candace Owens have been picked up by the media as the impetus behind slaughtering innocent people as if they have anything to do with murdering innocent people. Nonetheless, innocent conservatives are now being demonized and the divide is growing stronger as some of them lash back out at everyone on the left. It is a perfect storm.

The result is manifesting into two tidal waves of hate, that continue to grow as they head right for one another.

We are witnessing Muslims being thrown off of buses because of ignorant passengers fearing for their lives. We see physical assaults waged by fearful pawns in ISIS’s propaganda campaign against peaceful Muslims, who’ve harmed no one. We are also witnessing innocent Americans being shouted down and their lives threatened for holding certain political beliefs as both sides call for silencing the other. And it is getting worse. Less than 48 hours after the terrorist act by an anti-Muslim extremist in New Zealand, we witnessed a Muslim extremist commit an act of terror in the Netherlands.

If you are willing to silence, hurt, or kill an innocent person because of their religion or peaceful political views, you are no better than ISIS terrorists or the terrorist who murdered the people in New Zealand.

What’s more, being anti-Muslim in particular is actually hurting the fight against terrorism as well.

According to recent polls and studies conducted in the last few years, Muslims have been crucial in helping law enforcement find terror suspects in the United States. Many have served in the military protecting the country against terrorists. And, many Muslims have been highly outspoken against terrorist organizations.

In 2015, TFTP reported on 70,000 clerics who came together, representing the majority of the Muslim world and publicly denounced ISIS as a threat to humanity.

Also, a Duke University study found more terrorism suspects and perpetrators were brought to the attention of law enforcement by members of the Muslim-American community than were discovered through U.S. government investigations. And a Pew survey found that roughly half of U.S. Muslims say their religious leaders aren’t speaking out enough against Islamic extremism, reports CNN.

The way to truly defeat violent extremists is by rendering their fear and divisive tactics impotent. We need to show these extremists, and those being manipulated by their tactics, that tolerance and freedom are far more powerful than bigotry and hate. As Action says, “Liberty provokes diversity, and diversity preserves liberty.”

Also, Americans will do well to remember how it was that ISIS and this crisis came to be in the first place, and avoid future murderous blunders that will inevitably fill the ranks of extremist groups with even more people.

You can bow down to the will of ISIS and the ethnostatist terrorists by allowing their hate-filled rhetoric and divisive tactics to cloud your mind with fear and hatred. Or, you can rise up and stand against those who would drive a wedge through the heart of humankind. The choice is yours.

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.

This article was originally published by "Free Thought Project." -

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