Response to Email re. Fanaticism & Islam

Here is my response to an email forwarded to me alleging to have originated with a Dr. Emanuel Tanay (note the two different spellings in the email).

I have included the email below my response, although in doing so I neither condone nor support his point of view.

In fact, (as you see in my response), it's not clear what the writer of the email (whoever it was) wants us to do (except possibly suspect some of our peace-loving Muslim of terrorist connections).
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So, if Dr. Tanay did write this, what is he suggesting we change about what we're actually doing?

He doesn't appear to be suggesting that we kick Muslims out of Canada or restrict their freedoms (beyond the restrictions placed on all of us re. murder, conspirancy etc.). This to my mind would be an anti-Christian response to our neighbours.

This is the only action he proposes that I can find "As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life."

But isn't that what the "experts" and "talking heads" themselves are saying (and what our gov'ts are doing), i.e. pay attention the FANATICS, but realize that most Muslims among us (devout or otherwise) are statistically not among that minority (by definition).

(There is also "Speak up", but it's unclear to me what we are to say.)

Perhaps his message is mainly for Muslims, encouraging them to throw off the leadership or influence of fanatics in their mosques. But even if that happens those fanatics will just go elsewhere and continue to operate with whomever chooses to follow them. Why do these people follow them? We have to consider that.

I suppose a implied suggestion (though not spelled out) to any Muslim who might read this email would be that they should co-operate with the authorities in sniffing out the terrorist moving among them. However, this email doesn't appear to be addressed to Muslims or to have a tone that is likely to gain it a sympathetic hearing among moderate Muslims.

I sent a test email to his alleged e-ddress at the bottom [deleted from this post along with his alleged phone number and address] and will see if anything comes back. Did you get anything?
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Note: So far I have not received a notice that the eddress is false. I tried to search the faculty of umich.edu, but couldn't find out how to do so.
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The forwarded email. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS MIGHT BE A HOAX. DO NOT ATTRIBUTE IT TO DR. TANAY UNLESS YOU HAVE PROOF THAT IT IS HIS.

Starts here:
Dr. Emanual Tanay is a well known and well respected psychiatrist.

A German's point of view on Islam

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

"Very few people were true Nazis "he said," but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.

It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority", the "silent majority", is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And, who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue i s s erious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read this - think about it - and send it on .

Emanuel Tanay, M.D.