Someone I know and had a fair level of respect for sent me an email which is below. The email included a video (also below), and I felt that I had to respond to her.

I'm really amazed that an educated person (who again, I thought of as a rational and kind individual), would send out what she sent to me.

So I've posted my response here and would love anyone's thoughts on it.

Dear XXXXX,

While the video is scary, the comments that came with are scarier.

I'm not talking about the director's comments either.

The thinking which leads educated individuals to categorize an entire group of people as a certain way ("Walking time-bombs" and mentally unstable) is what always has (and always will) lead to global warfare. In this case, it's "Muslims". In Vietnam it was the "Gooks", in the 1950's it was the "Commies", in 1945 it was the "Japs", in 1938 it was the "Krauters"(Germans).)

If you look at what people said about each of these groups during the time periods leading up to major wars, you will find your comments match, almost word for word, what people said, in gross generalization, about each of those groups.

It takes about 60-65 years to heal the damage that is done by the kind of thinking which says "ALL people from "X" group are "X"."

Today, our world view is that Germans are friendly and that the Japanese are hard working people. In another 5-10 years (we're already starting to see it), we will welcome of China (and Chinese Communist ideals) as necessary and even helpful, after that (and after the U.S. become involved in some kind of war with the northern part) a reuniting of Korea, and in about 20-25 years, Vietnam will become a major tourist location. People will come back to America saying what a nice place Vietnam was because of the hospitable nature of the Vietnamese.

While the video was scary (I saw it the first time about two years ago), what is more scary is that an entire culture of highly educated people are slipping back into a pattern of categorizing and mentally convicting an entire culture, based on nothing more than some limited experience and lots of news coverage.

Jonathan
http://blog.strive4impact.com

From: XXXXX
Sent:
To: jonathan
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Hatred is taught by the Middle East

Let me know if the directors comments don't come.
I think everyone in the U.S. should read this. I have talked recently, "in debth" with some Muslim University students living in different parts of the U.S, & I find their "thoughts" are very contridictory--to the point that I even worried about their mental health after talking to them over an hour or more. I left "worried about them," "scared of their personalities" and even more concerned about the future of our "world" because of their adult "mental conditions." The people I talked to, at length, left me feeling they were "handsome, nice, loving & VERY CHARMING," on the one hand, and "walking time-bombs" on the other hand, & I think, the latter condition is MORE TRUE OF THEM!!!
The way they view their own Muslim religion has the very same Contridictions--they preach all these strict lifestyles--no sex, etc. & yet THEY LIVE THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE--they go to strip shows AND OWN STRIP JOINTS & BARS in America, have sex with anyone, & are just plain "wild" in my opinion--& you all know I am not a "prude."
The danger to Americans is--their Very Charming side can fool you into thinking they are Wonderful!! I concluded the contridictory side is the TRUE SIDE OF THEM that is HIDDEN in their hearts & that's what scares me to no end.
Note: forwarded message attached.

(Director's supposed comments, forwarded via email, are below)

On July 15, MSNBC's "Connected" program discussed the London attacks. One of the guests was Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the Palestinian areas. Pierre's upcoming film, "Suicide Killers," is based on interviews that he conducted with the families of suicide bombers and would-be bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it. Pierre agreed to a request for a Q&A interview here about his work on the new film.

Q - What inspired you to produce "Suicide Killers," your seventh film?

A - I started working with victims of suicide attacks to make a film on
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when I became fascinated with the
personalities of those who had committed those crimes, as they were
described again and again by their victims. Especially the fact that
suicide bombers are all smiling one-second before they blow
themselves up.

Q - Why is this film especially important?

A - People don't understand the devastating culture behind this
unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it
addresses the real problem, showing the real face of Islam. It points
the finger against a culture of hatred in which the uneducated are
brainwashed to a level where their only solution in life becomes to kill
themselves and kill others in the name of a God whose word, as
transmitted by other men, has become their only certitude.

Q - What insights did you gain from making this film? What do you know
that other experts do not know?

A - I came to the conclusion that we are facing a neurosis at the level
of an entire civilization. Most neuroses have in common a dramatic
event, generally linked to an unacceptable sexual behavior. In this
case, we are talking of kids living all their lives in pure frustration,
with no opportunity to experience sex, love, tenderness or even
understanding from the opposite sex. The separation between men and
women in Islam is absolute. So is contempt toward women, who are totally
dominated by men. This leads to a situation of pure anxiety, in which
normal behavior is not possible. It is no coincidence that suicide
killers are mostly young men dominated subconsciously by an overwhelming
libido that they not only cannot satisfy but are afraid of, as if it is
the work of the devil. Since Islam describes heaven as a place where
everything on Earth will finally be allowed, and promises 72 virgins to
those frustrated kids, killing others and killing themselves to reach
this redemption becomes their only solution.

Q - What was it like to interview would-be suicide bombers, their
families and survivors of suicide bombings?

A - It was a fascinating and a terrifying experience. You are dealing
with seemingly normal people with very nice manners who have their own
logic, which to a certain extent can make sense since they are so
convinced that what they say is true. It is like dealing with pure
craziness, like interviewing people in an asylum, since what they say,
is for them, the absolute truth. I hear a mother saying "Thank God, my
son is dead." Her son had became a shaheed, a martyr, which for her was
a greater source of pride than if he had became an engineer, a doctor or
a winner of the Nobel Prize. This system of values works completely
backwards since their interpretation of Islam worships death much more
than life. You are facing people whose only dream, only achievement goal
is to fulfill what they believe to be their destiny, namely to be a
Shaheed or the family of a shaheed. They don't see the innocent being
killed, they only see the impure that they have to destroy.

Q - You say suicide bombers experience a moment of absolute power,
beyond punishment. Is death the ultimate power?

A - Not death as an end, but death as a door opener to the after life.
They are seeking the reward that God has promised them. They work for
God, the ultimate authority, above all human laws. They therefore
experience this single delusional second of absolute power, where
nothing bad can ever happen to them, since they become God's sword.

Q - Is there a suicide bomber personality profile? Describe the
psychopathology.

A - Generally kids between 15 and 25 bearing a lot of complexes,
generally inferiority complexes. They must have been fed with religion.
They usually have a lack of developed personality. Usually they are
impressionable idealists. In the western world they would easily have
become drug addicts, but not criminals. Interestingly, they are not
criminals since they don't see good and evil the same way that we do. If
they had been raised in an Occidental culture, they would have hated
violence. But they constantly battle against their own death anxiety.
The only solution to this deep-seated pathology is to be willing to die
and be rewarded in the afterlife in Paradise.

Q - Are suicide bombers principally motivated by religious conviction?

A - Yes, it is their only conviction. They don't act to gain a territory
or to find freedom or even dignity. They only follow Allah, the supreme
judge, and what He tells them to do.

Q - Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?

A - All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail on
earth. They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room,
in their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate
Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims don't think they will
see the absolute victory of Islam during their lifetime, therefore they
respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment of
the Prophecy of Islam and ruling the entire world as described in the
Koran, is for today. Each victory of Bin Laden convinces 20 million
moderate Muslims to become extremists.

Q - Describe the culture that manufactures suicide bombers.

A - Oppression, lack of freedom, brain washing, organized poverty,
placing God in charge of daily life, total separation between men and
women, forbidding sex, giving women no power whatsoever, and placing men
in charge of family honor, which is mainly connected to their women's
behavior.

Q - What socio-economic forces support the perpetuation of suicide
bombings?

A - Muslim charity is usually a cover for supporting terrorist
organizations. But one has also to look at countries like Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are also supporting the same organizations
through different networks. The ironic thing in the case of Palestinian
suicide bombers is that most of the money comes through financial
support from the Occidental world, donated to a culture that utterly
hates and rejects the West (mainly symbolized by Israel).

Q - Is there a financial support network for the families of the suicide
bombers? If so, who is paying them and how does that affect the
decision?

A - There used to be a financial incentive in the days of Saddam Hussein
($25,000 per family) and Yasser Arafat (smaller amounts), but these days
are gone. It is a mistake to believe that these families would sacrifice
their children for money. Although, the children themselves who are very
attached to their families, might find in this financial support another
reason to become suicide bombers. It is like buying a life insurance
policy and then committing suicide.

Q - Why are so many suicide bombers young men?

A - As discussed above, libido is paramount. Also ego, because this is a
sure way to become a hero. The shaheed are the cowboys or the firemen of
Islam. Shaheed is a positively reinforced value in this culture. And
what kid has never dreamed of becoming a cowboy or a fireman?

Q - What role does the U.N. play in the terrorist equation?

A - The U.N. is in the hands of Arab countries and third world or
ex-communist countries. Their hands are tied. The U.N. has condemned
Israel more than any other country in the world, including the regime of
Castro, Idi Amin or Kaddahfi. By behaving this way, the U.N. leaves a
door open by not openly condemning terrorist organizations. In addition,
through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees (UNRWA) , the U.N. is directly tied
to terror organizations such as Hamas, representing 65 percent of their
apparatus in the so-called Palestinian refugee camps. As a support to
Arab countries, the U.N. has maintained Palestinians in camps with the
hope to "return" into Israel for more than 50 years, therefore making it
impossible to settle those populations, which still live in deplorable
conditions. Four hundred million dollars are spent every year, mainly
financed by U.S. taxes, to support 23,000 employees of UNRWA, many of
whom belong to terrorist organizations (see Congressman Eric Cantor on
this subject, and in my film "Hostages of Hatred").

Q - You say that a suicide bomber is a 'stupid bomb and a smart bomb'
simultaneously. Explain what you mean.

A - Unlike an electronic device, a suicide killer has until the last
second the capacity to change his mind. In reality, he is nothing but a
platform representing interests which are not his, but he doesn't
know it.

Q - How can we put an end to the madness of suicide bombings and
terrorism in general?

A - Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this culture
is a victim of ours. Radical Islamism today is nothing but a new form of
Nazism. Nobody was trying to justify or excuse Hitler in the 1930s. We
had to defeat him in order to make peace one day with the German people.

Q - Are these men traveling outside their native areas in large numbers?
Based on your research, would you predict that we are beginning to see a
new wave of suicide bombings outside the Middle East?

A - Every successful terror attack is considered a victory by the
radical Islamists. Everywhere Islam expands there is regional conflict.
Right now, there are thousands of candidates for martyrdom lining up in
training camps in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Inside Europe,
hundreds of illegal mosques are preparing the next step of brain washing
to lost young men who cannot find a satisfying identity in the
Occidental world. Israel is much more prepared for this than the rest of
the world will ever be. Yes, there will be more suicide killings in
Europe and the U.S. Sadly, this is only the beginning.