[DVaut1]

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DVaut1,

Instead of ad hominem-styled sarcasm, why don't you do some serious reading or research of your own--such as I have done over the last 5 years or so?

Over the last 30 years, I have held a serious interest in comparative religions--and even in my teens and early twenties I read over 40 books on (and of) Buddhism and Taoism--plus some Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism.

More recently, and especially after the attacks on 9/11, I turned my attention to trying to understand the ideological basis for Islam, and its political effects. This involved a great deal of reading about such matters over a period spanning perhaps 5 or 6 years. You might try doing the same--reading and research--instead of merely throwing barbs and employing sarcasm. You might even end up actually learning something.

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A few things:

1) Another typical tactic of yours. Claim I'm using ad hominem attacks (which I am), claiming it's somehow in poor taste, then using your own ad hominem attacks to close out the post "You might try doing the same--reading and research--instead of merely throwing barbs and employing sarcasm. You might even end up actually learning something."

Typical hypocrisy I've come to expect, and it's what makes your moral and ethical lecturing about everyone else's 'poor' behavior here complete [censored]. Take this piece of wisdom to heart: Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

(Understand that I don't really have a problem with ad hominem attacks - they're all in good fun. I have a problem with your inane and incessant lecturing about decorum and behavior, which might have more credibility coming from others, but loses much credibility coming from you).

2) Everyone here has read books, I'm sure; lots and lots of books, I'd imagine. Such arrogance to assume others don't read. I probably read 5-10 books a month, at least. So do you, I'd imagine. So do most people who enjoy reading. Not a particularly extrodinary quality.

3) I'm dead serious (no sarcasm) when I say that many Muslims think you cannot truly understand the Koran until
you've studied it for years, in it's original Arabic. Have you done that? If not, where do you come off claiming that Muslims 'don't understand what the Koran really says', when many would claim you don't know what the Koran really says. How could you, if you've never read it the way it was intended to be read? Seems like incredible hubris of the most terrible nature to claim that Muslims don't know what the Koran says. Have you preformed a study to discover such things? Perhaps if you had some clout as an expert, I would accept what you say with more than a grain of salt; but merely because you've 'read' does not make you an expert. Everybody reads. Not everyone's an expert. Put differently, I've read much of the 2+2 library, but I'm not David Sklansky, nor am I a world-class poker player.

So when I see your constant posts about the 'true' nature of Islam, I have to laugh a little bit. It borders on comical (like most posts here, including my own, I'm sure, that come with an undeserved auroa of expertise; it's fun to play serious academic on 2+2. But prattling on about the ignorance of others seems a tad delusional and hypocritical, no? You seem to do it quite often. I have to only wonder how you find the gall to do it. I know you think I target you especially, but you seem to be one of the few people that has his head so far up his ass that you've got yourself convinced you're a leading academic, and that 2+2 is like an academic quarterly - note to your ego: you're not, and it's not. You may already know this, but sometimes I'm not so sure).

4) I'm interested in what kind of research you've produced. Have you produced any articles for an academic journal somewhere? Perhaps something in a law review? Have you made contributions to your local universities social research branch?

Or, by saying you've done 'research', did you merely mean 'you've read'. Like I said, everyone reads. It's not a particularly unique quality, and merely being well-read doesn't mold you into an expert, nor does it give your opinion any level of authority.

But if you have submitted work to, let's say, a peer-reviewed journal, and said work got published - please, by all means, post a link or a reference. I think it would do much to lend you some credibility.