Saturday, July 28, 2007

Good News from the Middle East?


Good news from the Middle East (and how often do you get to say that?), where there has been a sharp drop in public support, or even tolerance, for suicide bombings. It's still bizarre that there ever was such strong acceptance of suicide bombings; but you'll notice that in most of the countries polled support has been, at least, halved in the last five years. It's worth noting that killing civilians is forbidden/Haram in Islam anyway. This would make sense, as it seems like it's mostly Muslims who get killed in suicide bombings; true believers hate no one as much as they hate apostates. And since the military seems to be largely useless in fighting terrorism, we should rely on public opinion- deploy the philosophers!

Anyway, it's mostly good news. Startling to see 70% support in Palestine, but not entirely a surprise, and support seems to have risen in Turkey. But, overall, it seems like the worm is turning in a good direction.

(The poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center and polled 45,000 people in 47 countries.)

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