Suppose you stumbled upon the Constitution of an organization that was terrorizing the world. Would you ignore such a document, or would you read it? Suppose you discovered that this Constitutions most prominent themes were pain and punishment, thievery and violence, intolerance and war. If the regimes charter ordered its devotees to kill, plunder, and terrorize, would you sound an alarm?
*** What if this Constitution was supported by a manifesto that contained the only authorized biography of the regimes founder, and the first devotees of this doctrine, its co-founders, said that their leader was a sexual predator, a pirate, and a terrorist? If you found such evidence, what would you do with it? What if this leader motivated his mercenaries to murder and mayhem by allowing them to keep what they had stolen in the name of the causetheir victims homes, businesses, moneyeven their women and children?
*** All right, no more hypotheticals. Im going to share some passages from this Constitutionfrom the covenant of the worlds largest and most violent organization. I have changed the names to disguise the source without altering the message.
Your leader has sent you from your homes to fight for the cause. Your leader wished to confirm the truth by his words: wipe those who disagree with us out to the last.
We shall terrorize everyone who is unlike us! So smite them on their necks and every joint, and incapacitate them, for they are opposed to our doctrine and our leader.
Whosoever opposes our doctrine and our leader should know that we are severe in retribution. And know that one-fifth of what you acquire as booty in war is for our great leader (the rest is for you). The use of such spoils is lawful and good.
*** This popular and misunderstood Constitution says:
Fight them till all opposition ends and only our doctrine rules. If you meet anyone who disagrees with us in battle, inflict on them such a defeat as would be a lesson for those who come after them, that they may be warned.
Slaughter those who disagree with us wherever you find them. Lie in wait for them. They are specimens of foolishness. *
Punish them so that our superior dogma and leader can put them to shame.
If you apprehend treachery from a people with whom we have a treaty, retaliate by breaking it off.
Those who do not think like us should know that they cannot bypass our doctrine. Surely they cannot get away.
Fight them until they pay a heavy tax in submission to us; how perverse are they. Our leader and his doctrine will damn them. For anyone who offends our leader or opposes our doctrine will receive a painful punishment. We will burn them alive. So prepare against them whatever arms and weaponry you can muster, that you may strike terror in the enemies of our cause!
*** This Constitution is genuine, and millions follow its message. Exposing it understanding itmight actually save you from the wrath it inspires. The covenant goes on to say:
Our great leader urged all who agree with us to fight. If there are twenty among you with determination, you will vanquish two hundred; and if there are a hundred, then you will vanquish a thousand of our enemy, for they are a people devoid of understanding. Our great leader drove your enemy back in fury. He motivated our side in battle. He made their citizens flee from their homes and he terrorized them so that you killed some and made many captive. Our great leader made you inherit their lands, homes, and wealth, and gave you a country you had not traversed before.
*** This sounds like a terrorist manifestoa covenant for war and genocide. Does anything this immoral, this out-of-touch with human decency, actually exist?
If it did, and if it were this blatant, youd expect to see its followers amassing their weaponry. Youd expect them to rise up and terrorize the world.
Not only would they feel it was their duty to kill, youd expect their fallen assassins to be immortalizedhailed as martyrs and paraded down crowded streets, banners waving, tears flowing, guns blazing, with angry diatribes spewing from hate-filled faces
. Youd expect them to wage war under the guise of doctrinal supremacy, wouldnt you? And if there were such people, our journalists and politicians would have ferreted them out, exposed them, and protected us. Right?
*** What if this Constitution was supported by a manifesto that contained the only authorized biography of the regimes founder, and the first devotees of this doctrine, its co-founders, said that their leader was a sexual predator, a pirate, and a terrorist? If you found such evidence, what would you do with it? What if this leader motivated his mercenaries to murder and mayhem by allowing them to keep what they had stolen in the name of the causetheir victims homes, businesses, moneyeven their women and children?
*** All right, no more hypotheticals. Im going to share some passages from this Constitutionfrom the covenant of the worlds largest and most violent organization. I have changed the names to disguise the source without altering the message.
Your leader has sent you from your homes to fight for the cause. Your leader wished to confirm the truth by his words: wipe those who disagree with us out to the last.
We shall terrorize everyone who is unlike us! So smite them on their necks and every joint, and incapacitate them, for they are opposed to our doctrine and our leader.
Whosoever opposes our doctrine and our leader should know that we are severe in retribution. And know that one-fifth of what you acquire as booty in war is for our great leader (the rest is for you). The use of such spoils is lawful and good.
*** This popular and misunderstood Constitution says:
Fight them till all opposition ends and only our doctrine rules. If you meet anyone who disagrees with us in battle, inflict on them such a defeat as would be a lesson for those who come after them, that they may be warned.
Slaughter those who disagree with us wherever you find them. Lie in wait for them. They are specimens of foolishness. *
Punish them so that our superior dogma and leader can put them to shame.
If you apprehend treachery from a people with whom we have a treaty, retaliate by breaking it off.
Those who do not think like us should know that they cannot bypass our doctrine. Surely they cannot get away.
Fight them until they pay a heavy tax in submission to us; how perverse are they. Our leader and his doctrine will damn them. For anyone who offends our leader or opposes our doctrine will receive a painful punishment. We will burn them alive. So prepare against them whatever arms and weaponry you can muster, that you may strike terror in the enemies of our cause!
*** This Constitution is genuine, and millions follow its message. Exposing it understanding itmight actually save you from the wrath it inspires. The covenant goes on to say:
Our great leader urged all who agree with us to fight. If there are twenty among you with determination, you will vanquish two hundred; and if there are a hundred, then you will vanquish a thousand of our enemy, for they are a people devoid of understanding. Our great leader drove your enemy back in fury. He motivated our side in battle. He made their citizens flee from their homes and he terrorized them so that you killed some and made many captive. Our great leader made you inherit their lands, homes, and wealth, and gave you a country you had not traversed before.
*** This sounds like a terrorist manifestoa covenant for war and genocide. Does anything this immoral, this out-of-touch with human decency, actually exist?
If it did, and if it were this blatant, youd expect to see its followers amassing their weaponry. Youd expect them to rise up and terrorize the world.
Not only would they feel it was their duty to kill, youd expect their fallen assassins to be immortalizedhailed as martyrs and paraded down crowded streets, banners waving, tears flowing, guns blazing, with angry diatribes spewing from hate-filled faces
. Youd expect them to wage war under the guise of doctrinal supremacy, wouldnt you? And if there were such people, our journalists and politicians would have ferreted them out, exposed them, and protected us. Right?
