Well no, I haven't read the book. I saw it remaindered in a second-hand bookshop, and it amused me. But I did look it up on Amazon, and looked up the author. Needless to say he's not taking Brian's line, viz: "Given what a totally vile doctrine Islam is, and given how many people say that they follow it, why indeed do so few Muslims, percentage wise, actually do the kinds of murderous things demanded of them in Islam’s holy scriptures?"
The flavour of the book is perhaps best given by a reviewer - "Charles Kurzman has asked: why does fear of terrorism persist, despite the meagre number of actual casualties caused by those who claim to be Islamists or violent jihadi warriors? His answer is as bracing as it is counterintuitive: media need to tune down the obsession with violent episodes...". So yes, I think it deserves a spot of ridicule.
For some reason Brian Micklethwait couldn't post a comment here so he posted on Samizdata.
http://www.samizdata.net/2015/11/why-are-there-so-few-muslim-terrorists/
Posted by: TDK | November 22, 2015 at 04:20 PM
Well no, I haven't read the book. I saw it remaindered in a second-hand bookshop, and it amused me. But I did look it up on Amazon, and looked up the author. Needless to say he's not taking Brian's line, viz: "Given what a totally vile doctrine Islam is, and given how many people say that they follow it, why indeed do so few Muslims, percentage wise, actually do the kinds of murderous things demanded of them in Islam’s holy scriptures?"
The flavour of the book is perhaps best given by a reviewer - "Charles Kurzman has asked: why does fear of terrorism persist, despite the meagre number of actual casualties caused by those who claim to be Islamists or violent jihadi warriors? His answer is as bracing as it is counterintuitive: media need to tune down the obsession with violent episodes...". So yes, I think it deserves a spot of ridicule.
Posted by: Mick H | November 22, 2015 at 11:11 PM