Bobby Ghosh: Why global jihad is losing

Throughout the history of Islam, says journalist Bobby Ghosh, there have been two sides to jihad: one, internal, a personal struggle to be better, the other external. A small minority (most recently Osama bin Laden) has appropriated the second, using it as an excuse for deadly global violence against "the West." Ghosh suggests that, now that bin Laden's worldwide organization has fragmented, it's time to reclaim the word. (Filmed at TEDxGeorgetown.)

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.

[huggi]

I am a Sikh i believe in equality of all religions and i don't discriminate against any religion. I respect believers and non believers of religion and never will discriminate against any group of people whether there gays, women or minorities etc.

[singsingax]

I love how he starts off by saying jihad is meant to refer to an internal struggle, and then uses it countless times to refer to inter-regional conflicts.

[ductuslupus]

The more I learn about islam, the more you realise just how good a religion this is.

[FreeFromWar]

I deeply empathize with those who get hate for being Muslims but I do not agree with anyone who defends Islam. There's a huge difference between judging the religion and judging people for being of that religion. People need to understand that.

[MasterHaif]

I am a Muslim man from Makkah the holy land of Islam and i have studied the Qur'an and sunnah under the the best. jihad meaning IS taking arms and defending the faith not spiritual stuff. but your Def is also right in a way and i thank you for your understanding and compassion...
And you may call bin laden twisted an sociopath.
But I like to think that he was defending the faith of Islam in his own way....

[saznbabigurl]

I'm Muslim. I want peace more than anything.

[MonkeyKong]

thanks for explaining in a few minutes what all media has failed to explain to me correctly over the past decade

[Pollution]

Clear analysis of problems makes it much easier to solve them

[Rubashow]

I think that what he said is pretty conservative. He praised the action against Bin Laden, the "counter terrorism" efforts of the US Army and local police forces and basically aligned himself with neo-conservative ideology as he blamed Osama Bin Laden alone for Islamic terrorism. Why are people like him the reason for India's troubled politics ?

[tigerguy]

I agree, nothing new, but I think he wasn't aiming his talk at the well informed. I think his goal was to tell a story that puts things in context. Also, the delivery was impressive, even for a TED talk; extremely clear, confident, and engaging.

[nexttoradio]

The beginning is about winning the audience over by explaining how radical Jihad is different than the normal version of Jihad. That sets the stage for him to explain how and why the people of Islam are taking down radical Jihad themselves.

He is saying that the American military is not required (necessarily) to take down radical Jihadists, but the Muslims doing it still need help and support.

Simply put, it's half a "don't hate Islam" speech and "understand that they need help."

[Dragonsnack]

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

[admonster]

He has postulated that to a believing Muslim, the perception may be that 'burning the koran is much worse than burning the Bible, because the koran is directly from God, while the Bible isn't.'

[immanuelkant]

Point taken. Thanks for the knowledge, man!

[JustKaafir]

Ghosh really needs to educate himself a lot more about islam. It is NOT a tiny minority that believes in violence.

[moneymayhem]

I am an atheist but not blind to the benefits of religion.
Religion is very good at binding together a moral structure which we lack more and more in the current age. Apart from (IMO) a lot of eccentric ideologies (in all religions) we also have to respect the views of others. By NOT following this pattern we will see the age old recurring loop of wars caused over different ideologies.
Just let other people make up there own minds. I'd assume you did?

[sheepwshotguns]

if someone says fuck democrats or republicans do they lack moral compassion or love, or are they just frustrated by what they see and hear and respond with an emotional outburst?

[spliter]

I hope that day never comes because then we'd loose something very valuable. Religion does not have to go away for us to accept that people can believe in different things, or for us to accept Science. Religions shouldn't interfere with those things, but they still give a flavour to the life.

[huggi]

Hi! being a Sikh doesn't imply i only believe in only Sikh belies or i only celebrate Sikh religious days. When Muslims celebrate Eid (breaking fast) Sikhs join too, when Christians celebrate Christmas we do to and when Hindus celebrate Pooja we celebrate along with them. We are open minded group of people, and i believe you may misunderstand my religion because many other religions may imply that you must follow their teachings only. I hope I answered your question as respectful as possible!

[Cloud_Seeker]

I want to point out that Hiroshima and Nagasaki where not bombed due to any religious or secular reasons. The reason they got bombed is that US wanted to do a real test with there new bomb, but Germany had already surrendered. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki they didn't need anymore bombs to get the message forward to the Japanese leaders where next bomb should fall if they didn't surrender. Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a test and a example, have nothing do to do with secularism or religion.