Comment by Robert E. O'Dell on March 28, 2010 at 1:19am

She a very inteligent and brave person. I admire and love her!

Comment by Shine on March 28, 2010 at 10:06am

I worry about her safety sometimes, too. She mentioned on her blog a month ago that she was being threatened by Romanian religious groups. I think they may have been some variant of eastern European orthodox Christianity (I'm not exactly sure about the religious demographics of Romania). But it definitely frightening to see people express such vitriolic hatred solely on the basis of her making videos.

Comment by Wesley on March 30, 2010 at 12:13am

I only have one slight disagreement with her video. For some people their religion is NOT a choice. It is a choice that is made FOR them....and to go against it is pretty much a death sentence at worst and a social, political, familial outcasting at best. So while 'technically' its still a choice... its not MUCH of one.

Comment by Shine on March 31, 2010 at 9:42am

Good point, Wesley. I think she may have been directing the comment on religion as a choice towards people who live in the Western world. Certainly, being a Muslim is not a choice in many Middle Eastern countries. But even in Europe and the US, there are still communities where rejection of the religion does confer social ostracism like you said.

Comment by Wesley on March 31, 2010 at 11:40pm

I think that this is our big task... It is to figure out a way for people to HAVE a choice that doesn't end in disaster, violence, ostracism and death. How do we create a climate in which people can realize that they have a choice and give them the ability and freedom to make that choice without suffering horribly for it? We can't just keep preaching to the Choir... We have to find a way to speak to the whole world.

I think the first step is to focus on exposing violent extremism...and the best way to do that is to allow violent extremist to expose themselves. These violent extremists must then be publically and LOUDLY and UNIVERSALLY ridiculed and condemned for their actions. People should be made to feel uncomfortable to be associated with violence and extremism and therefore to seek to distance themselves from it as far as possible. Like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News and radical Muslim Clerics and radical Islam.

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