The West And Islam

Regarding Islam, the west makes the same error it always does when regarding culture different to its own. There are two views; either different cultures are seen as generally good or generally bad. There is a lack of differentiation. I'm sure that most cultures, both in history as well as those that exist right now, are better - much better - than western society. But that does not mean that there are not some very bad things in *some* cultures - the oppression of women, prosecution of homosexuals and transgender persons, and so on, that can not be tolerated.
Likewise, the "World Of Islam" is seen as one monolith block - you're either for or against it, tolerate it or - not tolerate it. Of course this is far from the truth. There is not one Islamic culture. In Islamic nations there are atheists, Christians, anarchists, feminists, liberals, nihilists... In fact I'd say there is a much more serious force of anarchism within the territories of Islam composed of people who are real activists and ready to go to prison - or into worse fates - for their anarchist belief, while in the western world the anarchist movement more often or not is a "play house" for middle class boys and girls, safe, perfumed and secure.
Rather than condemning the Islamic world and culture as a whole, it'd be much more sensible to encourage these anarchist and nihilist radical forces within that realm. Of course the western mainstream will never do this; they'd rather side with the oppressors than these unruly rebels; just like the later allied forces rather let Franco and his falangists win the Spanish civil war instead of helping the anarchists in that era. Because authority likes authority and "democratic" authority rather sides with fascists or in our case with fanatical Islamic maniacs than side with people who fight for a free and just society.
But we, outside of this power spectrum, should show our sympathy and respect for these forces inside the territory of Islam fighting the good fight.