Muslims as a minority are tolerable. But no way will I trust them as a majority, much less a ruling population. Creepy, overreaching and domineering people with no respect for individual rights.
PS I think the last time I ran into you on HN a beer was offered, then we had a fight about a movie on twitter (I forget what). If your adventures ever bring you to London, that beer offer is still open.
Bali is the shit. I love that place. Haven't seen any other part of Indonesia though.
But what is truly interesting from a historical perspective is that this phenomenon if Muslim extremism is a very new reality for the people living in Islamic countries. It is a cautionary tale for those who believe that once repressive and discriminatory regimes are eradicated they will not recur; on the contrary, it is likely that humanity will struggle with bigotry and oppression for as long as it exists in its present form, transhumanism notwithstanding. Those who have read The Kite Runner will of course recognize that even Afghanistan once had a liberal social structure that made some attempts to respect individual freedom and the rights of women.
During the Islamic Golden Age, the Arab nations were among the most advanced in the world from both a social and scientific perspective. The appearance of many similar liberal Islamic governments throughout human history gives strong support to those who wish to see Islam once again exist in harmony with the rights of individuals, despite the numerous social problems plaguing the modern Islamic worlds.
The Islamic nations of today struggle yet with the aftershocks of communism and colonialism. I believe, and sociologists may support me, that much of the recent turn towards extremism has been part of an attempt to reconstruct a national and social identity that had for so long been under the yoke of The Great Game and similar enormities carried out by Eurasian empires. It is instructive to consider the rise of Islamists in Iran as a result of American intervention in the installation of the Shah. Those who would support interventionism are strongly cautioned in light of this and many similar examples.
The rise of liberalism not only in Iran but also in those places where Western interference in nation-building has been smallest, such as Senegal and Bangladesh, is very encouraging. It also lends credence to the notion that interventions almost always make things worse. I am hopeful that if the West can be so kind as to mind their own fucking business, the Islamic world may gradually see a return to sanity. I would, however, strongly support the continued provenance of asylum and refugee status to those whom, like the OP, suffer unjustly from regressive policies in Islamic states.
It's worth noting that "free" is relative in this context. In Indonesia, for instance, it's not unheard of for individuals to be jailed for "blasphemy" [1]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion_in_Indonesi...
Minority pockets and individuals are fine. It's majority Muslim states that I have a problem with. And of course, the clerical, thought-police crowd.