By Tom KandoAs we just commemorated the 9/11 attack, there has been a worldwide flurry of Islam-related events:
(1) Florida pastor Terry Jones' threat to burn the Koran on September 11
(2) the protest by some New Yorkers against building a mosque near Ground Zero
(3) Dutch Islam critic (others prefer to call him an Islamophobe) Geert Wilders' growing popularity in the Netherlands
(4) etc.
The camps are predictably divided: those who are in the same frame of mind as Wilders, and those who, on the contrary, find such a frame of mind racist and repugnant. In other words, the politically INcorrect, and the politically correct.
Let me begin with the obligatory disclaimer, and then take a politically incorrect position, even though I am not a Wilders sympathizer: OF COURSE, pastor Jones must NOT burn the Koran (or any other book). OF COURSE, I am happy that he relented on his threat.
However, I find the antics of the politically correct preposterous. Once again, Western liberals – from California to Holland -are engaged in an orgy of apologetics, trying to outdo each other in assuaging, appeasing and embracing Islam culture, Islam groups and Islam faith, desperate to prove how unbigotted they are.
In Sacramento, some nutty Christian churches commemorated 9/11 by offering flowers to the city's Muslim community and by laying bouquets on the Koran, as a gesture of peace. On September 11! Nicholas Kristof in the Herald Tribune (September 13) equates the protest against the Mosque near Ground Zero with the internment of Japanese-Americans in concentration camps during World War Two! In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders is under criminal prosecution for spreading hate speech, and he may do prison time, just as he is about to participate in that country's new coalition government. The Internet is replete with twitter and e-mails calling for his assasination. Pastor Jones ended up not burning the Koran, but just in case, preventively if you will, demonstrators in Pakistan and other Muslim countries did burn numerous American flags during the past few weeks. Amazing, the double standard! US flag burning has been one of the world's popular passtimes for over 50 years. But that's no big deal, right?
What I see in New York is not an anti-Mosque frenzy, but an anti-anti-Mosque frenzy. There are thousands of Mosques in the US, where millions of Muslims worship in peace, but Christian Churches are forbidden in Saudi Arabia.
I know the arguments: WE are not supposed to stoop to the same level as "they" do. We are about liberty and tolerance. But isn't this another way to say that we are better? "They" are so inferior that they cannot be held to the same standards.
Whether liberals like it or not, there IS a problem. When the problem manifests itself, often violently, Western liberals' first impulse is often pacifist. When Khomeni's thugs took 60 Americans hostage in 1979, there were mass demonstrations on American campuses denouncing American racism and Iranophobia. The days following September 11, 2001, Phil Donahue and hosts of editorialists preached non-violence and denounced American imperialism.
What is this? I suppose part of it may be a genuine desire to deflate an explosive situation, to avoid a "clash of civilizations," to de-escalate. I respect President Obama's admonishion that pastor Jones' Koran burning might have put our troops in danger.
At the same time, the recurring tendency of the Western intelligentsia to burry its head in the sand or, worse, to engage in self-flagellation, is based on pure and simple FEAR. It is called cowardice.
There IS a problem. Yes, the vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists. But the vast majority of terrorists are Muslims. Nothing is for ever, but that's how it is now. In the 1980s, when I taught courses on Violence and Terrorism, most terrorists were Marxists. If only 1% of Muslims aspire to become terrorists, that's 10 million potential terrorists.
Also, just ask the 600 million female Muslims of the world if they enjoy their status.
This is not the time for Islamophobia, nor is it the time for peace flowers and Western Mea Culpa's.leave comment here
8 comments:
Some of my friends were involved in organizing the "heaping of roses upon the Koran" event in Sacramento.
I think their aspirations for the event were more simplistic and childish than anything else.
The hopes that were expressed to me (as I mumbled about being busy that evening) were about somehow producing a small situation where "Peace breaks out".
It sounded like the event was going to be a series of speeches by some Protestant Ministers and Quakers. With that kind of excitement happening, no doubt the whole world would be sure to notice and start beating all those swords into plowshares.
These folks are trying their best to do what they see as "the right thing" They want to let the world know that they are Christians and they do not hold to a triumphalist world view.
Perhaps ineffective, but I admire their determination to do what they can to tell the world that some other jerk does not speak for them.
In the past couple of months I’ve noticed less pleading for social democracy, less fawning for Obama, more criticism of Islam, …my God, there might be hope for you yet Tom.
Thank you for your comments.
Steve: I suppose the Sacramento Christians wanted to clearly dissociate themselves from Terry Jones. I understand that.
As to social democracy (anonymous), I just spent a month witnessing it again in action (e.g. in Germany). Trust me, it works better than unfettered American capitalism. If you were rational and agreed that observing facts is the best way to determine the truth, you would go there and check things out. But I suspect that you will prefer to hang on to your unfounded anti-European prejudices.
I would say the overall problem here is religion in general. If we were all atheist, there would be no problem. And no one would be able to use an ancient book as an excuse to kill people. Those would be simply referred to as a cult. A crazy cult.
But since 90% of the world lives their life by the use of ancient books full of excuses to hurt people (that includes the bible btw) these terrorists are like the rest of us, except taking the books more literally, "doing gods work". Including the Christian abortion doctor killer.
If we were all atheists, crazy people wouldn't have this platform to start growing and justifying their hatred and violence.
Niek
Niek,
while I agree that there has been as much violence perpetrated in the name of religion as for any other cause, I believe that if this particular excuse for violence did not exist, man would be happy to fight about all the other ones - ideology, nationalism, power, money, etc. Unfortunately, many men like to fight. Maybe if there were only women in the world?
Dear Tom,
In your article you forget one major point in the whole tension between western countries (USA in particular) and the population of many muslim countries.
It has to do with the fact that many muslims around the world, also in western countries, endorsed the 2001 attack on the WTC and sometimes even went onto the streets to celebrate. A happening that shocked me maybe more than the attack itself. (There can always be some nutters around, but these people indicated there was more to it.)
Lets first cover my back for hate speech, just like you did, and confirm that I think Islam is no better than christianity and that there are many interpretations around these days that are really horrible, for example concerning women's rights, gays, freedom of religion and simple disdain for science.
It is wrong to think however that the terrorist attacks on western targets are in essence religiously motivated. This is the part our governments and free press stress most: "the people who did this are religious extremists, who act as their interpretation of there belief dictates them". This shortsighted belief will however not enlighten you as to why so many people celebrated the attack on the WTC, these weren't all religious extremists hoping their views would start to dominate the world.
Osama Bin Laden's fight against the USA was originally motivated by weak Arab governments who sold their oil cheaply and were dependent on the American army for internal security and by the situation in Israel. (Remember that from the Arab point of view the people living in Palestine got kicked out of their land, because of an internal european problem.) Perhaps it is worthwhile to read his two fatwa's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefs_and_ideology_of_Osama_bin_Laden) notice they are not focussing on the superiority of Islam, but on activities of Western (including Israeli) forces. This is also what many of the celebrating people answered in interviews on why they were dancing in the streets, it was an act to counter the American and Israeli forces who supported corrupt regimes that governed their native countries with money they got from the west for their oil and they saw it as an act of support for people who had been evicted from Palestine and have been living in refugee camps since then.
So my dear Tom, terrorists rely on public support and the essence of this public support is not coming from religious extremism but from social injustice. However you are right that religious extremism is also a problem and that it is used to convert feelings of protest into feelings of hatred and peaceful protests into violent protest and a war targeting an army wherever possible into a war targeting civilians wherever possible.
It is horrible that religion is used in such a way, but don't blame all the threat to western countries on it or you'll be too blind to solve problems.
I dunno what to say.....I'm flabbergasted all I can come up with is Amen to that!
Roy,
Thanks. I assume that you say "Amen" to my post, not to the comments.
This post is a year old, and these things did not happen on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
We better let this issue die.
P.S. on Middle-East related issues:
Today, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a prisoner exchange: Israel gets ONE imprisoned soldier back from Hamas, in exchange for 1,000 (!) Palestinian prisoners.
Does Hamas know how to drive a hard bargain or what!?!
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