It appears that once again, Sgt. Mom has to bring out the Mallet of Loving Correction that she has shamelessly copied from John Scalzi, and explain the whole concept of ‘freedom of thought’ and its fraternal twin, ‘freedom of expression’ to the inhabitants of those (mostly but not always) quarters of the world usually known as ‘Islamic-run hellholes.’
See here, we in the western world are known for a good many things – some of them good, some of them bad – but one of them is a sense of logic, and another is the freedom to speak our thoughts, suppositions and criticisms on any matter. Openly, freely, and through any medium available to us … without fear of prosecution by the forces of law and order. Unless, of course, we are inciting violence … umm, which to put it plainly, you guys seems to have a problem with. Actually, some of our own very dear Established and Housebroken Lapdog Media have a problem with that too, but that is an issue for another day.
And the range of topics which we may freely discuss and criticize includes practically anything, and everything; the current television season of the Alphabet Networks, the fiscal policies of our current administration, the horrible dress sense of the Kardashians, and the messy love lives of celebutards and neighbors … and religion does not get a pass. Scientology doesn’t get a pass, Catholics and Evangelical Christians don’t get a pass, Mormons don’t get a pass, and Islam especially doesn’t get a pass, much as you appear to wish otherwise. Yes, I know that the lickspittle media, our equally lickspittle State Department, and administrations past and present all made polite noises about the so-called Religion of Peace, and that Ibrahim Cooper and his CAIR-bots go off on a royal toot, and that Saudi Arabia have bought themselves into various academic establishments and existing mosques at the drop of a Danish Mo-toon … but Islam as currently practiced in such charming locales as Pakistan, Egypt, Somalia, Iran, Lebanon, Thailand, Indonesia, Detroit and certain cities in Britain and France is not in the least attractive to those of us in the Western tradition.
I don’t care how many museum exhibits, or how many TV documentaries about the marvelousness of the Golden Age of Islam get thrown at us like so much expensive confetti. The misogyny, the brutal practice of sharia, the Jew-hatred, the ignorance, the backwardness, the persecution of other faiths, all speak louder than the occasional public relations offensive. … So we have critical things to say about it. Especially after seeing the stacks of dead bodies left in the wake of militant Islam. A lot of us can’t help noticing, and wondering – if Islam is so damn peaceful, how come all the dead bodies? For the sake of good manners, most of us refrain from saying so bluntly to those of our acquaintance who we know are Muslim … but what does our good manners get us?
You see, my dear little Muslim chickadees; we are going to discuss this, and we are going to be critical – on line and in home-made movies, in lectures and in books. Have tantrums all you like. Go so far as murdering ambassadors, blowing up tourists, inciting riots and inciting the murder of artists, writers, bloggers, Christian activists for exercising our rights of free speech – even speech offensive to you – and at some point in the near future, we might not be quite so polite. Those media, academic and political figures who have been the worst toadies … they might very well stop being polite also. Not holding my breath on that one, though.
Something on the Internet is disrespectful to Islam? Have a cup of coffee, Mohammed, and get over it.
The “Golden Age” was a creation of the conquered Christians who reluctantly converted to the conqueror’s religion (The alternative was not good) but many, if not most, hoped for salvation by another Christian invasion which never came. The careful preservation of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia taught me that.
“Arabic numbers” came from India. Paper came from China, not doubt a conquered outpost.
The translators of the “Translation Period” were Greeks.
Arabs are good at killing.
Can’t believe we let them immigrate. Talk about a corrosive element.
There are Muslims and Muslims, I have to concede in fairness. But I have to insist on freedom of thought. Or as the German student song has it – Die Gedanken Sind Frei.
Thoughts are free, who can guess them?
They fly by like nocturnal shadows.
No man can know them, no hunter can shoot them
with powder and lead: Thoughts are free!
I think what I want, and what delights me,
still always reticent, and as it is suitable.
My wish and desire, no one can deny me
and so it will always be: Thoughts are free!
And if I am thrown into the darkest dungeon,
all these are futile works,
because my thoughts tear all gates
and walls apart: Thoughts are free!
So I will renounce my sorrows forever,
and never again will torture myself with whimsies.
In one’s heart, one can always laugh and joke
and think at the same time: Thoughts are free!
I love wine, and my girl even more,
Only her I like best of all.
I’m not alone with my glass of wine,
my girl is with me: Thoughts are free!
Washington Monthly is still not sure it was Muslims.
Now in thinking about this it should occur to you that the same strategy would make sense to rightwing fanatics who might put on a fake Islamic atrocity to provoke a backlash not as a method of Islamic mobilization but as an end in itself. So perhaps we should all (and I’m admonishing myself here as well) be a bit more careful about assuming this attacks was what it appeared to be. We will probably know soon enough.
“I’ll ride with you.”
Has there been an example of racist graffiti that has NOT been a fake ?
Juan Cole can FOAD, and the sooner the better. What a despicably reprehensible take on the current matters.
Ed Kilgore, too, though he’s a mere kindergartener in despicableness compared to Cole.
It is France: remember the fake assassination attempt on Mitterand? But the odds overwhelmingly favour its being what it appears to be. Still, the people who reckon that the USA attacked the Twin Towers will probably not be happy to play the odds.
Google the topic ” The 1400 Year Old Secret” and it will pretty much put to rest any concept any “golden age” under Islam. The desolation laid upon the remnants of the Roman Empire by Islamic conquest almost defy beliefe.
If “black lives matter,” what are most blacks killed by other black?
If Islam is the “Religion of Peace,” why do Muslims kill more Muslims?
Jesus taught “turning the other cheek”, love and forgiveness.
Mohammed taught that Jesus was a false prophet.
Jesus taught that “turning the other cheek”, love and forgiveness have limits when he threw the money changers from the temple.
Mohammed taught that Jesus was a false prophet.
Perhaps it is time to throw the Moslems from the temple.
Sgt. Mom said “There are Muslims and Muslims,…”
True, there were were Nazis and Nazis too (enablers: how many middle/upper class Germans deplored Nazism but became nominal party members?). Intolerance is a basic theme of Islam. Intolerance of others is not found just around the edges of the creed but is a central theme. It is, like Nazism, a creed of extreme entitlement divorced from, and without any regard for, accomplishments that improve the general human condition.
One should note that one of the goals of Islam is the imposition of sharia law. That implies overthrow of the Constitutional law as implemented in the USA. That in turn implies that any naturalized Islamic citizens are lying when taking their oath or are heretic.
Take your pick. Either way, Islam is incompatible with republic-style government.
I would suggest that we do ourself no favor by importing people who want to destroy the USA.
tom
Dearieme put it well. Cole could be right, and there’s always a market for longshot speculation, but the fact that few people buy it tells you most of what you need to know. Lefty partisans fret about right-wing provocations even though notorious recent hate-crime scares turned out to be leftist hoaxes. Projection?
The broadbrush condemnations of Islam don’t fly. It’s still a minority doing the killing and we can ID many of them based on ideology and behavior. The problem is that western leaders avoid taking action. The killers yesterday used tactics that they had to have learned somewhere. Would the attack have occurred if every Frenchman known to have associated with terrorists abroad were arrested on reentry to France? if the French govt arrested or deported imams who incite violence and shut down their mosques and madrassas? if French politicians insisted that French law be enforced in Muslim banlieues? We expect western Muslims to oppose the Islamists when western leaders won’t even name the problem.
It’s really two problems: radical Islam, and a lack of cultural self-confidence on the part of western elites.
Wretchard at Belmont Club put it most chillingly – “Do you think our elites won’t punch the door buttons to let the killers in to shoot us? They already have. They already have.”
It is long past time to cleanse the world of the Satanic cult called Islam. expel Muslims from civilized lands, ban students and tourists, and put these cultists on notice that future terrorist attacks will result in vaporization of Mecca, Medina, Qom, Isfahan, Islamabad, etc.
JC,I really cannot get behind genocide – but I would be happy enough seeing the Muslim extremists sitting on piles of rocks in their third-world hellholes, contemplating their goat herds. I would also like to see an end to the pernicious influence of Middle Eastern (read Saudi) oil money in those American arenas where it has taken hold.
I would also be very happy never to see a burka again, or listen to Ibrahim Hooper and other Islamosymps whine about a backlash against Muslims after the next expected atrocity.
” It’s still a minority doing the killing and we can ID many of them based on ideology and behavior.”
The point of the spear always is a minority of the force. The ideology IS Islam.
I am still waiting for the terrible news from the actions of the Episcopalian Martyrs Brigade. I think Tyouth has it right.