Pirate's Cove

Salon is typically a hotbed of Leftist insanity, which very much exposes the true mindset of Leftists, one that typically takes the side of those calling anyone who points out the problems in hardcore Islam an “Islamophobe”, which makes this article by Jeffrey Tyler all that more important

The left has Islam all wrong: Bill Maher, Pamela Geller and the reality progressives must face
Confusion over Islam and how to relate to it imperils free speech, without which no secular republic can survive

Whatever her views on other matters are, Pamela Geller is right about one thing: last week’s Islamist assault on the “Draw Muhammad” cartoon contest she hosted in Texas proves the jihad against freedom of expression has opened a front in the United States.  “There is,” she said, “a war on free speech and this violent attack is a harbinger of things to come.”  Apparently undaunted, Geller promises to continue with such “freedom of speech” events.  ISIS is now threatening to assassinate her.  She and her cohorts came close to becoming victims, yet some in the media on the right and the center-right have essentially blamed her for the gunmen’s attack, just as far too many, last January, surreptitiously pardoned the Kouachi brothers and, with consummate perfidy to human decency, inculpated the satirical cartoonists they slaughtered, saying “Charlie Hebdo asked for it.”

No.

Unsurprisingly, much of this is about the subhead, that Islam (I do wish Mr. Tyler would take more time to distinguish between those who are simply practitioners of Islam and the Islamists, who are violent and/or pushing hardcore Islam, things like Sharia law, which treats women despicably, kills gays, etc) creates problems for a nation that Leftists want to be almost without religion, at least in public.

What is it about Islam that simultaneously both motivates jihadis to kill and so many progressives to exculpate the religion, even when the killers leave no doubt about why they act?  The second part of the question is easier to dispense with than the first.  Progressives by nature seek common ground and believe people to be mostly rational actors – hence the desire to blame crime on social ills.  Unfamiliarity with Islam’s tenets also plays a role, plus, I believe, the frightening future we would seem to be facing as more and more Muslims immigrate to the West, and the world becomes increasingly integrated.  Best just to talk of poverty and the like, or a few “bad apples.”  But to respond to the question’s first part, we need to put aside our p.c. reading glasses and examine Islam’s basic elements from a rationalist’s perspective.  Islam as a faith would not concern progressives, except that some of its adherents choose to act as parts of its dogma ordain, which, to put it mildly, violates the social contract underpinning the lives of the rest of us.

That’s as good an excuse as I’ve seen. Why does the Left seek to defend hardcore Islam? Mr. Taylor may be correct. Or, it could simply be a knee-jerk reaction by Lefties to those on the Right highlighting the danger from hardcore Islam, which makes them incapable of allowing the distinction between the hardcores and the non-hardcores, making the Left protect them all. Of course, Lefties like to Blame The Whole when it comes to Others, such as lumping all Conservatives, all Republicans, all Christians, into one big pot when an individual or a small group does something the Left doesn’t like, so excusing the whole of Islam when there is a big problem within Islam from the hardcores.

Of course, Tyler has quite a bit of negative to say about Christianity and Judaism within the article, which he is free to do.

The meme “Islam – the religion of peace” might evoke snickering now, but it was wildly inaccurate long before 9/11 and the plague of Islamist terrorism.  For starters, the Prophet Muhammad was a triumphant warlord leading military campaigns that spread Islam throughout Arabia and initiated the creation of one of the largest empires the world has known.  His was a messianic undertaking.  He preceded his invasions by demands that populations either convert or face the sword.  Verses sanctifying violence against “infidels” abound in the Quran.  Even the favorite verse of Islam’s apologists, Surat al-Baqarah 2:256 (“There is no compulsion in religion”), prefaces a warning that Hellfire awaits those worshipping anything besides God.  The real meaning of the word “Islam” is, in fact, surrender — to God and the inerrant, unchallengeable path He lays out for us.  Surrendering denotes war, groveling, and humiliation – not exactly the kind of behavior liberals tend to value.

I never thought I would see something like that in Salon, but, we can certainly chalk some of it up to the dislike, even hatred, many Progressives have towards organized religion. That said, Mr. Taylor has a point: it isn’t behavior that the Left should value, according to their own talking points. As for Progressives, their own dogma has them getting people to quietly surrender to the Will Of The Secular State. Hardcore Islam directly competes for the surrender.

All those who, à la Reza Aslan, maintain that Muslims today do not necessarily read the Quran literally have lost the argument before it begins.  What counts is that there are those (ISIS, say, and al-Qaida) who do, and they are taking action based on their beliefs.  To the contention, “ISIS and al-Qaida don’t represent Islam!” the proper response is, “that’s what you say.  They disagree.”  No single recognized Muslim clerical body exists to refute them.

Whoa, whoa, whoa: did he just say that those like ISIS and al Qaida are just following the text of the Koran?

Mr. Taylor goes on, discussing even more of the problem he sees within Islam as a whole, such as the poor treatment of women within the religion, even in more “moderate” Islamic countries. He also notes the continued spread of the hardcore viewpoint, that it continues to grow, turning more and more “moderates” into violent hardcores. The one thing he misses is that it is not just the violent Islamists, there are the Muslims who push a more hardcore Islamic lifestyle in a non-violent manner. Those who push for a worldwide Caliphate, who push Sharia law, and often using the trappings of Western culture, and the belief sets of Progressives, against Western society. They approve of violence, such as hanging gays, throwing them off buildings, stoning women, whipping them for being raped, etc, as well as others participating in jihad. The “calm and rational” softer version of the Islamists is used by groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR, who insinuate themselves into our culture, our government, and slowly move everything towards the harder version of Islam. Progressives need to wake up to this.

Of course, as mentioned, one of the points Mr. Taylor is making is that we can’t get to a society without religion if Progressives don’t wake up to the threat Islam makes towards that goal, because he, like so many Progressives, is just anti-religion.

And double of course, Mr. Taylor is being attacked by the oh so tolerant Progressives in the comments at Salon, as well as coming up with all sorts of ways to defend hardcore Islam, defenses we’ve seen time and time again. They seem to be the exact reason why Taylor wrote the article, but they will not learn.

Crossed at Right Wing News.