Sunday, January 11, 2015
Is the Left waking up?
I'm traveling and have no time to write, but there seems to be some glimmer of dawning on the left side of the political spectrum that there might actually be a problem or two in Islam. I certainly hope so. The civilized world is at war with Islamism, whether it wants to be or not, Islamism is Islamic, and denial is suicidal. BBC has three short essays that suggest a dawning awareness, all worth reading:
My first encounter with anarchic Charlie Hebdo
How can anyone make sense of the Charlie Hebdo killings?
The roots of the battle for free speech
Of course, Muslim enemies of Western values, such as freedom of speech and freedom of thought, are unimpressed with the outpouring of anti-terrorism sentiment. The BBC piece below by Hugh Schofield details such things as "Je ne suis pas Charlie" and "Je suis Kouachi" memes in France. Unfortunately, Schofield cannot help but try to see it from "their" point of view.
France divided despite uplifting rallies
Towards the end of his piece, Schofield hits one nail on the head with this:
My first encounter with anarchic Charlie Hebdo
How can anyone make sense of the Charlie Hebdo killings?
The roots of the battle for free speech
Of course, Muslim enemies of Western values, such as freedom of speech and freedom of thought, are unimpressed with the outpouring of anti-terrorism sentiment. The BBC piece below by Hugh Schofield details such things as "Je ne suis pas Charlie" and "Je suis Kouachi" memes in France. Unfortunately, Schofield cannot help but try to see it from "their" point of view.
France divided despite uplifting rallies
Towards the end of his piece, Schofield hits one nail on the head with this:
...there are many French men and women who feel their primary attachment is to Islam, not to the Enlightenment values of post-18th Century Europe.
They feel a constant sense of humiliation, and where they can, they strike back. Normally in petty acts of insubordination. But sometimes in terror.
Exactly. But what this means is not that we wring our hands over the fact that "diversity" and "multiculturalism" aren't working. It should mean that we recognize that individual rights are a primary, and respect for anti-liberal religious beliefs is not. We should not feel bad that these people feel humiliated. If they cannot be converted to civilization, they must be defeated. Political Islam and liberalism are completely incompatible. I hope those on the left are beginning to recognize this, because we are in a war of someone else's choosing, and we had better win it.
