Lefty America and Islam

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/10/144946/67/765/420291

Why do they care? What is it about America's (and Britain's and France's and Sweden's and Germany's) growing distaste for islam that rankles so much with lefty Americans? What drives them to write semi-literate rubbish like the following:

'What are the beliefs representing shades of Islamaphobia?
Islam is monolithic and cannot adapt to new realities.
Islam does not share common values with other major faiths.
Islam as a religion is inferior to the West. It is archaic, barbaric, and irrational.
Islam is a religion of violence and supports terrorism.
Islam is a violent political ideology.'

First item is actually two things. Islam is not monolithic, but all branches of it seem unable to adapt to new realities. Second item is true in a number of crucial respects- there is no universal set of moral precepts in islam; there is what is moral between muslims and there is what is moral between muslims and non-muslims and they are different. Islam has historically had within it strong traditions of violent domination and the conquering by force of non-muslim nations, as an even a vanishingly brief perusal of islamic history will bear out. The third item is both logically and factually nonsensical. How can you compare a religion to a disparate group of nations with many separate cultures, traditions and religions? Is Islam archaic, barbaric and irrational? By my standards (and keeping in mind that all the major religions would probably be considered archaic and irrational) I would say it is. The fourth item is beyond dispute. Pick up a newspaper- read it. There will be an item about islamic violence somewhere. The last item is contentious- is islam a violent political ideology? The answer is that for an increasing number of people all over the world, including many in the 'west', it is. That wasn't true a hundred years ago, but hey, things change. All that Saudi oil money has bought a lot of madrassas and hardline Wahhabist imams.

Why do lefty Americans care whether Islam is liked or disliked?

'It is perhaps worth noting that the toll in Sunday's shootings exceeded the combined total in all "hate crimes" against Muslims in the six years since September 11.' http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2007/12/019242.php

Islamaphobia is the wrong name. More correctly it is Mismohammedanism. Phobia's are about fear, Mismohammedanism is about dislike (as in misanthropy or misogynist). Whats wrong with disliking someones religion? I know a lot of people in Britain who dislike Roman Catholicism. Its a long-running strain in our history, and there are some completely valid reasons why many Britons dislike and distrust the Catholic Church. I don't hear Roman Catholics bleating on via high profile pressure groups about Catholiphobia and requesting special treatment and new laws outlawing it. Despite the fact that in at least one place in the United Kingdom (northern Ireland) violence against Catholics is a potential and often an actual occurence, most Catholics in Britain just get on with their lives, go to mass and participate fully in British life.

The Daily Kos morons and their pals in Britain don't seem to see any weirdness in their championing of Islam, and their deep antipathy to Christianity. No insult is too extreme for 'right-wing extremist Christians'.

"Turkey: Int'l Summit On Islamophobia Issues Final Statement," from ANSAmed (thanks to Insubria):
(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, DECEMBER 10 - "Islamophobia should be accepted as a crime, just like anti-semitism". So read the final statement of the The International Conference on Islamophobia"..."The fight against Islamophobia should be a basic duty for everybody, every institution and every government"

Anti-semitism isn't a crime. If it was, there would be huge numbers of muslims in jail all over Europe and the US. Thinking ill of people and their religions isn't a crime in western nations, and long may it continue. Muslims are risking a growing (non-violent) backlash if they continue to make these hypocritical and nonsensical demands for special treatment. If we allow their demands and pander to their mistaken beliefs, we have only ourselves to blame.