BY LARRY ELDER:(Z: the punchline paragraph at the end is worth it....hang in there)
What happens when an Australian(!) Muslim cleric calls for the beheading of a Dutch politician? Not much.What happens when an American pastor no one ever heard of threatens to burn a Quran? It ignites an international outcry.
Terry Jones, pastor of a 50-member church in Gainesville, Florida, threatened to burn the Quran as a protest against the proposed construction of a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center. Democrats and Republicans denounced Jones. Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. commander in Afghanistan, warned that Jones' action would put American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan at risk, and he personally telephoned the pastor to dissuade him.
Those who would desecrate the Quran or who would draw a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad or who would otherwise "disrespect" Islam run the risk of being murdered. This is quite a response from followers of what President George W. Bush called a "religion of peace," the "hijacking" of which motivated the 9/11 hijackers. Bush repeatedly distinguished between a war against Islamofascism and a war on Islam. But the distinction apparently collapses if one pastor doesn't get the memo.
How dare this pastor of some church-nobody-heard-of show insufficient respect for Islam, many of whose followers support a global jihad that demands replacement of all non-Islamic governments, as well as the conversion of all to Islam, by force if necessary?
Where is the international outcry from this recent story from Reuters?
Those who would desecrate the Quran or who would draw a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad or who would otherwise "disrespect" Islam run the risk of being murdered. This is quite a response from followers of what President George W. Bush called a "religion of peace," the "hijacking" of which motivated the 9/11 hijackers. Bush repeatedly distinguished between a war against Islamofascism and a war on Islam. But the distinction apparently collapses if one pastor doesn't get the memo.
How dare this pastor of some church-nobody-heard-of show insufficient respect for Islam, many of whose followers support a global jihad that demands replacement of all non-Islamic governments, as well as the conversion of all to Islam, by force if necessary?
Where is the international outcry from this recent story from Reuters?
"A well-known Australian Muslim cleric has called for the beheading of Dutch anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders....
"The Sydney-born (Feiz) Muhammad has gained notoriety for, among other things, calling on young children to be radicalized and blaming rape victims for their own attacks.
"(De Telegraaf, the Netherlands' largest newspaper) posted an English-language audio clip in which he refers to Wilders as 'this Satan, this devil, this politician in Holland' and explains that anyone who talks about Islam like Wilders does should be executed by beheading....
"Wilders is currently on trial in the Netherlands for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims.
"The Freedom Party leader made a film in 2008 which accused the Quran of inciting violence and mixed images of terrorist attacks with quotations from the Islamic holy book.
"Wilders was also charged because of outspoken remarks in the media, such as an opinion piece in a Dutch daily in which he compared Islam to fascism and the Quran to Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf."
Civil libertarian groups vigorously defend vile but protected speech. Where are the free-speech groups denouncing Wilders' prosecution for making abrasive comments? Or does the right to free speech only apply to the nasty comments routinely made on cable shows by Sarah Palin/Glenn Beck/tea party-hating lefties?
If a proposed Quran burning generates international news and condemnation, isn't the call by an Australian Muslim cleric for the beheading of a democratically elected European politician worthy of a few moments on the network nightly news?
Offensive acts by non-Muslims provoke calls for sensitivity and understanding. Offensive acts by Muslims generate indifference rather than denunciations of the barbarous statements and acts that Muslim clerics and others call for in the name of Islam.
Why the double standard?
Dr. Fred Gottheil is an economics professor at the University of Illinois. He calls himself a "Keynesian-type economist" who is "not afraid of deficit spending" -- not exactly Reaganesque.
In January 2009, some 900 academics signed a four-page petition calling for a U.S. abandonment of the support of Israel. Gottheil learned that many of the petition signatories belonged to faculty from women's and gender studies departments. He decided to conduct an experiment.
Would the same professors sign a "Statement of Concern" over the anti-human rights, anti-gay, anti-woman practices in the Muslim Middle East? Gottheil composed a four-page document citing evidence of atrocities, along with the names of Muslim clerics and scholars defending these violations of human decency. He e-mailed his statement to 675 signers of the anti-Israel petition.
What happened? "The results were surprising," Gottheil said, "even though I thought the responses would be few. They were almost nonexistent."
Bottom line: Barbarity in the name of Islam is not even remotely condemned to the degree that the West condemns insensitivity by cartoonists, politicians and anti-Islam clerics. Why? A denunciation of Muslim practices suggests a superiority of American values and culture. The left finds the very notion objectionable.
Gottheil put it this way: "If leftist 'progressives' really cared about women, gays and lesbians, then they would be fighting for their rights in places where such rights are really violated -- like under Hamas in Gaza and under the mullahs in Iran. But doing so would legitimize their own society and its values and therefore completely cripple their entire identity and life purpose, and so their purported concern for women, gays and lesbians has to go out the window."
It is a bizarre and dangerous double standard that allows a Pastor Jones to become more notorious than a Feiz Muhammad.
If a proposed Quran burning generates international news and condemnation, isn't the call by an Australian Muslim cleric for the beheading of a democratically elected European politician worthy of a few moments on the network nightly news?
Offensive acts by non-Muslims provoke calls for sensitivity and understanding. Offensive acts by Muslims generate indifference rather than denunciations of the barbarous statements and acts that Muslim clerics and others call for in the name of Islam.
Why the double standard?
Dr. Fred Gottheil is an economics professor at the University of Illinois. He calls himself a "Keynesian-type economist" who is "not afraid of deficit spending" -- not exactly Reaganesque.
In January 2009, some 900 academics signed a four-page petition calling for a U.S. abandonment of the support of Israel. Gottheil learned that many of the petition signatories belonged to faculty from women's and gender studies departments. He decided to conduct an experiment.
Would the same professors sign a "Statement of Concern" over the anti-human rights, anti-gay, anti-woman practices in the Muslim Middle East? Gottheil composed a four-page document citing evidence of atrocities, along with the names of Muslim clerics and scholars defending these violations of human decency. He e-mailed his statement to 675 signers of the anti-Israel petition.
What happened? "The results were surprising," Gottheil said, "even though I thought the responses would be few. They were almost nonexistent."
Bottom line: Barbarity in the name of Islam is not even remotely condemned to the degree that the West condemns insensitivity by cartoonists, politicians and anti-Islam clerics. Why? A denunciation of Muslim practices suggests a superiority of American values and culture. The left finds the very notion objectionable.
Gottheil put it this way: "If leftist 'progressives' really cared about women, gays and lesbians, then they would be fighting for their rights in places where such rights are really violated -- like under Hamas in Gaza and under the mullahs in Iran. But doing so would legitimize their own society and its values and therefore completely cripple their entire identity and life purpose, and so their purported concern for women, gays and lesbians has to go out the window."
It is a bizarre and dangerous double standard that allows a Pastor Jones to become more notorious than a Feiz Muhammad.
CREATORS SYNDICATE COPYRIGHT 2010 LAURENCE A. ELDER
34 comments:
It's a leftist thing.
Karl Marx was fond of portraying Judaism as capitalism dressed up like religion. "World without Jews" anti-Semitic zeitgeist was a staple of progressive leftist thinking long before Hitler's labor movement.
Beamish, this really hit me:
"But doing so would legitimize their own society (America) and its values and therefore completely cripple their entire identity and life purpose, and so their purported concern for women, gays and lesbians has to go out the window."
It has been said that terror is the principle of despotic government. Does your government therefore resemble despotism? Yes, as the sword that gleams in the hands of the heroes of liberty resembles that with which the henchmen of tyranny are armed. Let the despot govern by terror his brutalized subjects; he is right, as a despot. Subdue by terror the enemies of liberty, and you will be right, as founders of the Republic. The government of the revolution is liberty's despotism against tyranny. Is force made only to protect crime? And is the thunderbolt not destined to strike the heads of the proud? - Maximillien Robespierre, "Justification of the Use of Terror"
Leftism has always been violent in some way. Ask the victims of the progressive left's eugenics-based Tuskegee experiments, or the Woodrow Wilson revived Ku Klux Klan.
Excellent find, Z.
I really don't have anything to add -- except that I'm frustrated that so many Americans continue to believe the lie that Islam is a religion of peace.
The liberal left not only believes that Islam is a religion of peace (which is an unadulterated lie), they also believe that America is the enemy because liberals don't believe in liberty, they don't believe in justice, they don't believe in domestic tranquility (ever witness one of their protests...almost always violent), they don't believe in defending America, they don't believe in promoting general welfare, and they DO believe in taking from the people to distribute according to some governmental decree.
If Islam stands with them in disbelieving these values, that's fine with them.
As long as its not theirs, they don't care whose heads roll.
They're liberals. They can't help themselves. It's a disease.
Gottheil seems to have punked out.
http://whatdisay.blogspot.com/2010/09/open-letter-to-dr-fred-gottheil.html
Gottheil seems to have punked out.
Hardly. The petition is posted there (your link) in it's entirety in the comments section.
Beamish...or the Left's Margaret Sanger and ridding the world of black babies.......
Always, but don't you love the way he describes the left and why they don't criticize those who don't love freedom? THAT really made an impact on me......I think he's so right.
Joe, it's a disease but, sadly, it's very contagious as it's so cunning.
Ducky...what?
Cube, I hope they never learn..it'll actually be their heads first. WEll, wait..let me think this out.. :-)
JC.....thanks
Feiz Muhammad is on the lam and faces arrest if he returns to Australia.
Hardly seems that there was no reaction to his threats as Elder claims. Larry doesn't have much of a track record as a reliable source.
Odd that I'd never heard the name Feiz Mohammed, Ducky......Of course, Elder's point is that the story about him didn't quite get the notoriety that the KORAN BURNING PASTOR did....:-)
Did the Western world go into conniptions when Feiz called for beheading? They SURE did about the Pastor...did the muslims speak out against Feiz when he called for beheading? No, but they sure did about the Pastor.
Ducky, can you show us how Larry Elder's not been a reliable source? I'd like to see that.
He's been on LA Talk radio for years and I found out yesterday he's coming back......he's always been a voice of reason, especially on Black issues. We need people like him to counteract the BLack Victimhood leftwing fan club.
Ducky could make anyone's brain hurt. A lot.
He's been on L.A. radio for years and you think that makes him a reporter and reliable investigative news source rather than a two bit entertainer?
Now, get to a matter at hand. Is his contention that there was no reaction to Feiz Muhammend, when in fact he is subject to arrest and in exile, accurate?
Simple question.
Ducky could make anyone's brain hurt.
That's a compliment to him. That would imply he's saying something intelligent, logical and of reason.
He makes me nauseous.
About this story, I think we're getting used to the left double standard. As long as you're a minority or a victim, you're always right, no matter how many people you killed or want to kill.
Ducky, Elder is someone who discusses news, culture, values... ..he's been here for years because of his reliability; people don't listen for years if they're not getting something from the listening.
He never ever said there was NO reaction, Ducky..he said "Not much".. You put credence in Reuters, it's reporting is left of center; read the inset piece about what they say about him. Wouldn't you think he might get as much outrage from the world as the koran burning pastor?
simple question.
FB "About this story, I think we're getting used to the left double standard. As long as you're a minority or a victim, you're always right, no matter how many people you killed or want to kill."
And, really, who'd CARE if it weren't for the fact that the leftwingers in this country are putting US in jeopardy by ignoring the facts?
Z, the left really doesn't like facts and numbers. I really don't know where it's coming from.
Even the global warming studies had to be 'tweaked.'
To me that's the biggest enigma. Maybe we should scan the brain of a bunch of leftists like Ducky, and the brain of people like me, to see if blood flow is different.
Keep dancing, z, that's what you do best.
Fact is that being subject to arrest and being forced to leave the country and go into hiding constitutes a little more than not much. Now, do you deny that?
Now just what happened to the freak in Florida? Nothing.
Nice reminder on Beck today about Hitler/Goebbels and how they hated christianity after using it electorally, and how they liked Islam. I remember seeing those photos of Hitler welcoming some middle easter leader and work together to eliminate the Jewish people.
As I understand it, we removed Huessein in Iraq because he was a tyrant supporting terrorism. Was he the only one? No. Was he the worst of them? No. So why Iraq? Because its relatively modern, tolerant society was the one most likely to support a successful Western style democracy. Kind of low-hanging fruit concept.
Does a liberal, secular media take a similar approach regarding Christianity and Islam? The media wants everything to be tolerated, even celebrated. They find religions intolerant, but they focus their attention on Christianity because it is more tolerant. Trying to make inroads into Islam would be as successful as trying to start a representative democracy in Saudi Arabia.
tio
Keep dancing, z, that's what you do best.
A misogynist on top of that, Ducky?
Ducky, I think from the context of the article "not much" refers to the media coverage of the incident. Pretty much the whole article is talking about media reaction.
If you want to poke holes in Elders' piece, poke at the description of Terry Jones as a pastor no one has heard of. A lot of people have heard of Jones. But where was the media coverage to report that the guy who drew the animations for Monty Python had been ordained?
tio
FB, what DUCKY's saying has NO relation to female/male, you know that.
He has to insult because he's been so obviously bested.
He won't even address the FACT that the world was up in ARMS over a lousy little pastor who only threatened to burn the koran....and he insists Faiz really 'got his' because he can't go back to Australia.
DUcky...you do take the cake...
Do you "deny" that more non muslims have had to go into hiding to escape the 'religion of peace'? :-)
tio.."inroads into Islam", you mean a modernization, a reformation?
tio, are you implying we'd heard of Terry JOnes BEFORE the koran incident? He has a 50 member church..had you heard of him?
And yes, thanks for the verification..my post is about media reaction...or I should say Elder's PIECE (it's nOT MINE!) is!
Z,
I was just considering that liberals' attacking Christianity may not necessairly be hypocrisy, but may be a testimony to the tolerance of Christianity.
Are you telling me this is not the guy we're talking about? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones
tio
As I understand it, we removed Huessein in Iraq because he was a tyrant supporting terrorism. Was he the only one? No. Was he the worst of them? No. So why Iraq? Because its relatively modern, tolerant society was the one most likely to support a successful Western style democracy. Kind of low-hanging fruit concept.
Don't forget that al-Qaeda terrorists were arrested by Jordan is a plot to blow up a chemical weapon bomb in 2004 These chemical weapons of mass destruction came from Iraqi stockpiles.
Saddam Hussein's government supported Baluchi terrorists against Iran, and many of these terrorists, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad among them, were part of al-Qaeda's operations command heirarchy.
We did not roll up KSM until we captured several of Iraq's intelligence officials during the war. The Iraqi Mukhabarat (intelligence services) headquarters in Baghdad was a treasure trove of information on al-Qaeda when it was captured.
What keeps the country divided is the media. If they were honest, and tried to be objective, there would be more agreement than not.
They are shills for the left, and especially Obama. Either they're cowards, or in the tank for the left, or both.
If the media reported less about Lindsay Lohan, and more about this administration and it's agenda, the majority which opposes this thugocracy, would be even bigger.
Alas, that is not to be. The info establishment chose sides years ago, and it is they who keep the public ill informed. It is they who comply with the left's need to keep us divided.
So, we will continue to be at odds, because we are not told whole truths. Half truths or lies, is not news. Avoidance of the truth leads to ignorance, and that's the way the left want's it.
Even with all this, the people are figuring it out. It does take time to sink in, but it is.
My question to the media is, how does it feel to sell out your country?
Pris
BTW, Larry Elder is great. He will be back on the radio beginning Monday at 9:00 AM PST, on KABC, here in Los Angeles. I don't know if he will be national or not.
He was gone for awhile, but he was missed and is coming back.
Pris
Z's computer monitor is dark! She'll be back when she can. Thanks, Hillary (Z's friend!)
I'm back, it was something simple and i'm back on line...
thanks, Hillary ! xxx
Z, you`re so clearly right, Ducky wrong. It may well be true that in Australia this imam finds himself in serious trouble for calling for Wilders' head. (or maybe not.) But, as you say, there are no mass denunciations of him in the Islamic world. Or in the western world (Australia, maybe, excepted.)
Which, as you suggests, begs several questions, a few being:
What does it say that Muslims seem to either passively support such egregious barbarisms at worse, and are apathetic at best?
Do we only encourage this sort of thing by giving it a pass?
Are we not letting down genuine Muslim moderates by treating such people and their fatwas as non events?
Should we not stand up for our values?
Is it that our passivity is explained by ignorance of what is transpiring? (This is a common event, not exceptional, starting with Rushdie, and most recently including the Seattle cartoonist behind the "Everybody draw Mohammed Day having to go into hiding.) Is the general public unaware because the dominant left wing media chooses to protect us hoi polloi from our inherent prejudices against others? Do they assume that immas like this simply must be a small, unimportant Islamic minority, who should not be allowed to smear the great Muslim majority? That to report it would be to empower the (racist, red neck) right wing? Is this why Ducky downplays this specific event, but presumably too all the others just like it?
Great questions, Steve...
Not sure I know any of the answers except that we had better wake up..and SOON
It's been 12 hours or so since I last tried to post this... Once more into the breach...
---
Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com, and is accepting signatures from anyone willing to speak out against human rights abuses in the Middle East. As you're obviously interested in the story, I urge you to step up and sign it: Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians Petition
Obviously, we'll be counting on everyone here to reply to this request.
And hey... Thanks for the shout-out there, Ducky.
I wouldn't say Dr. Gottheil punked out, exactly... ...but the methodology by which he tried to garner rhetorical support for anyone's human rights in the Middle East by collecting signatures (to the extent that such a thing actually was his goal, in the first place) was pretty sorely lacking...
And any comparison between the two campaigns to gather signatures that doesn't discuss in the slightest the methods by which each petitioner went about trying to get those signatures, seems kinda short-sighted and ultimately destined to be a failed experiment. (I mean, does anyone really believe that Dr. Lloyd (of the Israel divestment petition) sent out 900+ unsolicited e-mails to strangers one time, all by himself, with zero follow-up and no human rights or sociopolitical education group, history of work in the region, or so much as a website to back him up, the way Dr. Gottheil did? If so, it's bridge buying time, and I've got some real beauts over desert waters... ...cheap. But you have to hurry, they're goin' fast....)
1/2
2/2
As far as I'm concerned, counting the number of people who didn't respond to a single unsolicited e-mail from a stranger, that may or may not've even made it into their "IN" box (spam filters, don'cha know), is hardly the best way to determine who does and does not care about the rights of women or gay folks in Middle Eastern countries. YMMV, obviously...
Anyway... Please sign the petition. Whatever one thinks of the way Dr. Gottheil went about it or his motivations for doing so, his Statement of Concern is pretty sound, and somebody ought to get some actual use out of the thing.
Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians Petition
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