Internal Culture War and Self-hatred in the West Allow Islamic Inroads
Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims
**
by Andrew Stunich
06 Nov, 2007
Part of the reason that the West is having so much difficulty grasping how to both completely understand and properly address Islamic terrorism is the context in which the so-called war on terror is playing out. That context is a broader clash of ideology that encompasses far more than a clash of civilizations.
There are three major ideologies competing for influence in the World today - Secularism, Christianity and Islam. All three ideologies have internal divisions and there are other competing, relatively minor ideologies that add to the overall complexity.
Part of the problem the West is having in resisting Islam and in recognizing the degree of the threat posed by Islam is the culture war between the Secular Left and the vestige of Christian culture remaining in Western society. This cultural war between these Western ideologies is acting much like the conflict between the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire in the Seventh Century. It is making both vulnerable to Islam.
In addition to the culture war in the West, the Secular Left has developed an ideology with beliefs that have become so strong that they act much like religious belief. Those beliefs are deeply affecting resistance to advancing Islam. One of those beliefs is multiculturalism. At its best, multiculturalism has some great truth to it. It has taught Westerners to appreciate that which can be appreciated in other cultures and to accept that which is acceptable in other cultures. Multiculturalism at its best has helped offset a natural tendency toward unbridled xenophobia.
At its worst, however, multiculturalism has created a situation wherein all facets of other cultures must be accepted ― no matter how malevolent ― at risk of great penalty to those who refuse to do so. That penalty for unorthodoxy is ostracism and the label of bigot or racist for refusing to accept any and all foreign cultures and religions as equally worthy.
This dark side of multiculturalism results in the West's refusal to take an appropriate stand against Islam. The Secular Left, for example, makes excuses for Islamic treatment of women and other intolerant behavior that it would condemn with violent ferocity if exhibited by Westerners. Multiculturalism makes some Westerners refuse to even admit that Islam raises serious dangers. It forces many to claim that Islam itself is not to be feared. Multiculturalism acts much like the Aztec mythology that led the Aztecs to believe the Spaniards were returning Gods and which allowed the Spaniards to obtain a strategic advantage before the battle lines were ever drawn.
Multiculturalism is having the same effect on Western culture. It is allowing Islam to make major inroads into Western culture and it is hindering the fight against Islam. In fact, it is hindering the recognition of exactly what the enemy is and what drives the enemy. So much so that we are fighting a war on terror and not a war on the religion that drives that terror and which will continue to drive that terror until it is contained. By the time Westerners realize the degree of the mortal threat presented by Islam, they may well find themselves in the same untenable position as the Aztecs.
Even the suggestion that it is Islam that threatens peace and safety and that it is Islam that we must contain causes many Westerners to cry "bigot." Such a suggestion, you see, is like a heresy to an ideology driven by multiculturalism.
It is the interplay between the cultural war and the threat of Islam that may well cause catastrophic damage to the West. Islam should be easily contained by the West given the West’s vastly superior technology and resources. But to hear many Leftists describe the current state of affairs, they fear Christianity more than Islam. They perceive George Bush as far more evil than Osama bin Laden. They see the United States as the greatest threat to World peace and they search far and wide for intellectuals like Ward Churchill and Noam Chomsky to tell them why that is so. Many Leftists are so steeped in anti-Western belief that they see the events of 9/11 as a Western conspiracy. Such disunity is allowing Islam to continue to advance into parts of the West where it has never had any prior significant influence. It is simply the nature of the advance by immigration, propaganda, and disinformation that has changed.
Islam has advanced because of ignorance and oil money. Left-leaning Secularists seized control of a large segment of Western education and, therefore, dominate much of the formal public education that occurs in the West. These Leftists use control of the education system to advance multiculturalism. They have either willingly or deceptively played a role in the re-writing of the history of Islam such that many Westerners have no idea how much destruction and horror the religion has historically caused. Ask many Westerners when Islam and Christianity first came into conflict and many will ignorantly and adamantly swear it was when the "evil West" attacked "peaceful Muslims" during the Crusades. Leftists ignore or rationalize the hundreds of years of assault on Europe and other civilizations by Islamic invaders leading up to the Crusades.
Many Westerners are repeatedly spoon fed every possible criticism of Western culture that fertile minds can imagine, but any negatives about other cultures are often ignored or rationalized. In fact, negatives of other cultures are even blamed on Western culture. Ask Noam Chomsky and he will tell you that what went wrong with Islamic culture occurred as a result of Western Imperialism. As Bernard Lewis has pointed out, Noam Chomsky seems oblivious that something else must have gone wrong to allow the West to become so relatively strong that it could, after centuries of nearly being overwhelmed by Islamic invaders, now dominate the Islamic world. To many Leftists, Noam Chomsky is the foremost expression of political morality and enlightenment in the West. The irony that foreign tyrants such as Hugo Chavez that express a rabid hatred of the United States find Noam Chomsky equally appealing seems not to faze them.
In all fairness, the political Right is at least as blameworthy as the Left for the massive transfer of wealth to the Middle East in exchange for oil. That wealth has given the Islamic world the financial wherewithal to spread Islamic doctrine worldwide. It was nothing more than ignorance as to the nature of Islam that allowed such a massive wealth transfer to occur with little, if any, understanding of the long-term implications. In fact, even when the undisputed evidence revealed that the oil wealth was funding radical Islam within our own borders, very little was done to stop it. Even worse, very little can be done to stop it without amending the Constitution. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution is being used as a weapon against us to shield the spread of an ideology that expressly seeks to undermine our society and the very First Amendment that allows its advance. Leftists will never allow an amendment to the Constitution that would allow anyone to halt the spread of radical Islamic doctrine even though the values advanced by the Left seem quite at odds with Islamic doctrine.
In summary, all attempts to contain Islam and resist the terrorism caused by Islamic doctrine takes place in the context of a Western cultural war. Leftists seem more interested in continuing to fight that cultural war and to treat encroaching Islam as a weapon in that cultural war rather than uniting with the vestiges of Christian culture to defeat an enemy that is a mortal threat to both Western belief systems.
It is not necessarily that all Leftists are ignorant as to Islamic doctrine, many choose to ignore the threat for a variety of reasons. Many Leftists seem to believe that they must deny the reality of Islam to avoid fanning the flames of war or to avoid betraying the principles of multiculturalism.
Leftists can no more admit that multiculturalism taken to its extreme is dangerous than can Muslims admit that Jihadist doctrine is immoral and dangerous. Both groups are slaves to their ideology and beliefs. While the West fights a war on terror, the cause of that terror continues its assault on Western Civilization not only unopposed, but welcomed as a desirable addition to the multicultural mix. This is true despite the fact that the overwhelming evidence in Europe reveals that when Muslim immigrants become sufficiently strong, they will oust most other cultural influences and most non-Muslims from any area in which Muslims predominate and they will not only not assimilate, but will seek to turn their host culture into a part of the Islamic world.
The evidence reveals that some Muslims will also terrorize the host culture. This is not to say that all Muslims will participate. Most will not do so. But a significant enough percentage will and the rest will, perhaps inadvertently, act as a shield to hide and legitimize that portion that will seek to destroy us.
How long will it be before, for example, no non-Muslims will even dare venture into all or part of Dearborn Michigan? When it happens do not think for a minute that Leftists will recognize their error. Rather, they will claim that it is poverty, racism, bigotry, discrimination or some mix thereof causing the problem and that, you guessed it, we can solve the problem by implementing the Leftist political agenda.
Many Leftists have such a rabid hatred of Western culture that has been indoctrinated into them and indelibly imprinted on their psyche that many of them no longer seem to even believe that Western culture should be preserved. If anything, they seem to have a vision of what Western culture could become that is worth preserving.
Leftists seem as destined as Fifth Century Romans in the western half of the empire to experience the destruction of their culture by a less advanced culture and for many of the same reasons.
Our democracy can only withstand so much Islamic influence. We will either stem the tide of Islamic influence or our culture will either disappear or become so altered that it will be unrecognizable. It may take fifty years or it may take five hundred years, but it will happen if we do not alter the course we are on.
by Andrew Stunich
06 Nov, 2007
Part of the reason that the West is having so much difficulty grasping how to both completely understand and properly address Islamic terrorism is the context in which the so-called war on terror is playing out. That context is a broader clash of ideology that encompasses far more than a clash of civilizations.
There are three major ideologies competing for influence in the World today - Secularism, Christianity and Islam. All three ideologies have internal divisions and there are other competing, relatively minor ideologies that add to the overall complexity.
Part of the problem the West is having in resisting Islam and in recognizing the degree of the threat posed by Islam is the culture war between the Secular Left and the vestige of Christian culture remaining in Western society. This cultural war between these Western ideologies is acting much like the conflict between the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire in the Seventh Century. It is making both vulnerable to Islam.
In addition to the culture war in the West, the Secular Left has developed an ideology with beliefs that have become so strong that they act much like religious belief. Those beliefs are deeply affecting resistance to advancing Islam. One of those beliefs is multiculturalism. At its best, multiculturalism has some great truth to it. It has taught Westerners to appreciate that which can be appreciated in other cultures and to accept that which is acceptable in other cultures. Multiculturalism at its best has helped offset a natural tendency toward unbridled xenophobia.
At its worst, however, multiculturalism has created a situation wherein all facets of other cultures must be accepted ― no matter how malevolent ― at risk of great penalty to those who refuse to do so. That penalty for unorthodoxy is ostracism and the label of bigot or racist for refusing to accept any and all foreign cultures and religions as equally worthy.
This dark side of multiculturalism results in the West's refusal to take an appropriate stand against Islam. The Secular Left, for example, makes excuses for Islamic treatment of women and other intolerant behavior that it would condemn with violent ferocity if exhibited by Westerners. Multiculturalism makes some Westerners refuse to even admit that Islam raises serious dangers. It forces many to claim that Islam itself is not to be feared. Multiculturalism acts much like the Aztec mythology that led the Aztecs to believe the Spaniards were returning Gods and which allowed the Spaniards to obtain a strategic advantage before the battle lines were ever drawn.
Multiculturalism is having the same effect on Western culture. It is allowing Islam to make major inroads into Western culture and it is hindering the fight against Islam. In fact, it is hindering the recognition of exactly what the enemy is and what drives the enemy. So much so that we are fighting a war on terror and not a war on the religion that drives that terror and which will continue to drive that terror until it is contained. By the time Westerners realize the degree of the mortal threat presented by Islam, they may well find themselves in the same untenable position as the Aztecs.
Even the suggestion that it is Islam that threatens peace and safety and that it is Islam that we must contain causes many Westerners to cry "bigot." Such a suggestion, you see, is like a heresy to an ideology driven by multiculturalism.
It is the interplay between the cultural war and the threat of Islam that may well cause catastrophic damage to the West. Islam should be easily contained by the West given the West’s vastly superior technology and resources. But to hear many Leftists describe the current state of affairs, they fear Christianity more than Islam. They perceive George Bush as far more evil than Osama bin Laden. They see the United States as the greatest threat to World peace and they search far and wide for intellectuals like Ward Churchill and Noam Chomsky to tell them why that is so. Many Leftists are so steeped in anti-Western belief that they see the events of 9/11 as a Western conspiracy. Such disunity is allowing Islam to continue to advance into parts of the West where it has never had any prior significant influence. It is simply the nature of the advance by immigration, propaganda, and disinformation that has changed.
Islam has advanced because of ignorance and oil money. Left-leaning Secularists seized control of a large segment of Western education and, therefore, dominate much of the formal public education that occurs in the West. These Leftists use control of the education system to advance multiculturalism. They have either willingly or deceptively played a role in the re-writing of the history of Islam such that many Westerners have no idea how much destruction and horror the religion has historically caused. Ask many Westerners when Islam and Christianity first came into conflict and many will ignorantly and adamantly swear it was when the "evil West" attacked "peaceful Muslims" during the Crusades. Leftists ignore or rationalize the hundreds of years of assault on Europe and other civilizations by Islamic invaders leading up to the Crusades.
Many Westerners are repeatedly spoon fed every possible criticism of Western culture that fertile minds can imagine, but any negatives about other cultures are often ignored or rationalized. In fact, negatives of other cultures are even blamed on Western culture. Ask Noam Chomsky and he will tell you that what went wrong with Islamic culture occurred as a result of Western Imperialism. As Bernard Lewis has pointed out, Noam Chomsky seems oblivious that something else must have gone wrong to allow the West to become so relatively strong that it could, after centuries of nearly being overwhelmed by Islamic invaders, now dominate the Islamic world. To many Leftists, Noam Chomsky is the foremost expression of political morality and enlightenment in the West. The irony that foreign tyrants such as Hugo Chavez that express a rabid hatred of the United States find Noam Chomsky equally appealing seems not to faze them.
In all fairness, the political Right is at least as blameworthy as the Left for the massive transfer of wealth to the Middle East in exchange for oil. That wealth has given the Islamic world the financial wherewithal to spread Islamic doctrine worldwide. It was nothing more than ignorance as to the nature of Islam that allowed such a massive wealth transfer to occur with little, if any, understanding of the long-term implications. In fact, even when the undisputed evidence revealed that the oil wealth was funding radical Islam within our own borders, very little was done to stop it. Even worse, very little can be done to stop it without amending the Constitution. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution is being used as a weapon against us to shield the spread of an ideology that expressly seeks to undermine our society and the very First Amendment that allows its advance. Leftists will never allow an amendment to the Constitution that would allow anyone to halt the spread of radical Islamic doctrine even though the values advanced by the Left seem quite at odds with Islamic doctrine.
In summary, all attempts to contain Islam and resist the terrorism caused by Islamic doctrine takes place in the context of a Western cultural war. Leftists seem more interested in continuing to fight that cultural war and to treat encroaching Islam as a weapon in that cultural war rather than uniting with the vestiges of Christian culture to defeat an enemy that is a mortal threat to both Western belief systems.
It is not necessarily that all Leftists are ignorant as to Islamic doctrine, many choose to ignore the threat for a variety of reasons. Many Leftists seem to believe that they must deny the reality of Islam to avoid fanning the flames of war or to avoid betraying the principles of multiculturalism.
Leftists can no more admit that multiculturalism taken to its extreme is dangerous than can Muslims admit that Jihadist doctrine is immoral and dangerous. Both groups are slaves to their ideology and beliefs. While the West fights a war on terror, the cause of that terror continues its assault on Western Civilization not only unopposed, but welcomed as a desirable addition to the multicultural mix. This is true despite the fact that the overwhelming evidence in Europe reveals that when Muslim immigrants become sufficiently strong, they will oust most other cultural influences and most non-Muslims from any area in which Muslims predominate and they will not only not assimilate, but will seek to turn their host culture into a part of the Islamic world.
The evidence reveals that some Muslims will also terrorize the host culture. This is not to say that all Muslims will participate. Most will not do so. But a significant enough percentage will and the rest will, perhaps inadvertently, act as a shield to hide and legitimize that portion that will seek to destroy us.
How long will it be before, for example, no non-Muslims will even dare venture into all or part of Dearborn Michigan? When it happens do not think for a minute that Leftists will recognize their error. Rather, they will claim that it is poverty, racism, bigotry, discrimination or some mix thereof causing the problem and that, you guessed it, we can solve the problem by implementing the Leftist political agenda.
Many Leftists have such a rabid hatred of Western culture that has been indoctrinated into them and indelibly imprinted on their psyche that many of them no longer seem to even believe that Western culture should be preserved. If anything, they seem to have a vision of what Western culture could become that is worth preserving.
Leftists seem as destined as Fifth Century Romans in the western half of the empire to experience the destruction of their culture by a less advanced culture and for many of the same reasons.
Our democracy can only withstand so much Islamic influence. We will either stem the tide of Islamic influence or our culture will either disappear or become so altered that it will be unrecognizable. It may take fifty years or it may take five hundred years, but it will happen if we do not alter the course we are on.
posted by jillosophy at 11/08/2007 02:03:00 PM
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