Glenn Greenwald and the Left’s Moral Bankrupcy
Glenn Greenwald is an American blogger and journalist. On Wednesday 3 April 2013, Mr. Greenwald published an article on the left leaning newspaper The Guardian, titled, Sam Harris, the New Atheists, and anti-Muslim animus.
Greenwald accuses those whom he defines as New Atheists, (Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens) to “have flirted with and at times vigorously embraced irrational anti-Muslim animus.” The subtitle of his article reads “A long overdue debate breaks out about whether rational atheism is being used as a cover for Islamophobia and US militarism.” He wrote, “It is not that Harris is a “racist”, but rather that he and others like him spout and promote Islamophobia under the guise of rational atheism.”
I sent a tweet to Mr. Greenwald asking him to please define the term Islamophobia. He tweeted back saying I should read his article.
I did. He wrote, “Whether Islamophobia is a form of ‘racism’ is a semantic issue in which I’m not interested for purposes of this discussion.”
I believe this issue is of utmost importance. Greenwald and all those who accuse the critics of Islam of Islamophobia must explain what they mean by it. The layers of deception are not insignificant. They hide the truth and they must be removed. Let us do it now, shall we?
Let us for now accept the term Islamophobia as a valid term and ask, is it racism? If it is, then it is condemnable in the strongest sense of this word. Racial bigotry is the acme of stupidity and it should not be open to debate or tolerated. We saw what racism can do and must not allow it to raise its ugly head again. Never again!
Assuming Islamophobia is racism, what race Islam would be? Is it Arab? There are millions of Arabs who are Christian, Baha’i, Yazidi, Druze and Atheist. Is it Middle Eastern, brown and black? That can’t be true either for the same reason stated above. I am a Persian, but not a Muslim. Is it the religion of all non-white people, the “oppressed” and the underprivileged of the world that need to be given a chance and treated with more consideration? This condescending attitude is an insult, but that is not the point. The point is that it is not true. Although Islam is weakening in Muslim countries, it is the fastest growing religion in the West among the whites, particularly the prison inmates and women.
So Islam has nothing to do with race. This is not a matter of semantics, but the crux of the matter. Not willing to engage in this discussion and brushing it away as if it is unimportant is not just intellectual torpor but ethical dishonesty. If you call people “Islamophobes”, you have to explain what you mean by it. Those who refuse to talk about it realize that the muddier the water is the better they can hide their deception.
Does the definition of Islamophobia include racism or does it not? We need a definite and clear answer to this question. If it does, they should tell us which race is offended when Islam is criticized and if it doesn’t, they must stop playing this dishonest games of deception.
Greenwald continues: “The vast majority of Muslims are non-white; as a result, when a white westerner becomes fixated on attacking their religion and advocating violence and aggression against them, as Harris has done, I understand why some people (such as Hussain) see racism at play.”
Well dear Mr. Greenwald, please forgive me if I offend you, but you don’t understand. You don’t know Islam and have no understanding of the Muslim mind. I do. I have written a book on Muhammad and Muslims’ psychology. I was born to Muslim parents. I am a descendant of Muhammad. There are several Ayatollahs in my extended family. I have studied Islam extensively for the last 19 years. I know this religion and these people. You don’t. So allow me educate you.
Muslims play these games because they can see people like you on the Left fall for them. They know that as soon as they cry you will rush to wipe their tears, will apologize profusely and will bend over backwards to appease them. They toy with you. What you don’t know is that to them you are just a useful idiot (A name Lenin gave to people like you). When you are no longer useful, what is left is the idiot whom they will get rid of as they did with the US Ambassador in Benghazi. Poor Christopher Stevens spent years helping the Libyan Muslims and armed the rebels to fight Muammar Gadhafi. He was a great useful idiot – until he was no longer useful. The two idiot pro-Palestinian British women who participated in the shipment of “aid” to Gaza were gang raped last week in front of their father, by five Muslim men, because they were no longer useful. The list is long. You get the point. Or I so hope.Ambassador Stevens was killed, allegedly, over a poorly made video about Muhammad posted on Youtube. Muslims all over the world rioted because, purportedly, their petal delicate sensitivity was injured when their prophet was depicted in a movie. But did you know that that video was dubbed into Arabic and shown on Egyptian TVs and other Islamic countries to arouse the Muslims? If it was so offensive why dub it and why air it? It is a game that Muslims play and as long as there are useful idiots in the west, they will keep playing it.
So you don’t want anyone to criticize Islam because you think they may offend Muslims. Let me tell you what offends me. What offends me is stoning women, whipping those who eat in public during the month of Ramadan, jailing and beheading those who leave Islam, beating women in public for exposing a lock of hair, honor killing, child rape in the guise of marriage, gender mutilation of little girls, chopping off hands, gouging out eyes, dictatorship, discrimination against minorities, denigration of women, polygamy and a thousand other religious laws like these. Have you ever spoken against any of these crimes? Yes I know you pay some lip service, and when you do you make sure to immediately say something derogatory about Christianity and Judaism so Muslims are not offended. You have no problem vilifying the Christians for their beliefs, while you are extra cautious with Muslims.
I wish you would answer these questions. I know you won’t. So I will answer them on your behalf. You can correct me if I am wrong. You attack Christians and Christianity with no reservation because you know they won’t come after you to chop off your head. But you fear Muslims. You are strong in front of the weak and meek vis-à-vis the bully.
You wrote, “Of course one can legitimately criticize Islam without being bigoted or racist. That’s self-evident, and nobody is contesting it.” And how is criticizing Islam linked to bigotry and racism? According to you the majority of Muslims who are not white become offended when a white person attacks their religion. So are you saying that no white person should criticize Islam? What about non whites? Are they allowed to criticize Islam? Have you forgotten the Salman Rushdie affair or the death threats against Ayan Hirsi Ali? Let us be honest. You just don’t want anyone criticize Islam. The Quran makes Mein Kampf look like a book for Sunday classes. Have you ever criticized any of its teachings, for example beating women? You don’t dare to do so. You blame only the “extremists” making sure to mention there are extremists in other religions too.
You continue, “And of course there are some Muslim individuals who do heinous things in the name of their religion – just like there are extremists in all religions who do awful and violent things in the name of that religion, yet receive far less attention than the bad acts of Muslims.”
Sir, the extremists in other religions become extremists because they deviate from the teachings of their religion. Jesus never encouraged murder, rape and terrorism. Muhammad did. What part of this you want me to spell for you? There are hundreds of verses in the Quran and thousands of hadiths that promote hate and encourage violence, like Jews are pigs and monkeys (7:166, 2:65, and 5:60 ), unbelievers are filthy (9:28), don’t befriend them (9:23), let them find harshness in you (9:123), instill terror in their hearts (8:12), slay them wherever you find them (9:5), their property and women are made halal to you, enjoy them, they are lawful and good (8:69). Did Jesus teach anything like that? How much hypocrisy is enough? Do you have a limit for it or is it endless?
These and countless other teachings of hate don’t bother you, but you are alarmed when someone says they are wrong. Didn’t you say legitimate criticism of slam without racism and bigotry is okay? What part of what Sam Harris says is illegitimate? Why it is racist to say these teachings are evil and are the root cause of the Islamic problem?
Islamophobia is an empty word. You can’t define it and no one has. It makes as much sense as Hinduphobia, Chisitianophobia or atheismophobia. If you can’t define Islamophobia why you insist in using it? There is no such thing as Islamophobia. The world is ailing with Islamonausea and to this I may add, leftistnausea. Both these ideologies are based on hatred. They both thrive in dividing mankind between “us” and “them”, by victimizing the “us” and vilifying the “them.” Both hate democracy and freedom. Both are driven by ideology rather than by respect for human rights and human dignity. And both are dictatorial and fascistic. But the honeymoon between the Left and Islam is short lived. Ask the Persian leftists who were the main force behind Khomeini’s rise to power and were the first to be eliminated by him.
So the extremists of other religions do far more awful and violent things in the name of their religion, yet receive far less attention than the bad acts of Muslims? Will you care to name a few of those awful things? I know of a Christian preacher who burns the Quran. Terrible, terrible stuff! In addition to this atrocity he hurts the tender and delicate sensitivity of Muslims. Any other awful thing you would like to add to the list? Oh yes, you mentioned about the collaboration of US and Ugandan Christians to enact laws to execute homosexuals. That was a bit of lie of course. The article says the evangelicals went to Uganda to “cure” the homosexuals. Meanwhile you forgot to mention that in the Sharia law. homosexuality is punishable by death and Muslim countries hang homosexuals.
In your article you blamed the critics of Islam of having double standards for opposing the nuclearization of Muslim nations, when western and the Jewish nations have nuclear weapons. There is a big difference that any sane person can understand. The latter countries don’t threaten other nations with annihilation. Muslims are convinced that their Mahdi will come only when there is chaos in the world and when Muslims massacre all the Jews. They also have not hidden their intention to wipe Israel off the map and nuke American cities. Muslims still don’t have nuclear bombs. So they strap homemade bombs to their waist to kill others. What will stop them from using nuclear bombs when they have them?
Sam Harris said, “We are not at war with terrorism. We are at war with Islam.” You attacked him for that. I am afraid you don’t understand. What to us is terrorism, to Muslims is jihad. Jihad is incumbent on all Muslim men. Please don’t buy that charade about lesser jihad and greater jihad. That is a lie. There is only one jihad and that is taking arms and raiding the unbelievers, massacring them when they are unarmed, enslaving their women and children and plundering their wealth. This is called ghazwa (literally, raid). Muhammad launched 87 ghazwas in the last ten years of his life. This is the only definition of jihad. If they can’t take part in it personally, they must delegate someone else or finance the expedition. Jihad is an obligation. For many, it is the sixth pillar of their faith.
It is useless to kill Muslims who rise to answer the call of their faith. The more we kill them the more they become. We must fight the ideology behind jihad. We have to destroy their faith in this doctrine of hate.
Your strategy of appeasing Muslims and not hurting their sensitivity is unwise. We should be concerned about Muslims’ lives not their sensitivity. Criticism of Islam brings people together. It opens the eyes of Muslims and makes them see what they have been told in the name of religion is folly and the man they call their prophet was a sick man. That the world is not divided between believers and kafirs. We are all people, brothers and sisters in our humanity. Yes truth hurts. But lies kill. Ignorance is the mother of all sins.
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