Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week

If you weren’t paying attention, you missed it. It was actually held between October 22 and October 26 at 114 College and University campuses. According to its sponsors it was “the largest, most successful campus demonstrations by students not associated with the anti-American left in the history of campus protest.”

Think about that statement for a second; two Young Republicans standing on the Quad and saying in unison “I hate Hillary” could qualify for that title as well. Given the gnashing of teeth there appears to be among conservative commentators, and the total silence about the event in the mainstream media, I suspect my mythical Young Republicans would have had a bigger impact.

So what was the point supposed to be? Well, apparently the objective was “to confront the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the war on terror and that Global Warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat.”

Uh-huh, and beyond that it was “a national effort to oppose these lies and to rally American students to defend their country.”

One has to wonder what these folks have in mind when they say they want “students to defend their country?”

Are they supposed to throw textbooks at the jihadists or what?

Let’s talk about the claims that George Bush created the war on terror or that Global Warming is a greater threat to Americans than terrorism.

George Bush didn’t create the war on terror nor does the political left, of which I am an upstanding member, say that. Oh, ok, some dummies may, but nobody is taking that seriously; this is a conservative straw man. What we are saying is that Bush doesn’t understand WHY we have a war on our hands, because he doesn’t understand why, he doesn’t understand how the war needs to be fought and because he doesn’t understand how the war needs to be fought, the war may take longer than necessary and lives will be lost that could have been saved.

His “they hate us because of our freedom” position is naïve to the point of being criminal. Clearly there is an element in the Islamic World that is going to hate our guts as long as we reject Fundamentalist Islam. The question is would this element have any real power if it weren’t for other factors?

Would a radical organization like HAMAS be in power if Palestinians weren’t faced with extreme poverty and a belief that they have been disenfranchised? I doubt it. While they may not hate us for “our freedom” they are understandably envious of our wealth and our lifestyle. A lifestyle that radical leaders tell them is built upon their poverty. People with a comfortable life style don’t usually strap bombs on and splatter themselves all over restaurant walls.

This is literally a war of cultures and lifestyles, our western affluence versus their eastern poverty. You don’t win this kind of war with bullets and bombs. You win it by giving the other guy hope that they can drag their lifestyle up to a tolerable level. We didn’t win the cold war with bullets or ballots; we won it with blue jeans and rock and roll.

That brings us to Global Warming. In the short term terrorism, and especially nuclear terrorism, is clearly the greater danger. However, read my lips, we are going to win the war on terror. The issue is not if, it’s when and at what cost. In the long term however, Global Warming has the potential of wrecking havoc on all of civilization. Granted, it’s a little hard to worry about quicksand when you’re fighting off alligators, but we can’t afford not to figure out how to do both. It’s quite possible there is a Red Line associated with Global Warming that once passed, will make it impossible to head off catastrophe.

The really bad news is we don’t have a clue where that line might be, so we’d better figure out how to win the war on terror and reverse, or at least halt, Global Warming at the same time. The last time I looked, dead is dead and it doesn’t make any difference how you got that way.

This brings me to Ann Coulter. It was reading her column that got me to talk about Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. Clearly she’s a great supporter of the event and she is entitled to her opinion.

However, allow me to quote from her column on this topic.

“College liberals are in a fit of pique because various speakers are coming to their campuses this week as part of David Horowitz's Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week… Apparently liberals support Islamo-fascism.”

Is that why people are upset? Or are they upset because Horowitz is tending to group into this Islamo-Fascist bucket all Muslims. Hey, I’m suspicious of Islam too, just like I’m suspicious of Christianity. I’d like one big happy secular alliance but I’m smart enough to realize that’s probably not going to happen any time soon. Since practically speaking I’m going to have to share this planet with Islam, I think we’d better figure out how to get along.

“Liberals believe in burning the American flag, urinating on crucifixes, and passing out birth control pills to 11-year-olds without telling their parents.”

I used to really hate Ann Coulter, but statements like this have gotten her a warm spot in my heart. I think it was Isaac Asimov that said the Bible was the best evidence against theism he ever saw. Well, Coulter is the best evidence against right wing conservatives I’ve ever seen. I simply do not believe that any individual with an ounce of decency would want to belong to any club which would have her as a member.

“College campuses across the nation are installing foot baths to accommodate Muslims' daily bathing ritual, while surgically removing the Ten Commandments from every public space in America. Maybe the Ten Commandments could be printed on towels and kept next to the foot baths.”

I see, so it’s college campuses that are removing the Ten Commandments from public space and not the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court, a direction driven by the desire to adhere to the intent of the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. People who claim to be patriots but have disdain for the rule of law upon which this country is founded have always baffled me.

As for college campuses accommodating Muslim religious practices, isn’t that proper in a multi-cultural and multi-religious country? Of yeah, that’s right, I forgot, Coulter thinks everyone should be converted to Christianity at the point of a gun. Luckily for the rest of us, that pesky 1st Amendment gets in the way again.

If you want my definition of un-American, its people that want to discard principles, such as freedom of religion and religious tolerance, which Americans have been dying to protect for over 200 years.

It’s beyond me what the two 1st Amendment issues have to do with using the Ten Commandments as foot wipes.

“Liberals claim to be terrified that the Religious Right is going to take over the culture in a country where more than a million babies are exterminated every year, kindergarteners can be expelled from school for mentioning God, and Islamic fascists are welcomed on college campuses while speakers opposed to Islamic fascism are met with angry protests.”

I will give her credit for one thing, she can create more straw men is a paragraph than most people can in a year of columns. I will concede that Abortion Access is a complex issue which, I at least, am not going to attempt to address in a single phrase. To do so would be to trivialize the very babies she claims to be concerned about.

As for kindergarteners being expelled for mentioning God, dear old Ann is letting her imagination run away again and once again provides evidence that right wing conservatives have a club that no decent person would want to be a member of.

As for the so-called angry protests, that was simply people that disagreed with the position espoused by Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, and especially disagreed with the notion that all Muslims should be lumped into a single bucket because the whole concept of Islam is rotten to the core, exercising their 1st Amendment right to tell you that they think you have your head up your ass. What’s wrong with that?

I’ll defend your right to have and to express your opinion, but that doesn’t mean I give up my right to tell you that I think your opinion sucks.

I assume when she talks about the welcoming of Islamic fascists to college campuses, she is referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s talk at Columbia. Now here’s a funny thing, I hold Americans to a higher standard than those who aren’t weaned on the Constitution and the rule of secular law. We’re all the creations of our environment. How do you understand someone from a different environment if you don’t start a dialogue?

On the other hand, why shouldn’t I hold in total contempt so-called Americans who are betraying the very principles this country is based upon and who are comfortable engaging in absurdly exaggerated rhetoric? How do I know right wing conservatives do this? I know because I have Ann Coulter as an example.