On Islamo-fascism: Stating the Obvious

[Sleeping in EQ]

As the spinmeisters try to massage our brains from "terrorist" to "islamo-fascist," from "War on Terror" to "World War III," it occurs to me that a restatement of the obvious is in order:

1. Most commentators know almost nothing about either Islam or fascism. If cornered (and that's what would have to happen) into explaining the philosophy behind them, most couldn't fill 5 minutes of air time with either fact or truth. The one guy whose hitting the talk shows who I am confident might actually know something about these topics, Prof. Gingrich, isn't about to compromise his political agenda for something like accuracy.

2. There are somewhere near 1 billion Muslims on earth (most of whom aren't Arabs) and almost all of them just want to peacefully live their religion and go about daily life. Some have cultivated a dislike for Jews and Christians (and the opposite is true too), but almost none want to walk into discotechs and blow everyone up or fly planes into buildings. Judging Muslims by bombers and terrorists is alot like judging Mormons by the Lafferty brothers or the Lebaron's.

3. There are millions of Muslims in the U.S. and almost all of them are law abiding people who want to be peaceable and neighborly. They're a little fearful because their kids are sometimes being called "rag head" and "suicide bomber," and are being attacked at school (they're also being stared at in airports and are getting threatening letters from wackos), but they're as likely as anybody to be nice and upstanding.

4. Don't miss the fact that while neo-cons and Bush groupies are throwing out pithy one-liners when their critics use the "f" word (fascism), they are using the term themselves.

5. Stopping terrorism (which is something I'd like to do as much as possible without damaging real freedom) does not mean stopping Islam. We have a way of being very selective about not going after some terrorists (No one's invading Ireland over the IRA or Spain over the Basques), but if we equate terrorism with Islam (as some commentators and officials are doing), we're undermining the freedom of religion itself.

6. Hoping that our soldiers come home to their families and that innocents aren't harmed doesn't mean military action should supplant democratic deliberation, negotiation, and public accountability. Some in the Bush administration talk about the military as though it were a preferable form of judiciary--it brings swift "justice." But it's actions have little public accountability and government oversight can usually be circumvented. Such thinking and action is turning our democratic republic into a capitalist military state.

7. Realize that Western media has primed you to dislike Muslims. From movies to TV dramas to endless headlines filled with blood and smoke, Muslims are almost always represented negatively. You'll most likely have to work at it to overcome subtle (and not so subtle) prejudices. But overcoming prejudice against Muslims does not mean that you suddenly should dislike Jews or Israel. And it doesn't mean that you don't have qualms about the politics of Islamic countries or their social practices. It just means that you treat them like the neighbors they are instead of like the militant "other" that some would have them be.