The Moderate Muslim

Dinesh D'Souza did an interview to promote his new book with Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review.

I saw him speak once as well and many of the themes he goes over in the interview he also covered in his talk at Lawrence University.

He covers the idea that the war on terror is a poor name like saying a war on turning ones flank. Yes true, but this is hardly worth the breath of a college sophomore. It has been repeated over & over almost as much as the idea that the Church put Christmas on December 25th to piggy-back it on the existing pagan solstice celebrations (ditto for Easter). Still, the interview contains much that is valuable.

And both the Right and the Left have been operating under illusions. The radical Muslims are against modernity and science and democracy. The radical Muslims are upset because of colonialism and the Crusades. It’s all nonsense. That’s not what the leading thinkers of radical Islam say. And Bin Laden’s own views are quite different. In his Letter to America, issued shortly after 9/11, he said that America is the fount of global atheism and it is imposing its morally depraved values on the world. So Muslims must rise up in defensive jihad against America because their religion and their values are under attack. This aspect of Bin Laden’s critique has been totally ignored, and it’s one that resonates with a lot of traditional Muslims and traditional people around the world. A second point is that unlike Falwell I don’t think “America” is to blame. Muslims in Indonesia and Egypt and Pakistan don’t see “America,” they see the face of American popular culture that is projected by our television and movies and music. They see the dimension of America that in their view corrupts the innocence of children, and undermines the family, and promotes homosexuality as a normal way of life. In fact, this is the America of the cultural Left. What the Left considers “liberating,” much of the world considers a scandalous assault on modesty and decency. [emphasis added]

Source: National Review Online – Eyeing the Enemy (Dinesh D’Souza looks left.)

Now as many of you may know I lived in the United Arab Emirates for six years. It was my experience much of the Arabs impression of America was formed by the likes of: Falcon Crest, the Bold and the Beautiful, and other such Hollywood fare. It was not uncommon for a student to talk to us about his upcoming trip to America. It was usually quite apparent the student was under the impression he was going to the land of cheap & easy lays.

Dinesh then notes how the left has formed a de facto alliance with the radical Muslims that we on the right must forge an alliance with moderate Muslims. This is where I find myself often banging my head on the wall.

Not against Dinesh but many on the right. Yes, often times those on the right paint a picture the war is not against a subset of Islam but against all of Islam itself. This is wrong, very wrong.

Often times lack of moderate outrage is used by people to say the moderate Muslim is more rare than Bigfoot. Fear is very powerful and the radical Islamists demonstrate they are perfectly capable willing and able to create all sorts of Mayhem. A wedding in Jordan, a tour group in and people at a resort in Egypt are examples of the radicals taking their wrath out on their Islamic brethren.

Often times people trot out the Koran and say SEE! Here it says the Koran orders the Muslim to kill and enslave unbelievers. It tells the Muslim to not take friends of Jews & Christians etc. Well truth be told the Holy Bible contains some unbelievable statements. Do you really believe it wrong to eat "rock badgers" and shellfish? How about reading Leviticus and some of the methods outlined about determining guilt?

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