re: #70 wrenchwench

The biggest straw person in the video and all the reaction to it is ‘liberals won’t criticize Islamism’. Where did that come from? Why do I see no verification for the claim? Must be because liberals do criticize Islamism. Even Nick Kristof, noted liberal, said in the video (paraphrasing) ‘you kind of have a point there, but….’, which was agreeing with criticism of Islamism.

The fact that Maher faces withering criticism from liberals any time HE criticizes the influence of conservative Islam speaks for itself.

But no, prominent liberals do not generally take conservative Islam to task. When they do talk about Islamist extremism, it is in the context of seperating the worst extremists (al Qaeda, ISIS) from everyone else. What Maher is trying to say is, “no, that’s not the whole story, don’t let the people who support murdering converts and stoning adulterers off the hook either.”

Whether ‘conservative Muslims’ make up a ‘worrying percentage’ of anything is not a fact. It is a matter of opinion. If you are worried about something, spell it out for yourself, don’t attribute your feelings to ‘facts’.

If you don’t find it “worrying” that some 80+% of Egyptians, Jordanians and Pakistanis support draconian punishments under their interpretation of Islamic law, well, that’s your choice. I don’t know what your “feelings” are. But I don’t see how any supposed liberal wouldn’t find that worrying.

You are not ‘downvoted’ for stating the obvious. I ding you down (only once per comment, alas) for generalizing about Muslims to fit your agenda of drumming up animosity,

Oh, I have an “agenda” now? My only agenda was to try and inject a little balance into this thread rather than let’s all gang up on the evil bigot Bill Maher, and congratulate each other on how tolerant and progressive we are.

Look, I agree with you guys 99% of the time. And I detest “debating” with conservatives because most of what you get out of them is nonsense and lies (there I go again, generalizing, I suppose I’m bigoted against conservatives too….). I much prefer debating with people who at least agree on some basic principles of reality. But liberals have blind spots too. And this is one of them.