-♻RetweetDhimmitude at the Chicago Tribune
Sun, Dec 26, 2004 at 3:01:13 pm PST
In one of the blindest, most backwardly ignorant articles I have ever read, the Chicago Tribune tells us that black is white, cold is hot, Islam is a religion of peace, and if Muslims are ever violent (doubtful), it’s America’s fault: Of two minds. (Hat tip: Ethel.)
This is one of those articles that is so full of bold assertions completely unsupported by facts or common sense that it’s hard to know where to start.
The Tribune reported the series, which ended this month, to answer some simple questions posed by readers in the wake of Sept. 11: Why are people from faraway lands attacking America and Americans? Why do they happen to be Muslims? Is there something about Islam that promotes violence?
Reporters found little to suggest that Islam encourages violence, despite the impression Westerners might have because of exposure mostly to extremists. In fact, its venerable history suggests that Islam, like most religions, promotes peace and charity.
But the Tribune series also showed how American foreign policy has angered Islamic radicals and moderates alike, from the suburbs of Chicago to the refugee camps of Gaza, from the dusty streets of Pakistan to the winding warren of stalls in Egypt’s colorful bazaars.
Those who take action against America, such as the men who flew the planes into the World Trade Center, are a relatively small band.
But this radical fringe shrewdly capitalizes on the legitimate grievances of many moderate Muslims against American government policies, enabling the militants to extend their influence far beyond their numbers.
There is no attempt here to address the many sections of the Koran that do, in very explicit terms, advocate and promote violence against infidels and apostates. There is no attempt to address the simple fact that Islam’s main prophet, Mohammed, was a warrior, who waged many battles and explicitly ordered the deaths of many men, women, and children. There is no attempt to explain why, if Islam is so inherently peaceful, the highest Muslim clerics in places like Mecca and Medina, and al-Azhar University in Cairo, openly praise suicide bombers and call for jihad against the West.
In fact, there is only one off-the-cuff mention of jihad.
Now today’s student schooled in jihad is tomorrow’s suicide bomber.
Whoa. That’s deep. At least they didn’t say that jihad is a peaceful internal struggle to renounce bad habits, sort of like New Year’s resolutions.
This mind-bogglingly obtuse whitewash piece goes on to claim that it’s America’s “lopsided support for Israel” that enrages the Muslim world enough to fly airplanes into our buildings. Why am I not surprised?
And here’s how they attempt to claim that there’s no incompatibility between democracy and Islam:
There are those who believe that Islam, which rejects the Western notion of separation of church and state, is incompatible with democracy. But democracy and Islam coexist peacefully in Mali. Malians adopted democracy in the 1990s on their own; it was not imposed by an outside power. Turkey, too, calls itself an Islamic democracy, although the government tightly controls religion and clamps down on militancy the minute it surfaces in speeches or prayers.
Now there’s a real showpiece for democracy in Islam: Turkey! A brutal military government that suppresses militant Islam (or at least, used to) whenever it rears its peaceful head.
The question of whether democracy can work alongside Islam is a fair one. And we’re going to get an answer sooner than anyone thought possible, thanks to the toppling of Saddam Hussein. But the Tribune would have us believe there’s no problem at all.
Why is the Chicago Tribune doing their best to hide the facts about Islam? What do they think will be gained by this sort of pig-headed obscurantism? How will Americans ever find the truth, when mainstream media are doing their best to lull us into a sense of false security?
What an absolute snow job. Argh.
Frank says:
