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March 30, 2003
The demonization of Islam
I spent quite a bit of time compiling a post on this subject, then accidentally erased it. Oh bother.
The gist of it was: since 9/11 there has been a cottage industry claiming that Islam itself is an inherently violent and aggressive religion, and that a significant percentage of American Muslims are terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. Authors such as Oriana Fallaci, Daniel Pipes, and Robert Spencer have called for racial profiling, and restrictions on immigration of Muslims. Conservative journals are filled with articles and letters jeering at Islam as primitive and backward, and crowing that its civilization has accomplished little in centuries.
What bothers me about this is the casual sense of superiority conservatives assume. Their culture is superior, in their eyes. All others are inferior, and they'll take whatever facts they can manipulate to support their pseudo-points.
Posted by Tyrone at March 30, 2003 08:17 PM