Douglas Murray is just another zionist to ignore. On Thursday, June 27, 2013 3:57:13 PM UTC-5, Travis wrote: > > > > > *Islamophilia Unmasked* > > Posted By *Bruce Bawer* On June 27, 2013 **** > > There are few braver, wittier, and savvier commentators on the present > confrontation between Islam and the West than Douglas Murray. A > contributing editor of *The Spectator *and a familiar face on Britain’s > political chat shows – and an eloquent fellow panelist of mine at last > November’s Restoration Weekend – he has now written an > e-book<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/180-8084969-0969309?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Douglas+Murray>entitled > > *Islamophilia: A Very Metropolitan Malady.***** > > It’s about time that we started talking about Islamophilia as often as our > opponents talk about Islamophobia. As Murray points out, while a healthy > fear of Islam is certainly justifiable – given the events of 9/11 and 7/7, > for example, and the murders of people like Theo van Gogh and Drummer Lee > Rigby – the kind of extravagant praise of Islam that has become commonplace > in the Western world in recent years is anything *but *justifiable. And > yet the noxious eulogies for the religion of Muhammed keep coming – from > authors and filmmakers and the news media, from “world leaders, diplomats > and politicians,” from “academics or scholars who lose all critical > distance when it comes to the subject of Islam.”**** > > In my 2009 > book<http://www.amazon.com/Surrender-Appeasing-Islam-Sacrificing-Freedom/dp/038552398X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236856853&sr=1-4> > > *Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom *I went chapter by > chapter through different categories of Westerners – journalists, > academics, judges, etc. – who are censoring and self-censoring in order to > pacify Muslims. Murray examines much the same phenomenon, and related > phenomena, from a somewhat different angle – he’s interested here not so > much in the readiness to appease, or in the act of censorship or > self-censorship itself, as he is in full-throated expressions of respect > and admiration for Islam, whether sincere or feigned. Fake Islamophilia is, > of course, nothing other than sheer dhimmitude; but genuine Islamophilia is > something else again, and is a very real commodity. Britain especially has > a long tradition of admiration for Islam (as exemplified by none other than > the current Prince of Wales), but Murray doesn’t go into that history here > – and with good reason, for there’s plenty of Islamophilia in the Western > world nowadays to keep him busy.**** > > Like Virgil guiding Dante through Hell in the *Inferno, *Murray takes us > on a spin through contemporary Islamophilia.* *Some of his examples were > familiar to me, others not. While I knew, for example, that British Prime > Minister David Cameron had called the slaughter of Drummer Lee Rigby an > assault on Islam – what else would he say? – I didn’t realize that London > Mayor Boris Johnson, who I had thought to be above such folderol, had > insisted that the murder of Rigby surely had nothing to do with Islam. For > those who have forgotten, or are too young to remember, Murray provides a > useful wrap-up of George W. Bush’s habit, during his presidency, of > “forever hosting dinners for Muslim holy days and visiting mosques” and > generally “going on about Islam,” all of which began with his firm > declaration, a few days after 9/11, that “Islam is peace.”**** > > Murray recounts a speech in which FBI Director John Brennan, addressing a > Muslim audience, kept saying things like “as the Koran reveals,” thus, as > Murray notes, referring “to the origins of the Koran as though the orthodox > Islamic tradition was not just an opinion, but in fact true.” Murray > observes that Brennan, a Catholic, evinced in that speech “a great symptom > of the Islamophile” – namely, the tendency “to park your own actual beliefs > to one side for a moment and then do a fair to middling job of pretending > to any given audience that you do not believe what you believe but in fact > believe what your audience (if they are Muslim) believe. I suppose people > think this makes people warm to them. It doesn’t always work. Usually > people are left confused and wondering why, if the guy up there thinks > Islam is that great, he doesn’t become a Muslim himself.”**** > > Especially appalling to Murray – as it should be – is the > institutionalization of Islamophilia among America’s military brass. > Recalling General John R. Allen’s four-alarm response to the alleged > mistreatment of a copy of the Koran on a base in Afghanistan (his speech > began “To the noble people of Afghanistan: Salaam Aleikum….”), Murray > suggests that the “solemn tone would not have been out of place for > announcing an incoming nuclear strike on the American homeland.” As a sign > of just how far General Allen was willing to bend over to pacify Muslims, > he had even “learnt how to provide extra glottals. Not just as in ‘Qu’ran’ > but, it seemed, something like ‘Q’u’r’a’n’. It sounded as if he was choking > as he tried to swallow all the glottals.”**** > > Then there’s Hollywood. I love some of director Ridley Scott’s work, but > Murray convincingly shows that Scott’s movies *Kingdom of Heaven *(2005) > and *Robin* *Hood* (2010) are pure Islamic propaganda. Among the other > film-world Islam-boosters whom Murray skewers are Liam Neesen and Oliver > Stone’s Muslim-convert son, Sean. Moving on to the pop-music world, Murray > makes the telling point – although this seems to be less a case of > Islamophilia than of good, old-fashioned dhimmitude – that while Justin > Bieber, on his current world tour, fought with paparazzi in Britain, made > an ass of himself in the guest book at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, > and let himself be caught in Sweden with drugs on his tour bus, when he > arrived in Turkey he suddenly “behaved like one of those bad boys who knows > just how to behave when he actually has to be good. In Istanbul, he halted > his concert twice in order to observe the Muslim call to prayer.” (Did you > know that? I didn’t.) As Murray sums it up: “In London you can keep your > fans waiting so long that had they felt so inclined they could have packed > in a whole day of prayer sessions. But in Istanbul you turn up on time, > respect the local customs and remember you’re dealing with Islam here, not > any of those sappy European ‘Beliebers.’”**** > > I wrote here > recently<http://frontpagemag.com/2013/bruce-bawer/islamic-science/>about a > traveling museum exhibit, “Sultans of Science,” currently on > display in Oslo, that exaggerates to the point of parody the debt that > modern science owes to Islam. Murray describes about another exhibit, “1001 > Islamic Inventions,” that could be seen at London’s Science Museum in 2010 > and at the National Geographic Museum in Washington in 2012-13. It sounds > even worse than “Sultans of Science.” Talk about Islamic invention! The > snake-oil salesmen behind the London installation claimed – and I’ll quote > this passage from Murray at length because it’s all so thoroughly > outrageous –**** > > that it is only thanks to the Islamic world that we have universities, > libraries and bookshops. All disciplines, including maths, chemistry, > geometry, art, writing and agriculture come from Islam. So do dams, > windmills, the concept of trade, textiles, paper, pottery, glass, jewels > and currency. All medical knowledge also comes from Islam, including, > strangely, inoculation and not forgetting the toothbrush. In its attempt to > show that there is nothing that Islam has not given us the exhibition > claims that Islam invented not just the countryside but the town as well, > including everything about the buildings in towns, including vaults, > spires, towers, domes and arches.**** > > Now that’s Islamophilia at its reality-defying worst. And while we’re > talking about science, let’s mention Richard Dawkins, the fearless atheist, > who in a recent interview on Al-Jazeera, as Murray reminds us, lustily > savaged Judaism and Christianity but, when asked about Islam, hemmed and > hawed and finally said, “Well, um, the God of the Koran I don’t know so > much about.” Murray gives the pusillanimous Dawkins exactly what he > deserves. And Murray also tells us – here’s something else I didn’t know – > that Pope Francis, when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, chided Pope > Benedict XIV for the Regensburg speech in which he dared to speak less than > glowingly of Islam “and even called on fellow Catholics to criticise him – > an extraordinary breach of authority.” An interesting – and depressing – > insight into the current pontiff.**** > > For all the failings of presidents and pop stars, G-men and generals, > Murray seems to be capable (as I am) of particular disappointment in – and > contempt for – members of our own profession who play at being gutsy until > something is actually on the line. Hence he singles out for special – and > deserving – ridicule two highly celebrated British writers. Martin Amis, > who for many years was the Justin Bieber of English fiction – a “bad boy” > who made headlines tipping over sacred cows – made the mistake a while back > of saying something critical of Islam in an interview, and, faster than you > could say “Allahu akbar,” he’d published a piece in the *Observer* that, > in Murray’s apt words, “set a new high-water mark in Prophetic > prostration.” Amis wrote, in part (and if you haven’t already taken out the > barf bag, do so now): “no serious person could fail to respect Muhammad – a > unique and luminous historical being.”**** > > Novelist Sebastian Faulks had an almost identical experience: taken to > task for being less than reverential of Islam in an interview, he rushed > into print with his own nauseating *mea culpa*. In short, as Murray puts > it, “at the slightest whiff of receiving a bit of Islamic opprobrium these > two big beasts of letters folded. It’s an interesting lesson in abjection. > Our cultural and literary front-runners, like our film-makers and artists, > forever portray themselves as fearless truth-tellers, willing to fight in > the last artistic ditch to say what they think to whoever they like. And > yet Islam comes along and it turns out that not only did they not stay > around for the fight, they hauled down the flag and cleared out before any > fighting had begun.” Bingo. And bravo.**** > > Murray’s book is valuable not only for its accumulation of all this > evidence (stomach-turning though it is) but for its lucid, no-nonsense > analysis of the perverse phenomenon that gives his book its title. “Of all > the reasons why people have become Islamophiles,” he proposes, “perhaps the > most common – apart from terror – is the combination of the desire to be > nice with the knowing of very little.” While many professed admirers of > Islam are acting out of fear, and others out of ignorance, some, he > insists, are genuinely driven by a fierce need to believe that Islam truly > is “not just a peaceful religion but a wonderful religion – a religion to > which we owe so much.” Because the alternative to thinking this is – well, > unthinkable.**** > > *Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click > here<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=david+horowitz&rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&qid=1316459840&rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&sort=daterank>. > > ***** > ------------------------------ > > Article printed from FrontPage Magazine: *http://frontpagemag.com***** > > URL to article: * > http://frontpagemag.com/2013/bruce-bawer/islamophilia-unmasked/***** > > ** ** > > > __._,_.___ > > > > > > > __,_._,___ > > >
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