The Islamophobia Debate

There seems to be a disturbance in the force of the Right blogosphere after Dean Esmay enacted what some are calling a purge. At outset, I'll add that I think this is one of those nuanced debates in which all nuance gets lost. And both Dean and his opponents end up hurting the entire Right. More on that after some quotes.

You can be an Islamophobe, or you can contribute to Dean's World. You cannot do both.
This is meant for front-page contributors, submitters, or even commenters. It is time for you to make a choice, and to live by that choice. Because I certainly intend to.

Simply put, you must agree with all of the following assertions:

1) Islam does not represent the forces of Satan or the Anti-Christ bent on destruction of the Christian world.

2) There is no 1,400 year old "war with the West/Christianity" being waged by Muslims or anyone else.

3) Islam as a religion is no more inherently incompatible with modernity, minority rights, women's rights, or democratic pluralism than most religions.

4) Medieval, anachronistic, obscure terms like "dhimmitude" or "taqiyya" are suitable for polite intellectual discussion. They are not and never will be appropriate to slap in the face of everyday Muslims or their friends.

5) Muslims have no more need to prove that they can be good Americans, loyal citizens, decent people, or enemies of terrorism than anyone else does.

Blogs for Bush agrees with Dean:

I'll have to be in agreement with Dean here - too often these days there is too much of a "kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out" mentality. This in contrast to the other side of the argument which can't see anything wrong with Moslems blowing up innocent people, as long as there's a chance an American soldier will be killed as well.

Bryan at Hot Air does not and, in my opinion, doesn't leave it there. I'd rather see the discussion without the personal attack.

Dean Esmay and Andrew Sullivan want different things, but neither has the credibility to make any of the demands either makes, so they might as well get together and form their own party.

You can see that plenty of others are weighing in via Technorati.

The language of bloggers is often less precise than it could be, mine included. President Bush warned of turning the war on terror into a religious war - and he was right to do so. The notion that any form of Islam is incompatible with the secular state is a misguided idea born more from focusing on radicalism, than Islam as a whole.

There are billions of Muslims living in the world, no small number of them happily living in secular states. At the same time, there is undoubtedly a significant movement within the religion which would prefer to live under sharia law.

Right now many of us suffer from a similar problem which even still occurs as regards Blacks in America. The news coverage focuses on the criminal or poor elements of Black America so much, it becomes easy to lose sight that the vast majority of Black America has long ago left the ghetto behind and is working its way up the economic ladder, just like the rest of America.

Denouncing a religion practiced by billions as a failed religion in need of, I assume, destruction, is a recipe for disaster, one I would hope very few actually embrace. At the same time, pretending that significant elements of said religion, some domestic, at that, aren't determined to destroy our secular democracy would be another disastrous mistake. And it's more likely loose language around a complex debate fueling more of the current debate than anything else.

Personally, I don't like that Dean has determined a particular voice isn't acceptable for his blog - but it is his blog, and that's his right. The mistake may have been inviting them in in the first place. At the same time, taking an opposing position which, by definition, suggests all of Islam must be wiped out, is just as wronged headed as anything else in this debate.

James Joyner weighs in here.

Comments

[The Aztec Corn Goddess]

When the Spaniards came and worshipped at my altar, was that religion or sex?

[The Aztec Corn Goddess]

Nevermind. We died out. Had to be religion.

[The Spaniards]

Yeah but we did have a smoke afterwards.

[Earth2RWV]

"The news coverage focuses on the criminal or poor elements of Black America so much, it becomes easy to lose sight that the vast majority of Black America has long ago left the ghetto behind and is working its way up the economic ladder, just like the rest of America."

Jaded as I am, that sentence stunned me. The American mainstream media does everything it can to downplay black crime. It refuses to give physical descriptions of suspects (unless they're white), refuses to publish pictures of black suspects, defendants, or fugitives, and refuses to report race-referenced crime statistics. At the same time, it presents copious images of black professionals. This last is particularly noticeable in advertising. Spend some time outside the USA and then return -- you'll be struck by the profusion black models in advertisements for everything from software to luxury hotels. Many foreigners (who get their notion of America from media)are convinced that the American population is 40% or 50% black, and don't believe it when they are told that the actual proportion is about one-eighth.

[Dan Riehl]

Sick SOB's lol

[Vanderleun]

I'm always pleased to see people arguing so passionately about bloggin' doctrin' and who says what and what it means. It makes me feel relaxed because I know that there is no really bad news going down on the planet so far today.

It also helps to fill up the time from now until the moment when we all learn, once again, that "Reason will not decide at last; the sword will decide."