Confusion on the Left

Handbook for Infidels

The Candid Progressive's Guide

to Islam & its War on the West

It really can be disheartening, having a conversation about Islam with fellow progressives. In many cases, even a very intelligent person, who is generally well-informed regarding other topics, will talk straight out of his or her ass when it comes to Islam. This is due largely to the influence of political correctness in the mainstream media, which has been engaged in a massive whitewashing of the Muslim religion, ever since 9-11 -- a misguided campaign due partly to ignorance on the part of reporters and interviewers, partly to political correctness and multiculturalism/white guilt, and partly because the people controlling the major media outlets seem to be far more concerned about the potential for "backlash" against Muslims if Islam were portrayed in a (realistically) negative light, than they are with the safety and well-being of their own societies. In addition, the threats and intimidation of reactionary Muslims helps to ensure that we have a very Islam-friendly media in the West. The problem of misinformation is compounded by PC politicians, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama, and many others, who spout comforting homilies regarding Islam that have absolutely no basis in reality. Muslim apologists for Islam add to the confusion by telling bald-faced lies regarding their religion, which are eagerly swallowed up by a public desperate to believe that things aren't as bad as they seem.

Nine and a half years after the events of 9-11, we still regularly hear secular progressives and liberal Christians make spectacularly uninformed remarks such as:

"Islam is a religion of peace."

"Islam has been hijacked by extremists."

"Muslims are just pissed off with the Jews because of Israel. It's a political conflict, about land; it's not anti-Semitism."

"True Islam is a tolerant religion."

"Islam is a beautiful religion!"

"People are basically the same everywhere."

"All people want the same things."

"We started all of this trouble, with the Crusades."

"The problem is poverty, and a lack of education. It's not the religion."

"The problems are political. People just use religion as an excuse. The terrorists aren't actually motivated by Islam."

"You're just prejudiced!"

"You just hate rag-heads!"

Often these opinions are stated with real conviction, as if they weren't opinions at all, but universally recognized facts.

What is so discouraging is the fact that ALL of these claims can so easily be disproven by simply examining the evidence. The overwhelming mountains of evidence. Evidence from the Koran. From the example set by the Prophet Mohammed. Evidence from the (surprisingly consistent) fourteen-hundred-year history of Islam. The statements of the terrorists and Islamists themselves. The findings of every major school of Islamic jurisprudence, from ancient times to the present day. And the riots, bomb blasts, "honor" killings, stonings, and beheadings occurring around the world.

-- And there's very little in the way of contradictory evidence, aside from the lies of dissembling Muslims and the politically correct commentary of non-Muslims who know little or nothing about the subject.

It's rare to encounter a progressive who knows even the basic facts regarding Islam. (And when that happens, it's very refreshing!) We're in a state of war with an ideology whose followers have vowed to destroy us, or our culture -- yet people in the West know almost nothing about the enemy -- at least, in progressive circles, anyway. Many conservative Christians have a fairly realistic appraisal of Islam. (It's too bad they can't apply that same skepticism to their own brand of religious superstition.)

Among progressives, pretty much the only people who understand Islam are some of the more militant atheists, and a few former Muslims. The left-leaning authors Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Dawkins all take a very dim view of Islam, for all the right reasons. So does television host and comedian, Bill Maher. And progressive comedian Pat Condell lays utter waste to Islam in many of his videos. Both Sam Harris and Pat Condell have publicly lamented the failure of liberals to understand the threat of Islam, and their active pandering to, and support of, the ideology that seeks to replace our free societies with the oppressive, retrograde political system that is Islam.

Just recently, there does seem to be a minor groundswell beginning in parts of Europe, where a few progressives are finally wising up, and speaking out. But so, far, I've seen none of that among American progressives.

This website is basically me doing my bit to help awaken my fellow progressvies to the very real threat that Islam poses to free speech, freedom of the press, and other basic human rights here in the West. Rights that we take for granted, but which Islam is inherently at odds with.

If you're a progressive who's alert to this threat, please feel free to drop me an email (via the "Comments" button at the top of the home page) to give me your thoughts regarding Islam, and how we lefties should deal with it. I look forward to your comments.

Ciao!