From the UK's Mirror web site:
We know very well what the "grievances" of the jihadists are.
The grievance of seeing unveiled women. The grievance of the existence, not of the State of Israel, but of the Jewish people. The grievance of the heresy of democracy, which impedes the imposition of sharia law. The grievance of a work of fiction written by an Indian living in London. The grievance of the existence of black African Muslim farmers, who won't abandon lands in Darfur. The grievance of the existence of homosexuals. The grievance of music, and of most representational art. The grievance of the existence of Hinduism. The grievance of East Timor's liberation from Indonesian rule. All of these have been proclaimed as a licence to kill infidels or apostates, or anyone who just gets in the way.
...
The grievances I listed above are unappeasable, one of many reasons why the jihadists will lose.
They demand the impossible - the cessation of all life in favour of prostration before a totalitarian vision. Plainly, we cannot surrender. There is no one with whom to negotiate, let alone capitulate.
To that I can only add a loud and thunderous "amen".
9 comments:
I just posted this for my conservative readers. You know it's really *our* fault they hate us.
{sarcasm light is not *off*}
You're a moron if you haven't been able to tell throughout the past few years that Christopher Hitchens has an agenda.
Something that should tip you off to the fact that Hitchens is being dishonest is his mention of the existence of black African Muslim farmers who won't abandon their land as one of their "grievances."
Most people with political ideas *do* have an agenda. That's kind of the idea. The question is whether or not I agree with what he wrote, and I do.
Edward sounds like he feels a bit betrayed that Hitchens left "The Nation". Calling his viewpoints an "agenda" is much easier than confronting the issues he presents.
Ah, those pesky agendas. They're just so damn suspect. Especially the ones I...don't agree with (my sarcasm light is on and flashing, by the way).
I'm not conservative and I agree with him. The fact is, the Darfur situation is one of their grievances. Being rational is not necessarily their strong suit (light still flashing, by the way).
Of course everyone who writes opinion pieces has an "agenda" in the sense that they have a point they're trying to make.
Christopher Hitchens has another agenda. He sees there being a civil war within the Muslim world. This belief is perfectly reasonable. (And no, I can't point to anything in the article that says this, you have to look at other things he's said elsewhere.) Most people would want the level of involvement of the West in this civil war to be as close to nothing as possible. Hitchens is being wilfully dishonest here, and I can only assume it's because he wants the Western powers to be as involved in that civil war as possible. Listing the existence of black Muslim farmers in Sudan as a grievance of jihadis is so patently ridiculous that, since it's coming from someone who can't really claim ignorance, I see no explanation other than wilful dishonesty.
We all know that the stated grievances of the jihadis are things like Israeli treatment of Palestinians, US support of repressive Arab regimes, etc. Hitchens implicitly claims that these are not really what they have a problem with, but just what they claim to have a problem with, presumably in order to gain popularity in the Muslim world. Therefore, there is no point in trying to satisfy the jihadis' stated grievances, since they'll go on fighting anyway as long as their unsatisfiable grievances remain unsatisfied.
But does it really matter what the jihadis feel, deep down inside? Osama bin Laden could really just be pissed that there's an American flag on the moon but no Koran there, but if that were all he had to complain about, no one would listen to him, sympathize with him, or lend support to his cause.
To be fair, Hitchens' argument is certainly no worse than people who run around saying poverty is the cause of terrorism.
Hitchens mentions Darfur and Black African Muslim farmers to highlight the racism in some Islamic fascist jihad. He also mentions it to display the hypocricy of the Arab League, obsessed with Israel and silent on the racist and bigoted jihad against black Christian and Muslims in Sudan. How many have been slaugtered in this Islamic fascist government. A million?
Edward, are you suffering from a huge case of WLG? White Liberal Guilt? It seems with those who are so afflicted, some symptoms are to cling to a belief that Bin Ladin acted out of rational political concerns. And never must a critical word be spoken about contemporary Islam without a "but"!
I like the comment about the American flag and the (lack of) Koran on the moon. I'll file that one away in the back of my brain--it's a great zinger!
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