Looking for (only some) moderates
A blog post I have previously linked to notes that it is now possible for find Muslims who have a more robust opposition to Muslim ultras than many establishment folk. (Further examples cited here and here.)
One of the features of the later Cold War period was the development of anti-anti-Communism. Folk who would not directly defend the brutalities, tyrannies and mass murder of Leninist regimes but who got really worked up about how dreadful anti-Communists were. How simplistic, ignorant, narrow, hypocritical, etc they were. (A moderate and erudite version of such can be seen here, with responses.)
What we seem to be developing is anti-anti-Islam. Folk who will not directly defend the misogyny, homophobia, intolerance, anti-secularism and violence within Islam but get really worked up about critics of Islam. How simplistic, ignorant, narrow, hypocritical, etc they are.
The underlying dynamics are the same. Since status flows from beating one's breast about the sins of Western society and civilisation, folk who critique hostile alternative to Western society and civilisation undermine said status games, so are then critiqued to shore up said status games. By folk who get all offended if one implies that they don't seem to be particularly concerned about the various evils cited by those they are busing critiquing and distancing themselves from. A pattern aggravated by said status demands inclining folk to "read into" the statements of those being critiqued things that aren't there.
The anti-anti-Communists found themselves somewhat wrong-footed by history. Not only was Leninism, and actually existing socialism, worse than liberal capitalism -- and pervasively so -- but victory in the Cold War was both attainable and attained. Being focussed on the errors (real and imagined) of the anti-Communists was not helpful in understanding things they might have got correct (or at least more correct than their critics). Which turned out to include quite big things.
But facing such wrong-footing would really get in the way of such status games, so around we go again: anti-anti-Communism is reborn as anti-anti-Islam. So we get Islamophobia but not Christianphobia. If Dubya and Blair pray together or publicly talk about God it's risible; if a Muslim prays five times a day or invokes Allah, it's cultural authenticity. If a conservative Catholic applies for a public position, their religious beliefs will be taken as disabling. Any querying of a Muslim regarding the implications of their views is "racist", "intolerance", "discrimination". One is berated for failing to acknowledge all those moderate Muslims, but criticism of the Catholic Church or the Religious Right somehow fails to worry about not showing proper concern for all those moderate Catholics, moderate Baptists or moderate Mormons. Any criticism of current Islam has to be matched by dredging up present or past sins of other religions (past deaths being a status-protection, current killings being a status-embarrassment). The Crusades resonate as a great moral lesson, the far greater pattern of Muslim religious conquests slide down the memory hole.
It is perfectly true that the logic of belief is not necessarily the logic of believers. That Islam means both a religion and the civilisation based on that religion has its own linguistic difficulties. That any great religion has various strands within it.
But it is also true there are real problems within Muslim communities. A Muslim Lebanese (but not Catholic Lebanese) youth gang problem in Sydney. A rise in rapes due to young Muslim men in various parts of Europe (A friend of mine is a retired chief of police, who used to be in charge of the security of a major city in the south of France. He reported to me that his men had to face an average of 10 rapes a week, 80% made by Muslim young men. 30% being what we call, in French, a “ tournante “, meaning that the victim is being raped by an entire gang, one after the other, often during an entire night. My friend reports that, in many cases, he was able to locate and arrest the rapists, often very young ones, and, as part of the investigation, call the families. He was astonished that, in most cases, the parents not only would back up their rapist children, but also would not even understand why they would be arrested.) A rise in gay bashings due to young Muslim men in various parts of Europe. A rise in violence against those who are critical of Islam. A happening-now global pattern of religiously motivated violence far in excess of that from any other religion.
This is a pattern, and it reaches deep into Muslim cultures and Islam itself (pdf). As with all genuine problems -- and particularly genuine problems that tap into fears both real and atavistic -- if "responsible" folk won't talk about it then irresponsible folk get lots of free kicks. As happened, for example, with the Cronulla riot.
The anti-anti-Communists were comprehensively wrong-footed by history and were not at all friends to the victims of Leninism. The anti-anti-Islam folk are making all the same mistakes for much the same reasons.
One of the features of the later Cold War period was the development of anti-anti-Communism. Folk who would not directly defend the brutalities, tyrannies and mass murder of Leninist regimes but who got really worked up about how dreadful anti-Communists were. How simplistic, ignorant, narrow, hypocritical, etc they were. (A moderate and erudite version of such can be seen here, with responses.)
What we seem to be developing is anti-anti-Islam. Folk who will not directly defend the misogyny, homophobia, intolerance, anti-secularism and violence within Islam but get really worked up about critics of Islam. How simplistic, ignorant, narrow, hypocritical, etc they are.
The underlying dynamics are the same. Since status flows from beating one's breast about the sins of Western society and civilisation, folk who critique hostile alternative to Western society and civilisation undermine said status games, so are then critiqued to shore up said status games. By folk who get all offended if one implies that they don't seem to be particularly concerned about the various evils cited by those they are busing critiquing and distancing themselves from. A pattern aggravated by said status demands inclining folk to "read into" the statements of those being critiqued things that aren't there.
The anti-anti-Communists found themselves somewhat wrong-footed by history. Not only was Leninism, and actually existing socialism, worse than liberal capitalism -- and pervasively so -- but victory in the Cold War was both attainable and attained. Being focussed on the errors (real and imagined) of the anti-Communists was not helpful in understanding things they might have got correct (or at least more correct than their critics). Which turned out to include quite big things.
But facing such wrong-footing would really get in the way of such status games, so around we go again: anti-anti-Communism is reborn as anti-anti-Islam. So we get Islamophobia but not Christianphobia. If Dubya and Blair pray together or publicly talk about God it's risible; if a Muslim prays five times a day or invokes Allah, it's cultural authenticity. If a conservative Catholic applies for a public position, their religious beliefs will be taken as disabling. Any querying of a Muslim regarding the implications of their views is "racist", "intolerance", "discrimination". One is berated for failing to acknowledge all those moderate Muslims, but criticism of the Catholic Church or the Religious Right somehow fails to worry about not showing proper concern for all those moderate Catholics, moderate Baptists or moderate Mormons. Any criticism of current Islam has to be matched by dredging up present or past sins of other religions (past deaths being a status-protection, current killings being a status-embarrassment). The Crusades resonate as a great moral lesson, the far greater pattern of Muslim religious conquests slide down the memory hole.
It is perfectly true that the logic of belief is not necessarily the logic of believers. That Islam means both a religion and the civilisation based on that religion has its own linguistic difficulties. That any great religion has various strands within it.
But it is also true there are real problems within Muslim communities. A Muslim Lebanese (but not Catholic Lebanese) youth gang problem in Sydney. A rise in rapes due to young Muslim men in various parts of Europe (A friend of mine is a retired chief of police, who used to be in charge of the security of a major city in the south of France. He reported to me that his men had to face an average of 10 rapes a week, 80% made by Muslim young men. 30% being what we call, in French, a “ tournante “, meaning that the victim is being raped by an entire gang, one after the other, often during an entire night. My friend reports that, in many cases, he was able to locate and arrest the rapists, often very young ones, and, as part of the investigation, call the families. He was astonished that, in most cases, the parents not only would back up their rapist children, but also would not even understand why they would be arrested.) A rise in gay bashings due to young Muslim men in various parts of Europe. A rise in violence against those who are critical of Islam. A happening-now global pattern of religiously motivated violence far in excess of that from any other religion.
This is a pattern, and it reaches deep into Muslim cultures and Islam itself (pdf). As with all genuine problems -- and particularly genuine problems that tap into fears both real and atavistic -- if "responsible" folk won't talk about it then irresponsible folk get lots of free kicks. As happened, for example, with the Cronulla riot.
The anti-anti-Communists were comprehensively wrong-footed by history and were not at all friends to the victims of Leninism. The anti-anti-Islam folk are making all the same mistakes for much the same reasons.