So it’s become clear the the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting in San Bernadino, Calif. was a Muslim. He may have been anti-Israel and perhaps inspired by ISIS.
In response, the dial has gone up to 10 on the Islamaphobia Meter and even some of my more progressive friends are joining the “keep out Muslim refugees” bandwagon.
One of the more intriguing argument was with a friend of mine, who is a die-hard lefty, a Bernie Sanders fan who worked on Bill de Blasio’s campaign last year. He posted “Islam is not American.” and I inquired what he meant.
He noted that, like Christianity, Islam is regressive toward women, LGBT and other minorities. The big difference is we tolerate theocratic states in the Muslim world and we (rightly) do not tolerate it in the Christian world. (Uganda, was his example). He said to me “progressives need to stand up against ISIS, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Islamic extremist states.”
But how?
As I said in another diary, there seems to be no progressive solution to Islamic terrorism. You can’t solve the problem with diplomacy or have a dialogue about the problem.
I think Bill Maher has a point when he says progressives are too timid to take on Islamic extremism. We do it with Christianity, and we should. We are a big reason Christian fundamentalism is marginalized. When the government of Uganda passed their anti-LGBT bill, we progressives didn’t say “it’s not our place.” We spoke out against it. Uganda’s leaders are Christian. He also reminded me that “we wouldn’t be allowed to hold hands in Dubai, but we can do it anywhere in America, even if we get scorn for it.”
Noted.
When it comes to Islam, we have a far more conciliatory response. I guess it’s because Christians aren’t treated with as much vile as Muslims in our neck of the world, so as progressives we feel the urge to protect them. But is it a Muslim woman who wears a hijab in Dearborn, Michigan just as much a roadblock to progressivism, especially social progress, as a Republican pastor from Alabama? If so, should we be more leery about Islamic fundamentalism than we are? Are we too conciliatory to what happens to women and gays in the Middle East because to demand change would be giving in to the neocons. Would we be willing to go to war to protect women and gays in a Christian country?
I wanted to pose this question to the group. Should we be more vocal against Islamic fundamentalism and human rights in the Muslim world, even if it puts us together with neocons? Or do we just say it isn’t our problem?