I was watching a clip of Glen Beck on the Rachel Maddow show when I suddenly realized Mr. Beck looks like a chipmunk - wide-eyed, bushy-tailed, puffy cheeks and all. This was a really refreshing insight, since I had just about had it with the Rush Limbaugh comparisons to a malevolent Wilbur in Charlotte's Web. Chipmunks are cuter than pigs, even given Wilbur's rogueish grin.
The problem with Mr. Beck, then, wasn't his appearance, but the incredible drivel he was spouting. Apparently, he had just learned a new word and he was trying it on for size. The word was "caliphate," and evidently meant the enslavement of the United States by the malicious tentacles of Islam.
Well, I was taken aback firstly by the uneasy feeling that none of the hate wholesalers on the Right would recognize an Islamist if one bit them, which, in the case of Mr. Limbaugh, is unlikely due to the aversion of Muslims to pork. On further consideration, though, I felt the attack on Islam by Mr. Beck puts him in jeopardy from another source. Consider this: Muslims condemn interest on loans as usury, forbid drinking alcohol and punish any extra-marital sex. Not only that, but they pray five times a day. Could this be any closer to the ideals of, say, a fundamentalist Southern Baptist? And, as far as Christian ideals go, would the belief of Muslims that none other than Jesus will lead the final battle against the Forces of Evil be more anti-Christian than turning the message of peace on earth into the dog-eat-dog world of bile merchants like Mr. Beck? Be careful of what you shoot at - it might shoot back.
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I see that what the Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter consortium is really talking about, rather than Islam, is the blinkered, narrow conviction that anyone who thinks differently from them is fundamentally evil, in other words, people who think exactly as they do. This includes Islamic Fundamentalists, anti-abortion bombers, Al Qaeda and some residents of Arizona.
Sure, hate sells. This is why the haters get rich. There will always be people who find it easier to bob their heads up and down than find out what things really mean and what people really believe. We have to allow these folks to do their hating because the Constitution says we have to.
But this doesn't mean we can't work on ways to leave to our kids the legacy of the dove instead of the pig and the chipmunk.