i find myself visiting peaktalk regularly since em2 posted a link to it.
i've been perusing pieter's posts about the culture clash due to the influx of muslim immigrants in europe. it is fair and balanced as opposed to faux news' treatment of the subject. fox hosted a video at their website about the challenges sweden faces in assimilating a large population of muslim immigrants. the video was a juxtaposition of images designed to give the impression that sweden was being overrun with noisy, unruly muslims who were getting the cops called on them all the time.
the only crime depicted or even mentioned directly was the burning of a mosque. the commentator hinted ominously that the swedish were being driven to distraction and that some felt that they had to take matters into their own hands. one was left with the impression that the speaker approved of vigilante 'justice.'
pieter's posts provide a much more thoughtful analysis of the limits of 'tolerance' when confronted with religious fundamentalism. i'm no fan of religious fundamentalism, as anyone who reads this blog knows. i've long thought that it is a second cousin to fascism. what i find annoying about the dialogue surrounding 'islamofascism' is the relative silence from american conservatives regarding fundamentalism of the christian variety. people who bomb abortion clinics are terrorists too. i'd just like to hear something from the republican leadership acknowledging that.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Peaktalk *Is* A Good Blog
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7 comments:
yep i think i found the blog when the girlfriend was in amsterdam while the van gogh murder fallout was in full force. i'd write more but i have a paper due.
sorry -- blogger's commenting system does some really shitty formatting when you try to use html tags in the text.....
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"i don't doubt that much of the media overstates the cultural tensions between christian Europeans and islamic Europeans."
i wasn't claiming they were overstating the tensions. the culture clash is *really* bad in europe. i've heard a lot of europeans express some unlovely sentiments towards muslims. i'm not sure i wouldn't be expressing hostility if i were subjected to cat-calling and ass-grabbing on the subway due to the sexism in the aforementioned immigrant cultures.
i think the media actually runs the risk of understating the tension. for example, the video i mentioned implies that the culture clash is largely because the immigrants are 'noisy' and 'unruly'. there are any number of issues that could have been addressed in that news report -- the status of women in those communities, for instance. in fact, the status of women is a huge point of conflict between the immigrants' values and those of the european countries that host them. a dutch filmmaker was murdered by an islamic fanatic partly because of his focus on that issue in his work.
what i didn't like was the framing -- the wink-wink-nod-nod suggestion that the appropriate response to 'noisy', 'unruly' immigrants is to attack one of their houses of worship.
"As to your point about christian extremism (abortion clinic bombings) at home, it is openingly condemned by the Republican Party, and by christian leaders for the most part. However, condemnations are largely useless- fanatics are not open to persuasion."
okay, i grant that republicans openly denounce the acts of violence i referenced. i was exaggerating. i'll try to be a little clearer about where my discomfort lies.
i don't see much effort on part of the GOP to denounce efforts to teach creationism as science, efforts to have christianity declared the 'official' religion of the united states, and subtler forms of intimidation by the religious anti-abortion activists. these tactics often involve providing the photos, names, and addresses of abortion providers on the web and sometimes the addresses of the schools their children attend.
the GOP does specifically court fanatics. they sponsored a political mailing in red states this year that basically compared the gay marriage rights movement with an attempt to ban the bible. i'm not saying that people who oppose gay marriage are fanatics, but that people who think gay marriage is tantamount to banning the bible are. sponsoring that kind of dialogue at the expense of a vulnerable minority is playing with fire.
i think you really underestimate the ties that the GOP has with religious extremists. i think the GOP underestimates the danger of flirting with that element of american culture.
the invocation of LOTR detracts greatly from its value as a persuasive argument. i'm sick of tortured explications of a modern geopolitical conflict based on the author's emotional identification with tolkien.
so very sick of it. please, for the love of all that is good and right in the world....
stop. the. LOTR. abuse. now.
one can only hope that economic engagement with turkey will moderate the tide of radical islam. with their aging populations and the attendent strain on their entitlement systems, european countries are in a bind. in order to preserve their entitlement systems, they have to accomodate a large number of immigrants from countries with youthful populations. in europe's case, those countries are muslim.
what other options are open to the EU? i see no future that does not contain an increasingly islamic europe. europe's economic liberalization will inevitably lead to that future. all the wailing and hand-wringing in the world will not change this.
i didn't think i was overly bitchy about it. i was being tongue in cheek. notice my atheist refusal to reference any specific diety in my cry out for mercy. seriously, too many conservative pundits are trying to use LOTR to bolster their political viewpoint. it's getting really old. every time i encounter another manifestation of this silliness, i have to play stern, severe schoolmarm. this is getting out of control.
i'm tiring of the reaction of hysteria to europe's immigration dilemma. i'm annoyed that news organizations like fox trivialize the challenge by framing it as one in which noisy, unruly immigrants are disturbing peace and order everywhere, so quick start burning down mosques now!
i'm annoyed that others go crazy and compare tide of immigration from muslim countries as akin to a battle between good and evil, quick grab your sword and your nearest popular christian allegory and beat that horse until it's spilling its last drop of life's blood.
we are approaching the edge of an unknown -- culturally and economically, the world is facing rapid, and arguably inevitable change. i gather that everyone is really frightened about it. now, can we all just talk about it as reasonable persons? muslims are not sauron's dark hoardes. they are human beings.
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