Is Islam being vilified by the RW?

[TexasLawyer]

Well, the results are in. I think the RW is softening up the American public's distaste for war, and stoking ill-will against Muslims for that next war * has his heart set on. Looks like it's working like a charm. Is there anything we can do to counteract it?

On edit-- there is also a poll posted yesterday on DU that says 48 % of Americans would support military intervention in Iran. And 45% have an unfavorable impression of Islam. HMMMM....


Poll: Sinking Perceptions Of Islam

NEW YORK, April 12, 2006
(AP / CBS)

(CBS) Although Americans believe they are better informed about Islam than they were five years ago, a new CBS News poll finds fewer than one in five say their impression of the religion is favorable.

Forty-five percent of respondents queried April 6 - 9 said they have an unfavorable view of Islam, a rise from 36 percent in February. And the public’s impression of Islam has diminished even more compared with four years ago. In February 2002 – less than six months after the terrorist attacks of September 11 – the country was evenly divided in its impression of Islam.

WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION OF ISLAM?


FAVORABLE
Now
19%

2002
30%

UNFAVORABLE
Now
45%

2002
33%
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/12/national/main1494697.shtml

Whaaa??! Why is this happening? Some of the reasons-- Americans who listen to AM hate radio are getting an earfull of anti-Islam. And lots of phony talk about how their own religion is under seige.

And look at the books that are out there, purporting to give people the straight poop on Islam. This is one of the Human Events "Best Sellers". I joined some right-wing groups just to see what they're up to, and I receive almost daily e-mails hawking this kind of trash.

There is a clear anti-Islam PR campaign being waged. By the way, Human Events is affiliated with Regnery Press, of "swift-boat" fame.

So you know there's an RNC connection.


http://www.hebookservice.com/products/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c6805



REVEALED, at long last: the whole "politically incorrect" truth about Islam's violent teachings, bloody history, backward culture, and morally depraved founder

PLUS: Why the Crusades were justified wars of Christian self-defense against centuries of Muslim aggression
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)
by Robert Spencer

Exclusive hardcover edition -- not available in stores!

When PC propagandists assure us that jihadist terror doesn't reflect "true," "peaceful" Islam, they're not only wrong, they're dangerous -- because they lull America and the West into letting their guard down against their mortal enemy. And not only do self-appointed "experts" lie elaborately and persistently about Islam -- they have also replaced the truth about Christian Europe and the Crusades with an all-pervasive historical fantasy that is designed to make you ashamed of your own culture and heritage -- and thus less determined to defend it. But now there's a remedy: in The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), Robert Spencer reveals all the disturbing facts about Islam and its murderous hostility to the West that other books ignore, soft-pedal -- or simply lie about.

[Minnesota Libra]

1. Didn't you receive the memo-everything but "Bible Belt"..................

.....protestant Christianity is evil according to neocons/fundies.

[CJCRANE]

2. It's a very dangerous card

for them to play because their Beloved Leader B*sh is best buddies with the very heart of Islam - Saudi Arabia. It's all very well as long as they can turn RW Islamophobia against SA's (and UAE's) rivals (Iran & Iraq) but the UAE port deal woke some of the freepers up.

If the rest of the freepers wake up and realise that Bushco has very strong links with most of the muslim countries (and just using freeper anger to provide cannon fodder for their wars of choice) then who knows what might happen.

[EVDebs]

3. Islam doesn't need RW'ers to get bad press.

Read Bernard Lewis's "What Went Wrong" in Atlantic Monthly (or the book), or how about insiders like Irshad Manji's "The Trouble With Islam" ?

No, some Islamic countries still allow slavery; the UN's Arab Human Rights Development project is still out there, and Arab intellectuals were behind that effort (not Western infidels).

Islam needs a Reformation, just like the 'church' needed one in the 1500s in the West.

[TexasLawyer]

5. Is that a problem with their religion

or with their governments? In any event, is it up to the west to impose change-- at the point of a DU-tipped missile?

[Speck Tater]

10. In Islam, strictly practiced,

Religion and government are one and the same thing. So asking if it is their religion or their government is not even a meaningful question.

[democracyindanger]

16. Nice dodge.

:eyes:

[The Stranger]

14. The perversion of their religion is the result of decades, possibly

centuries, of exploitation. They should have been the wealthiest people in the world, but that wealth was literally stolen from beneath them. The result of this is rage. And perhaps Bernard Lewis actually knows this.

[Igel]

24. Much of the perversion of their religion

is from accurately quoting writers from the 11th to the 14th century. The quotes aren't out of context, and justify the then-current situation as the necessary abd proper condition of Islam.

Granted, that is the result of decades--actually centuries--of explotation, and much stolen loot.

Much of the "rage" derives from the mismatch because what must be and what is, the basing of honor in a falsified past and triumphalist vision of their faith that can only lead to perceived loss of honor in a society in which honor, even derived honor, is very important.

'Deprived of national pride and their lifelong beliefs, (they) experienced the demise of the ... era as the end of empire and a sense of national identity. In a state of moral, material and physical despair, they yearned to feel better about themselves and their land.... . (The)complexities of life in a fragmented modern society that can boast of no momentous achievements ... have made (them) nostalgic for the "strong state" they once inhabited. It's a cycle that will keep on repeating itself until (Islam) finally and fully confronts its past.' Said about a different people, a different empire. I simply replaced the name of the people with "they" and the name of the country with "Islam", and elided country- and cultura-specific stuff.

[The Stranger]

26. Are you quoting something?

If so, can you link it?

Although I am not familiar with the writings of the 11th to the 14th century you reference, the Christian and Jewish scriptures contain page after page of religious holy war, ethnic cleansing, genocide, murder and destruction, all committed in the name of "God."

[CJCRANE]

17. True

Islam does need a reformation but we in the West need politicians that tell the truth and don't start wars of choice for financial reasons.

It's all very well reading Irshad Manji's books but I wonder how many muslim countries most people are familiar with?

For instance, how many have been to Indonesia, Malaysia, Zanzibar, Tunisia, Brunei etc etc? There are dozens of muslim countries (each with dozen of regions, classes, cultures just like everywhere else) so to rely on generalizations or even so-called experts isn't always the best thing.

[Balbus]

4. It's a whacky religion!

But I think all religions are whacky.

[fhqwhgads]

15. that's my problem too...

it's tricky the way the question is worded. i'd probably answer similarly. i don't have a problem with islam specifically over other religions. i have a problem with religion in general.

Balbus said:
<<But I think all religions are whacky.>>

[VelmaD]

6. What I want is too see a realy survey...

on how much Americans actually know about Islam. I don't believe for one minute that that majority how said they knew more about Islam actually does. Self-reporting is pretty much always wrong.

[bunkerbuster1]

18. Americans "know" that Islam is based on violence and hatred!

They hear this every goddamned day that they listen to hate radio.

I have never, not once, ever heard a single prominent conservative politician condemn such rhetoric. Never.

Not once.

[TexasLawyer]

22. me neither

and I'm not going to hold my breath.

[PDJane]

7. There's a concerted effort

to portray all muslims as ranting, raving, god-obsessed lunatics.

I've seen more and more of it lately, even on the NOW boards (one had assumed that enlightened types would frequent the NOW boards).

It's no more true than any generalization; there are more secular muslims than there are islamists. However, the policies of the west are permitting the Islamists to gain new recruits......which is not a good thing.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=364&topic_id=923237&mesg_id=923237
If the government insists on bombing Iran, it will get worse.

[TexasLawyer]

9. it will get worse--

you've got that right!

[HughBeaumont]

8. "The Politically Incorrect Guide to" . . ..

Just about ANY book that starts with this title is nothing but point-a-palooser, reich-wing, racist, knuckle-dragger Repuke, anti-science (and yes, they EVEN have a book called The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science), misogynist HORSEshit with a cover. I mean, COME on, it's Regenery. If stupid were bricks, these guys would be the Great WALL.

[democracyindanger]

11. It's not just right wingers.

Let's be honest--plenty of liberals have some sad prejudices about Islam, too.

[557188]

12. Islam doesn't need the RW too look bad

It does a good job of it by itself.

This whole rush to defend Islam is so absurd. A fundie is a fundie and should be treated the same.

[Bridget Burke]

19. Not all Muslims are "Fundies"....

Even if for those living in an inbred, stagnant backwater with no Muslims around--education is possible.

[CJCRANE]

13. The trouble with

delving into scriptural minutiae is that you can do that to Judeo-Christianity and Judaism to prove how violent those religions are too
(oh yes, I forgot, someone already did that with Judaism, called the Nazis).

[CJCRANE]

20. It's just a divide and conquer strategy.

Whilst the freepers are frothing at the mouth with hatred for muslims and disgruntled young Saudis run away to fight the Jihad, the elites from both their countries do mega-business deals and laugh all the way to the bank.

[0007]

21. The religious cheer leaders from the fundamentalist

and asshole like Jerry Boykin

Discussing the battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia, Boykin told another audience, "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

"We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been raised for such a time as this," Boykin said last year.

On at least one occasion, in Sandy, Ore., in June, Boykin said of President Bush: "He's in the White House because God put him there."

As long as you have pricks in the White House honoring PRICKS like Boykin we'll have this dissension.

[sinkingfeeling]

23. Duh, yes.

[Bill McBlueState]

25. I don't like any religion with a hold on political power

If I were asked, "Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Islam?" I'd say unfavorable in a heart beat. Same goes for Christianity.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

27. Is the Grand Ayatollah a Shi'a?