Why does liberal and leftist imagination go into exactly the same direction* as rightist imagination when it comes to Islam and Muslims in particular and, to a lesser extent, religion in general? And moreover, what do you get out of taking that direction in America, of all places? Contempt for Muslims in particular or the religious in general may be tenable (though still inadvisable) in a society largely composed of the irreligious, but it's self-destructive for liberals and leftists here, especially in the midst of the Iraq War and other wars and interventions in countries whose populations are largely Muslims.
* <http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0805-02.htm> Grapes? Virgins? Does That Explain Suicide Bombers? by Abhinav Aima
Ever since 9/11, the American mainstream media has been chockfull of instant fixes to Islamic terrorism.
Some claim the fault lies with the Arab leaders, and hence they support the slaughter in Iraq for the removal of Saddam Hussein. A lot of good that did! But still, the mass media is inundated by "experts" who request for regime changes galore.
Others claim that the fault lies with Islam itself. These Bible, Torah and Gita thumping genocidal racists would like to see all of the Middle East and the entire Islamic community disappear in a giant mushroom cloud, or be fenced in at concentration and "detention" camps. These web crawlers, thankfully, are not yet openly strutting their stuff on network news talk shows. Yet.
But what irks most is the half-hearted attempts at an intellectual argument - the condescension that tries to offer a slimy, limp hand to the suffering Muslims. The latest from The New York Times Op-ed on August 4: The fault lies in the translation and interpretation of the Quran.
Nicholas D. Kristof, in this shortsighted and ignorant article, claims that the Muslims line up for martyrdom mission because they expect to be welcomed by 72 virgins in heaven. If the martyr-wanna-be's were to realize the prize in heaven for martyrdom was the Aramaic "Hur" (white grapes) and not the Arabic "Hur" (described variedly as a beauty, enchantress and virgin), argues Kristof, then Muslims would probably would not be in such a rush to kill themselves.
This, of course, assumes that the old Hollywood stereotype of the Arab as some sort of a perverted, illiterate, maniacal sex-craving fiend is applicable to all those Muslims who volunteer for suicide missions. Take away the virgins, Kristof's argument suggests, and the fiends would simply take their salivating chops to the next whore house instead of the next bomb belt or Kalashnikov. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>