Without a doubt radical Islam is a huge global problem that threatens the values and principals we hold dear. Terrorists have an aversion to peace and human rights; they do not hesitate in attempting to scare us into submission, and it is because of that we must not sit back and scream Islamophobia any time someone honestly and truthfully expresses anger towards a belief that devalues peace, and understanding.
Progressives around the world are in a constant state of denial and contradiction. They expound tolerance, and are quick to demean bakery owners who won’t bake wedding cakes for gay couples. They attack anyone who blames a woman’s dress for her sexual assault, yet they constantly ignore and downplay a radical and violent political movement that enslaves and marries off young children, and executes gays. They react to anti-Muslim bigotry by spreading anti-white bigotry; turning the discussion away from Muslim extremism to white people shooting up churches and schools.
When Robert Deer shot up a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, progressives were quick to call out Christians for the murderous acts of an individual. On Rant Political, Michael Peckerar started his column by typing, “Moderate Christians, this man — Robert Lewis Deer — represents you. What do you plan to do about it? Will you answer for his crimes? Will you accept responsibility for the three deaths and multiple injuries caused by his act of violence at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs? He took up arms and committed violence in defense of the same religion you practice. Will you take responsibility?” On Patheos, Matthew Facciani called on Christians to condemn the terrorist act like conservatives criticize Islam for ISIS, completely ignoring the irony of that argument. It is true conservatives do blame Islam as a whole for terrorism, but when progressives defend Islam from terrorism, and condemn Christianity for attacks on women’s health clinics, the hypocrisy burns.
Radical Islamists have driven people out of homes their families have owned for generations, they control huge areas of countries with iron fists that control the minds and hearts of people who join their cause out of fear and financial needs. Their ultimate goal is a global caliphate that confines women to the home without educational or economic opportunities. They strive for one religion, and the complete removal of all human rights; ideals progressives argue they adore.
While Western women demand the freeing of the nipple, and the banishment of manspreading, up to 7,000 Yazidi women and children, captured after the August 2014 capture of now liberated Ninevah province of Kurdish Iraq, are enslaved by ISIS. These women are routinely raped by ISIS who pass the women along to other fighters like they are batons. When the city of Sinjar was retaken by the Kurds, the remains of dozens of women who were deemed unworthy of being slaves were found. Women captured by ISIS are essentially nothing but free vaginas, and are true victims of patriarchy. While Western feminists shut down university lectures that question their narrative, Kurdish women are fighting ISIS, risking their chopped off heads being put on display by ISIS on social media. Former Yazidi sex slaves who escaped the grips of ISIS are now fighting the very people who captured them in an effort to return the remaining slaves to their families.
Women aren’t the only ones brutally attacked by ISIS; homosexuals, or those suspected of being gay are routinely thrown off buildings, blindfolded, with their hands tied behind their backs; desperate pleas are ignored before they are splattered on the ground below them.
Progressives claim to be for women’s and gay rights, and often scream at the top of their lungs whenever someone cracks a gay joke, or criticizes feminism; yet anytime Muslim extremists murder innocent people, liberals are quick to attack bigotry, and point out Christian extremism, like there is some sort of sick competition occurring as to what terror attack is worse, and what segment of the population should be discriminated against.
ISIS continues to hold control of big swaths of land, and brutally kills anyone who doesn’t submit to their warped view of Sunni Islam, and their influence continues to spread throughout Europe, and the epicenter of the terroristic violence is arguably residing in Belgium.
Two brothers who participated in the suicide bombing were Belgian nationals, and one of the three Paris attackers who called Belgium home, fought against ISIS, and was suspected of involvement in a foiled plot before the successful attack on November 13th. Abdelhamid Abaaoud is just one name inside the network of Islamic extremism that is lead by Fouad Belkacem, a mentee of British extremist Anjem Choudary who has been arrested for theft, planning the burning of American flags, and has harassed gay Muslims. He is currently in jail on conviction of charges for being part of a terror group.
Although it would be wrong to cast judgement on an entire populace, the problem of extremism in Belgium is primarily confined to one district, Molenbeek. The attack on a Jewish museum was planned in the neighborhood, so was the assassination of an anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. The district also sent fighters to Syria to battle with ISIS. The influence of terror in the area has caused Belgian Prime Minister, Charles Michel, to lament, “We’ve tried prevention. Now we’ll have to get repressive. It’s been a form of laisser faire and laxity. Now we’re paying the bill.”
There is no denying Belgium has a problem with terrorist activity. Immigrants and refugees from violent countries have entered the small European country without assimilating to the culture and laws of their new homes and innocent people are being punished. To say there is no terror link to Belgium is a gross fallacy, and to immediately condemn any concern about the lack of assimilation is incredibly foolish.
Many progressives hit social media to not make a point of support for the victims, but to immediately call out prejudice. They jumped on the #StopIslam hashtag that trended in social media, showing how terror brings out strong bigotry that makes us all look like xenophobic tools. They also attacked Ted Cruz claiming he would patrol Muslim communities in America, and many on the right have decided once again to place the blame entirely on every single Muslim in the world, neglecting to mention how terrorism has killed more people from predominately Muslim countries. Although the problem in Molenbeek is severe, and must be attacked; the district has an unemployment rate of 50%; showing an economic cause in terrorist activity. In the Middle East many citizens are joining ISIS to feed their families, after other industries have vanished thanks to crippling war.
Whenever liberals blame Christians for an attack on abortion clinics by white Christians, conservatives expose the bigotry like massive hypocrites. The refugees and immigrants who are carrying out the attacks on Europe come from countries that have been eviscerated by imperialism, invasion, and the constant state of war. If Western countries did not invade these countries to force democracy, or install pro-Western leaders, we would at least curtail the anger.
Terrorism is a complex problem that can’t be solved with a single change in one area, but rising Islamophobia is certainly not the smartest method to end terrorism. These are primarily men, and some women who have had their homes, and families destroyed by drones, and/or foreign invasion. They have suffered war based job losses, and feel completely hopeless. That is where religion comes in.We can debate all we want about the violent passages in the Quran, but when you live in a violent society, full of heartache, attaching yourself to faith makes sense.
In an interview with the American Psychological Association, religion and spiritually expert Dr. Kenneth I. Pargament argued, “It is true… people often do turn to their faith as a source of solace and support in their most stressful moments.” He further added, that although some forms of religious coping are better than others, “Empirical studies of many groups dealing with major life – show that religion and spirituality are generally helpful to people in coping, especially people with the fewest resources facing the most uncontrollable of problems.”
Turning to ones faith is common when you are faced with hardships and tragedies, and Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa are no different. Distraught Muslims are turning to their faith for guidance through their grief, and a number of them are being manipulated by imams who are using anger and fear as a propaganda tool to make the grieving loved one embrace terrorism.
That anger and fear being used for political purposes is present in the Western world. Our governments illegally spy on us to, “protect us,” from terrorism. Gun legislation is being written up to “protect” people from mass shootings; drug laws are on the book to “save” us from evil drugs, and fear is being used along with anger to fuel bigotry. Innocent Muslims are being beaten, mosques have been set on fire, and people are arguing for the need to ban Muslim immigration, in the belief that those examples of bigotry will someone stop radicalized Muslims from committing acts of terror, or prevent the breeding of future terrorists. Nothing makes a person more welcome to a new country than having spray paint on their place of worship calling them all terrorists and demanding they go home.
We live in a world that is consumed with anger and fear. Those who hold power over us are using that fear and anger to dip us further into tyranny and violence. It is a vicious circle that must be broken, and we can’t do that with bigotry, denial, and hypocrisy. Our Western values of free speech, free movement, and the acceptance of other cultures are not present in many areas of the world. We can’t deflect the problems with ISIS by calling out Christian extremism; doing so is an act of deflection that is rife with the anti-Christian, anti-white bigotry of the left that ignores the crimes of non-whites, because the narrative is more important than the facts.
Shooting up a clinic is as much of a despicable act as blowing up an airport, or enslaving women to fulfill your sick sexual desires. The sad part of all of this is the refusal of the right and the left to look at the problem of religious extremism with logic, and honesty. The debate around terrorism has become a competition of who can scream the loudest, and be the bigger bigot, instead of how can we address extremism and end events of terror. Christianity, and Islam both have their extreme passages, and have followers who adhere to the violence and bigotry of their holy books, but we should not demand moderates who are peaceful and freedom loving to take the blame for the actions of individuals. One of our greatest sins is the refusal to blame individuals, by blaming an entire segment of the population. White people are being blamed continually for the racist acts of the government. Muslims are being blamed for terrorism; just like Christians in America are being blamed for attacks on abortion clinics.
There is a right way to combat extremism, and there is a wrong way. We must change minds and preach peace and human rights, without judging entire races, genders, or religions. We must be honest, and strong in our fight against terrorism without breeding hate. That hatred will do nothing but compel peaceful Muslims, whites, and Christians to give up their souls and spread more bloodshed.
The hatred must end; we must find common ground, and grab hold of the things that bring us together instead of tearing each other apart, and we must not hold back in our fight to eliminate extremism throughout the world.
