Dean Esmay and Bill from InDC bring their Cliff notes version of Islam to class!

UPDATED: Terrific interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali at SPIEGEL for some more schooling both Dean Esmay and Bill from InDC can also read this fine article. Finally take a look at what Judith Apter Klinghoffer, Fulbright professor at Aarhus University, Denmark has to say about the RoP aims in the Cartoon War.

Ah feel the love! Somehow I guess I am supposed to feel cowed by the poor arguments of both Dean Esmay and Bill from INDC because they are so insulting, though to me they are examples of the Peter Principal in the Blogsphere. They both feel the need to lead with insults that I guess are supposed to intimidate me into submission…okey dokey. Both are in love with the vision of Islam they got from their Cliff Notes last year in Freshmen Social Studies 100.

Dean’s World – Out-of-Context Quotes! Get Yer Red-Hot Out-of-Context Quotes Here!: “Pierre over at WizBang tries the old, ‘I don’t think muslims are bad, I just think Islam is bad’ motif, which is just another way of spitting in muslim faces and pretending you’re being brave. And what’s Pierre’s proof? A single Koranic verse with no context whatsoever. Classic, classic case of irresponsible, stupid, even venal generalizations about someone else’s religion”

Dean Esmay’s assumption is I wouldn’t feel the same way about Christians were they to suddenly adopt sawing off the heads of those they disagree with or raping the women they desire. Dean would be wrong. I stand foursquare behind the death penalty and have been responsible for putting two murderers behind bars myself. No problem seeing off those who commit murder no matter what their religion.

Dean’s assumption is that Islam is simply another religion and that all religions should be respected and thats a neat simplistic naive wish. Till 4 years ago I might have agreed with him. Now I understand that Islam stands apart from other religions merely because it has absolutely no ability to adopt to the laws of the land. Render unto Caesar is unknown in Islam. Everything in Islam is rendered unto Allah.

Was Mohammed a Radical? Was Mohammed a peaceful man? Did he see things in Islam that only exist in the radicals eyes? You will probably try and re-quote items in the Old Testament that you believe show how terrible the Christians are. You will never once explain how it is that the Jews who live by the Old Testament had to be brought to the point of extermination before they rose up to accept violence as a means of defense. You may at the same time compare and contrast the philosophies and lives of Jesus and Mohammed. You can while you are at it point out some Muslim tribes that would rather die than to take a life.

Actually the way muslims act these days condemning Islam is exactly like being brave while the pitiful excuses you give for the worlds most violent mass movement is exactly the opposite. But hey if you are not feeling up to being threatened I understand. After all Pim Fortuyn died for condemning Islam. So did Van Gogh. So it is dangerous to stand against them.

Further on Dean spews forth with this bit of information…

So, should we keep pretending that you can insult a faith but not its practitioners? And keep acting as if reading Mark Steyn and Daniel Pipes and Little Green Footballs gives us all the expertise we need? Even the Pope doesn’t act like this for God’s (pun intended) sake!

Oh wait, now here it comes: the Pope isn’t really Christian and Catholicism is apostacy. Or, better yet, the Pope is an appeaser who will soon embrace dhimmitude. Whatever.

Actually if you were really as clever as you think you are, you would know that Pope Benedict has already declared that Islam is unable to change from a violent 7th century religion due to its structure. If you believe that you have the Pope on your side you are even more a fountain of misinformation than I would have guessed, given your style of debate. By the way Daniel Pipes tried to soften the Pope’s message unsuccessfully.

Next up the ever entertaining Bill from InDC promising an entertaining look into Islam’s soul. He takes me to task for attacking his attempt at humor, being grateful for his attention I look towards his deeper thoughts and find shallow water.

If only I still found it “perplexing.” The right is full of people that like to boil down the complexities of the war against Islamic radicalism into a much simpler fight than it is, paradoxically agitating for a war of civilizations by continually maligning an entire religion, while ostensibly claiming support for neoconservative policies that attempt to strategically diminish Islamic radicalism by democratizing the larger Muslim world, effectively turning them against the radicals in their midst.

Sorry I don’t fit into the box of supporting the drive to democracy. It used to make sense before I started to understand that Islam simply does not have at its core the ability to play nice with the other kids. Islam’s bloody borders is not some make believe Zionist propaganda it is reality. Do I have hope that Islam can reform? No and neither it seems does the Pope.

Bill from InDC leads with another brilliant post:

“But … Isn’t Turkey an Islamic Nation?” Will some of you call him an apologist for Islamofascism that just doesn’t understand how bad Islam really is? After all, what would he know? He’s merely a right-wing American Christian currently living in the midst of about 70 million Muslims …Turkey illustrates the sort of secular stability and moderation that the rest of the Islamic world can achieve. Ask yourself: what’s the difference between Syria and Turkey?

Is this a trick question Bill? Here is my answer, Turkey is trying to get into the EU, Syria isn’t. Furthermore for your information, Turkey used to be known as a secular nation. Its a bit worrisome that it is becoming known as an Islamic Nation. Its worth noting that your model of moderation, Turkey was indeed a model. But it was not for moderation but for the genocide it committed against the Armenians. That genocide apparently was witnessed by the Germans who were advisor’s to Hitler himself who then declared when the German Army went into Poland to Go, kill without mercy . . . who today remembers the annihilation of the Armenians. The Armenians were Christian…their murderers were not. Hitler was glad for the idea when it came time to produce a solution to the Jews.

And it is worth noting that Jim Geraghty did not report anything of these demonstrations as reported to Instapundit by an email:

UPDATE: Berlinski emails from Istanbul:
Evidently there were “hundreds of demonstrators” at the Danish consulate here today. (I missed it; I was happily oblivious until I read the news.) Now, “hundreds of protestors” never congregate in Istanbul without government sanction. There is no such thing as freedom of assembly here; if you’re out protesting, it’s because the government authorized it, period. So Denmark and Turkey are going to be part of one big happy EU family? Sure thing. Tell that to the Danish diplomats cowering in their consulate in Istanbul and nervously reviewing the fire escape plans.

The moderate peace loving State of Turkey organizing demonstrations in front of the Danish Embassy? How does that fit in with your picture there Billy Boy?

Well enough making fun of them, as my wife is fond of saying, “one only hears what you are ready to hear”. It absolutely terrifies many to consider that we may indeed be in a religious war, so they choose not to hear the warnings. To my mind it is better we recognize Islams goal for what it is while we can still do something about it. Not sure if the Cliff Notes version of Islam points out to our two intrepid scholars that it is a muslims duty to spread Islam by the sword if need be, that there can be no rest till all the world is Dar Islam. That all Muslims do not act out those crazy demands does not mean that Islam does not call for it. Indeed no matter how rational any call to arms might be no nation or movement would expect all of its citizens or members to join in acting out the demands. As well no matter how benevolent or righteous a religion may be no religion in the world counts all of its followers as dedicated to the degree of its most fanatical followers.

Finally it is worth noting that the reason the Danish Cartoonists must be defended is they specifically were making the point of fighting self censorship when they posted the cartoons. Here lets have Mark Steyn explain it to both of you smart guys:

Jyllands-Posten wasn’t being offensive for the sake of it. They had a serious point — or, at any rate, a more serious one than Britney Spears or Terence McNally. The cartoons accompanied a piece about the dangers of “self-censorship” — i.e., a climate in which there’s no explicit law forbidding you from addressing the more, er, lively aspects of Islam but nonetheless everyone feels it’s better not to.

That’s the question the Danish newspaper was testing: the weakness of free societies in the face of intimidation by militant Islam.

I suspect that just about destroys any semblance of good there was in your argument. You two simply do not understand the issues. But hey take heart you are both terrific at insults. And that means something these days as long as you don’t insult Islam. But I know you two won’t do that, you both paid attention in Multicultural class 100. All culture is equal, no culture is above any other, and if any culture is corrupt multicultural 100 allows me to ignore it. Weeee.

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