(Loonwatch welcomes new blogger Pterois to the Loonwatch team)
It is not easy being a progressive in America these days. Perhaps yesterday’s elections are evidence of that. Or maybe the heat NPR is facing for firing Juan Williams is another indicator. But one so-called progressive remains relatively untouched by the conservative rage sweeping the nation: Bill Maher. How does he do it? How does this pseudo-intellectual continue to espouse progressive causes for the most part, yet remain on the good side of the Neo-Con Bully Machine? By willfully bashing Muslims, that’s how!
In spite of Maher’s hostility towards everything conservative: He hates religion, hates Republicans, hates Sarah Palin, he nonetheless blatantly espouses the notion that culturally speaking “we are white, therefore right” and thus remains the little darling of The Right.
Fox News columnists make guest appearances on his show, as does Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger who doctored a video of African-American Shirley Sherrod earlier this year. The video was edited to make the former government official appear racist.
The entire video was eventually released exonerating Sherrod and implicating Breitbart as a professional scheister who clearly and undisputedly lied about Sherrod being a racist in order to further his agenda. Yet Maher still welcomes Breitbart on his show.
This week, the self-proclaimed progressive was at it again. A current survey in the UK concluded the name Mohammed is currently the most popular name for newborns in the country. To this statistic Maher replied:
Am I a racist to feel alarmed by that? Because I am. And it’s not because of the race, it’s because of the religion. I don’t have to apologize, do I, for not wanting the Western world to be taken over by Islam in 300 years?
First of all Bill, if you have to ask your panel whether you are being a racist then your probably are being a racist. But, then again, the Fox News guest on his show, Margret Hoover joined in and took it a step further by saying: “I think England has far bigger problems with Islam than they do with the names of their children.” Of course that “problem” is the Shaira law bogey man the Right so often likes to use to scare us into war…as they have for the last ten years. Maher’s response? … “then I should be alarmed, and I don’t need to apologize for it.”
Wow, way-to-go Maher, it’s nice seeing your views on Muslims are indistinguishable from yet another Fox chicken-hawk who has been using this kind of trash logic for a decade, only to profit the military-industrial complex and waste our precious resources at the expense of a truly progressive agenda—especially the weekend before the election. Maybe we should elect Republicans to protect us from those scary moooslims.
Newsflash Maher: Racism has no place in a truly progressive philosophy.
Progressives believe that socio-economic justice defines politics, not culture. But then again, Maher is a fake progressive anyway, who lacks the intellectual substance to resist the temptation of racism. It makes him feel sooo good.
“At least we are not the Taliban” he said a couple of weeks ago in his pathetic defense of ourselves. What kind of progressive compares a thoroughly industrialized and diverse country like ours to a war torn, devastated and underdeveloped country like Afghanistan? Racists do. Racists who consider themselves better than non-Europeans who are less well off due to war and disaster. Neo-Cons do. Neo-Cons who consider themselves better than non-Europeans who they want to make less well off through war and disaster. Well Maher, true Progressives have higher standards and more noble aims. So, “New Rule:” Stop calling yourself a progressive.
November 3rd, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Hey ho, chalk another one up on the wall of ‘people who need their heads examined’ huh? I wonder what his wage is and on top of that I wonder if he decided to drop his anti-stuff he would be able to pull such a wage… yearp, I think I see where he’s coming from on this one, just like the rest of them
Doesn’t pay to be just ‘liberal’, to get the real money you need a selling point.
November 3rd, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Haha! Great picture.
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:02 pm
The number of non-loons decreases by the day.
Soon, everyone who doesn’t tow the party line will become a loon.
I wonder what comrade Stalin would say?
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Agree, just look at how Spencer attacked O’Reilly. If you treat Muslims as human you’re immediately labeled a Dhimmi.
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Son I wonder what your Fuhrer would say?
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:36 pm
I’ve always found Bill Maher to be annoying. He’s smug, arrogant, self-righteous — all of the personality characteristics I found so annoying in right-wing pundits are on display in abundance in Bill Maher. Yet progressives give him a pass because he is a “liberal”. Bullshit. He’s an a-hole.
It’s worth remembering that Bill Maher blasted Obama for not acting “black” enough (http://gawker.com/5551249/bill-maher-wants-obama-to-act-like-a-real-black-president-with-guns-and-stuff). We hear enough of this race-baiting crap from Beck and Limbaugh. Why does Bill Maher get a pass on this?
He’s a mirror image of the bullshit on the right.
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Bill Maher has always been an arrogant idiot only interested in promoting himself rather than any sort of “progressive” values.
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Yes I agree. The number of non-loons is decreasing because sadly being scared and uninformed makes people vunerble to the hate and fear mongering crap hate sites like jihad watch and atlas shrugs employs. I don’t know what stalin would say bob, stalin hasnt said anything in a long time because hes dead bob. What a very strange question to ask.
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:58 pm
This is the same “liberal” Maher who gives Israel a free pass at everything she does!
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:05 pm
My grandfather was called mohammed, because his grandfather was called mohammed. Both my grandfather and great great grandfather, weren’t very religious. In fact, they were heavy drinkers and were very skeptical of religion.
Bill Maher uses his hate for religion to justify racism and thats unacceptable. Im agnostic and even I saw that comment as very racist.
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:10 pm
What’s funny is that he attacks the Extreme Right-Wingers for being stupid, hateful, and always paranoid but yet there he is acting stupid, hateful, and paranoid because of babies being named Mohammed (Or other spellings of the name)in the UK. He may hate the Extreme Right but when it comes to Islam he shares the same bed with them.
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:19 pm
“A current survey in the UK concluded the name Mohammed is currently the most popular name for newborns in the country.”
No, it isn’t. The Daily Mail’s wrong.
See the following UK media-criticism blogs on the name hysteria:
http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.com/2010/10/whats-in-name.htm
http://enemiesofreason.co.uk/2010/10/28/the-mohammeds-are-taking-over-or-are-they/
http://nosleeptilbrooklands.blogspot.com/2010/10/oliversmohammeds-are-coming.html
http://primlystable.blogspot.com/2010/10/spelling-mistake.html and
http://primlystable.blogspot.com/2010/10/playing-name-game-more-on-mail-and.html
Also, this one goes on more generally about his comments: http://www.fivechinesecrackers.com/2010/11/bill-maher-mohammed-and-tabloid.html
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:24 pm
but when it comes to Islam he shares the same bed with them.
Seems to pretty reasonable to me.
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:26 pm
So being scared of the name “Muhammad” is…reasonable?
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:49 pm
@JihadBob
I see you like to takes things out of context to make a point “He may hate the Extreme Right but when it comes to Islam he shares the same bed with them” vs your “but when it comes to Islam he shares the same bed with them”.
How dishonest of you.
November 3rd, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Hi Peterios, welcome to Loon Watch, and nice first article:)
November 3rd, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Correction: Afraid of babies named Muhammad. Have you ever seen the Muppet Babies? You’d be surprised what babies are capable of.
November 3rd, 2010 at 5:49 pm
I think Jihadbob misread the comment, KnowingTheTruth , said that Bill Maher suports the right-wing hate for Islam whilst hating the right wingers for everything else. He didn’t suggest that Bill Maher was a leftist dhimmi slave that is “in bed with Islam” as you were probably thinking in your perverted Islamophobic, Catholic Propagandist mind.
About the Muhammad issue, there is less variety when it comes to Muslim names. The list doesn’t suggest that Muslims are having more babies, just that they are more likely to name their babies after what is the greatest man on Earth. Like during the Beijing Olympics, Chinese parents named their children “Olympic games”. This doesn’t suggest that more crazy Olympic obsessed parents are having children, just that the children they were having anyway were named after something they found important.
November 3rd, 2010 at 9:03 pm
“At least we are not the Taliban.”
Lol. Nice to know that not being the Taliban is an achievement America should be proud of these days. Really, I’m so relieved.
November 3rd, 2010 at 9:03 pm
For a long time I knew this POS was nothing but a hypocritical bigot. He is no more of a progressive than Glenn Beck.
Hey Bill Maher, get a real job.
November 3rd, 2010 at 10:03 pm
He’s also for racial / religious profiling and had an entire chapter dedicated to it in his book “When you ride ALONE you ride with bin Laden.”
November 3rd, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Once you have finished watching Bill Maher’s movie Religulous it’s easy to see that he is a hypocrite. i wonder why so many people can seem so rational but turn out to be flaming loons when it comes to the “Muslim Problem”(not that Bill Maher is rational mind you.
Allahu A’lam
November 3rd, 2010 at 11:26 pm
As someone who is fighting this battle daily, making a documentary about the backlash against the construction of a new Islamic Center in Murfreesboro, TN and getting involved in activism to support religious freedom – I do feel that the manner in which Bill Maher express his concerns was irresponsible.
That said, this is after all Bill Maher. He is an equal opportunity discriminator when it comes to religion in general
But I do think he is expressing a genuine concern that is on the minds of many “Westerners”. People have a hard time separating religion, culture and government. So when we look at say Iran or Saudi Arabia and think of them as Islamic countries, no one in America really wants to see the growth of that mindset. We value our freedoms, our separation of church and state, gender equality, free speech and so on.
I don’t mean this in a condescending way, but globally speaking I do feel that the Islamic world is still, in many ways, stuck in the dark ages. And I do feel that the Muslim world, generally speaking, would benefit from something of a reform movement.
And what better place for those reforms to take hold than in the West. That is largely why I do support the building of a mosque in Downtown New York and right in the middle of the Bible Belt in Murfreesboro, TN.
The consequences of a reform movement not taking hold concern me. The benefits of seeing more and more of the 1.57 billion Muslim population becoming more modern and free are huge.
So although I think Maher’s style in expressing his concerns is harsh, I cannot in good conscience just write him off as the “Loon at Large”.
Peace,
Eric Allen Bell
http://www.Facebook.com/EricAllenBell
November 3rd, 2010 at 11:42 pm
@Eric
Thanks for your post.
Look, there are many things that are wrong with Iran and Saudi Arabia and the like. I’ve never refrained from criticing them for it, or even in Pakistan where I’m from. But I think the problem in the anti-mosque crowd and the broader anti-muslim one is that they simply use people’s ignorance to their advantage and try to paint every Muslim as a potential invader in some sense or another. They’ll take a couple of individuals’ statements (mostly vitriol) juxtaposed with some quotes from the quran (taken out of context mostly) and start using that as ammunition against people who don’t know better.
Most of their claims, e.g. about Muslims being some demographic time-bomb or some collective conspiracy to subvert western values like democracy have, in my opinion, been debunked succesfully by many Western and Muslim academics.
Anyway, the least I can say is I’m glad you’re fighting for peace and truth. Keep up the good work
November 4th, 2010 at 1:34 am
“Most of their claims, e.g. about Muslims being some demographic time-bomb or some collective conspiracy to subvert western values like democracy have, in my opinion, been debunked succesfully by many Western and Muslim academics.”
To be honest, it doesn’t help when fake wannabe mullahs that post on sites on MuslimMatters call for “outbreeding the kuffar” either.
November 4th, 2010 at 1:57 am
Bill Mahr is NOT an equal opportunity offender. He’s proven himself to be a Zionist turd for years, well before his move to HBO. He’s the left’s version of O’Reilly : loud, stupid and frankly unimpressive. His mockumentary “regiculous” took an anti-Zionist rabbi to task for opposing “israel.” His atheism is a Sabetian sham. All this over Juan Williams being fired, no one complained when Helen Thomas was fired.
Here’s Mahr showing us his true colors :
and
November 4th, 2010 at 2:08 am
/\ Sad part is online i can me the Messiah on Media Matters comment section and people will take it as 100 % real thing…. These people are called trolls they make these comments to instigate a comment bomb and argument… we here have 2 people who I need not name that take over comment section with 1 comment and everyone replying to it and it happends everytime then just ignore them
November 4th, 2010 at 6:58 am
not all atheists are pussy atheists, pussy atheist is a atheist who loves islam but bashes only christanity
November 4th, 2010 at 9:06 am
@Dan
Yeah it doesn’t help, but most Muslim families I know (and I know quite a lot) aren’t the sort who blindly lap up whatever the resident self-styled ‘guardians of Islam’ (there are better perjoratives in Urdu, but I’ll refrain
) have to offer. Most families are just concerned with more basic needs like health, education and upbringing….etc
MM often has decent stuff on it, but it can be a little parochial for my liking every now and then
November 4th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Also Dan, it doesn’t help to paint an entire community with the same brush as a few crazies on some forums. If you don’t think that it is absurd to claim that all Muslims in the West are making a concerted effort to outbreed all other populations, then you are just another conspiracy theorist. It’s beyond me why Robert Spencer and co. aren’t considered as such…considering they wholeheartedly believe in the Eurabia bullshit.
November 4th, 2010 at 11:16 am
DrM:
That first video did speak volumes. Thank you for that. It really did reveal much about where Maher is coming from.
I think he’s usually funny, much more so than O’Reilly. And he’s a lot smarter than O’Reilly. But I cannot disagree with you that he is a moderate Left version of O’Reilly, complete with the arrogant attitude.
I’m disappointed.
I feel strongly that Israel has a right to exist, but as part of a two state solution, putting the borders back to where they were before 1967 and getting rid of all these settlements. But in my industry of media, if you say anything just a fraction to the left of that, you’re done.
Shame.
November 4th, 2010 at 11:25 am
GREATEST. PICTURE. EVER.
November 4th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
@Eric, your commentary and thoughts are interesting. I didn’t read them properly at first because I thought you were a (Western) muslim, even when you didn’t want to sound “condenscending”. Western muslims could want to dissociate themselves with other muslims for the problems met in lesser developped countries.
My opinion is that Bill Maher has no excuse stating such comments. On the link to FiveChineseCrackers provided by D-Notice, there is a CNN interview in which Maher makes it even worse by saying the reasons he thinks he needs to defend Westerm “values” while almost all of those cherished values are exactly what Islam is about. We even need to go all the way and wake to the fact that the West has actually betrayed herself by being hypocritical, non-democratic, corrupted, promoting terror (fear) and intolerance. No sensible mind would still dare to say today what he insinuates as the dominant philosophies of the West. That’s why Islam has a great contribution to make. Not only it promotes justice, equality, tolerance but also righteous religiosity and spirituality. Together with Jews and Christians, let’s put ethics back into life.
That’s where I join your vision of reform within the muslim communities everywhere. Indeed the Western muslims are in a privileged setting.
The first 5 mins of this video is the ending of a speech illustrating your point :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYw9UrHV5L0
If there truly was a benevolent understanding coming from the medias, they would systematically avoid controversies by toning down already sensitive and highly misunderstood issues, for the sake of educating people. Knowing that Islam is treated with great injustice, spreading ignorance and stupidity is definitely not the responsible way to treat this subject. In other words: he is abusing his audience.
November 4th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
@Eric
“But I do think he is expressing a genuine concern that is on the minds of many “Westerners”. People have a hard time separating religion, culture and government. So when we look at say Iran or Saudi Arabia and think of them as Islamic countries, no one in America really wants to see the growth of that mindset. We value our freedoms, our separation of church and state, gender equality, free speech and so on.”
Mind you most Muslims in the world live in democracies not theocracies as your brainwashed mind would like to think. I know this is a surprise but that’s the truth. Most Muslims come from tropical lands not desert ie Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh etc. Most Muslims are non-arabs. There are more Muslims in China than Saudi Arabia. Saudis are only 1% of the Muslim Population. Hell there are more Muslims in the biggest democracy (India) than the WHOLE Middle East.
And these Muslims from tropical lands with democracies do make up about 80-90% of Muslim population.
Not only that its a Muslim country that has 2 women at the head of both major parties. Mind that I said “both”. The current prime Minister of Bangladesh is a women and so is the opposition leader. This has been going on for the past 20 years. Not only that this country was a colony 50 years ago and only got its independence in just 30 years ago.
NOT A SINGLE WESTERN country with all their feminism has achieved that. And certainly it will never happen for 20 years. Granted as a poor country due to corruption, over population, natural calamities, being a former colony it has its fair share of problems.
My point is your paranoia is completely baseless. Many in the Muslim world are also paranoid that these self righteous leaders of the free world are going to free them with their carpet bombing, cluster bombing, napalms, hellfire missiles, torture, rape(abu gharib), and sanctions by killing millions all in the name of democracy and freedom and capitalism.
November 4th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Sorry Eric
I don’t think FXG completely understand you. I appreciate what you’re doing and I find your comments to be both rational and insightful.
Keep up the good work!
November 4th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
*understood
November 4th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Anyways, I personally didn’t like this article much–I found it too slanted to the Left. The fight against Islamophobia shouldn’t become too partisan, although I fear it may be already. We should all remember that before Bush, post-9/11 Islamophobic oppurtunists, and the tea party, most Muslims voted Republican (at least I’m pretty sure they did).
The picture of Bill was awesome, however.
November 4th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Not to mention that most of the countries in the actual Middle East are classified as “jumhuriyyat”, or republics anyway (Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Iran [yes, even Iran though it is a somewhat unique case], Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen…). A handful are monarchies (Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and kind of Kuwait), a handful emirates and perhaps one Sultanate (Oman).
November 4th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
NassirH,
If we have allies amongst Conservatives, please name them as I cannot think of even one. Enemies yes, but no allies.
Frankly i’m puzzled at why you’re so anti left. Most of our allies are left wing. Surely you prefer to make your bed with allies, not those who would stab you in the back. They are NOT forcing their lifestyles on people unlike the conservatives.
What do we have in common with conservatives anyway?
Pre- 9/11 most American Muslims voted conservative, that isn’t necessarily a good thing nor does it say anything about their judgement of politics but at least they had the good sense to swing to the left. If they want to live a conservative lifestyle they can do that with a liberal government.
November 4th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
I know that we don’t have many allies amongst Republicans, and I certainly can’t name any. The GOP and its offspring–the Tea Party–have pretty much made being anti-Muslim part of their platform.
Perhaps if I said that we can’t let moderates be swayed by populist anti-Muslim rhetoric…
November 5th, 2010 at 12:35 am
@Eric,
“So when we look at say Iran or Saudi Arabia and think of them as Islamic countries, no one in America really wants to see the growth of that mindset.”
Except the fact that most Muslim countries are secular client regimes of the West. Saudi Arabia is a favorite amongst amongst anti-Islamic polemicists but they’ll never tell you that it’s a secular kingship created by the British empire and then cuddled under the US, and which masquerades as a religious state. The Saudi “leadership” played a key role in the most treacherous betrayal of Islam in over 1400 years.
“I don’t mean this in a condescending way, but globally speaking I do feel that the Islamic world is still, in many ways, stuck in the dark ages. And I do feel that the Muslim world, generally speaking, would benefit from something of a reform movement.”
The Islamic world brought Europe out of the Dark Ages. The only reform movement needed is the removal of western client regimes, their secular elites, and the colonized mentality which have been choking the life out of the people. The ones who need reform are those who start wars based on lies and carry on as if nothings wrong.
Of course these answers need to be greatly expanded upon but I’m on call tonight and don’t have the time to post it all.
November 5th, 2010 at 1:18 am
And here’s that confrontation Maher had with the anti-Zionist rabbi :
He looks religiously offended, lol. Maher reminds me a lot of Dennis Miller, another unfunny slob whose fans confused his cynicism with intelligence.
November 5th, 2010 at 9:27 am
@ Beautiful Muslim Doll and NassirH
Just giving my 2 cents here but Tom Clancy is a guy who was an early defender of Islam on the Right, saying that it does not condone suicide attacks.
Said this on one of his website postings (don’t have the source-link)
“Islam is *not* a religion of maniacs. All one must do it to read the Koran to grasp this. But as Christianity can be warped out of all recognition by some people (e.g., the Ku Klux Klan in America, the PIRA and UVF in Northern Ireland), so Islam can be twisted (actually, used for political purposes) by some of its less careful members. Press coverage of Islam doesn’t help, but the press of late doesn’t seem to treat *any* religion with much respect.”
A very sober account compared to what the Tea Party crowd comes up with…:)
November 6th, 2010 at 12:18 am
When are you guys going to get it? The Democrats, the so-called ‘progressives’ and liberals, are most emphatically NOT our friends. Neither are the Republicans, but they at least are quite honest and open about their hatred for Muslims, Arabs, Asians and just about anyone else who isn’t 100% WASP or willing to conform to it…
Makes sense when you think about it. For all their claims of being different, most Democrats in office come from white Christian backgrounds, save a rare few like Keith Ellison. Look who they cater to. Almost every one of them caters to the religious kooks who wield incredible influence in this country. Even Obama! Remember when his people told the women in hijab not to sit within view of cameras at his rallies?
The main difference is their rhetoric. So-called conservatives want to kill or convert us all, turn America into a Christian theocracy where white Euro-American culture has a privileged status, and keep the rest of us limited to war-torn and exploited countries overseas.
The liberals want the same thing, albeit in different manners. They don’t want us to practice Islam or believe in God. They want us to ‘assimilate,’ to dress like westerners, watch western movies, eat western foods. Our holidays and foods become novelty items at best. They can eat at ‘exotic’ Moroccan restaurants, vacation in Dubai, and date half-naked bellydancers, but they don’t want us bringing our culture here. They want it to be a luxury item for bored Hollywood socialites, and for us to just disappear. We aren’t worthy of having our own culture in their eyes.
And that is the difference. Bill Maher, like so many other foppish liberals, would rather that other cultures stay away. If we live in the west then we have to concede everything that our ancestors gave us. We are to give up our names, our manners of dress, our food, our celebrations and customs… all of it. Just so some middle aged white guy like Bill Maher can feel ‘safe’? Well screw him. I have no intention of giving up even a scrap of my personal freedoms. If he isn’t comfortable with the way I live, he is welcome to go to some town in the middle of Kansas and pretend us swarthy, good-looking types don’t exist.
November 6th, 2010 at 1:02 am
Get out of europe and usa muslim scum
November 6th, 2010 at 2:20 am
Zak
“When are you guys going to get it? The Democrats, the so-called ‘progressives’ and liberals, are most emphatically NOT our friends. Neither are the Republicans, but they at least are quite honest and open about their hatred for Muslims”
its not a case of who is a friend, but who makes a good ally. What does the Reepublicans being honest about it have to do with us accepting it? The democrats support secularism. That suits those who want to follow their own religion, or culture. You can do that easily in a secular society, than in one where the government insists of shoving their religious dogma on all others.
Live and let live is what the secular tradition is. Thats fine for us, what is the problem? Why do you need their approval as long as you have the freedom to do what you want within the confines of the law? Why do you need them to be friends? and in any case we DO have friends amongst the secular crowd (liberals) who support our right to be what we want, even if they don’t like Islam. That is understandable. I may be fine with people being Buddhists or atheists or Shintoists, but that doesn’t mean i like those paths.
“Makes sense when you think about it. For all their claims of being different, most Democrats in office come from white Christian backgrounds, save a rare few like Keith Ellison. Look ”
That is not the case today Zak, the WASP is not superior culture, Christianity is declining even in the US which has a Christian Taliban problem, that no other developed country in the west has. Don’t you get it Zak? The USA is heading the opposite way to Europe, where Europe became secular and prospered, the USA strted secular, was prosperous and the so called “white christian” you’re talking about destroyed the US.
skin colour is irrelevant. Thhe Dems are the party of all minorities, especially the successful ones, simply because the liberals don’t expect you to conform. in the US, the constitution is secular not Christian,
The wealthiest minories are not WASP, the Hindu Indians are the wealthiest and best educated, followed by Jews. Muslims are fairly new, but are more successful that other minorities, like the Hispanic or black. All of these minorities are Dems usually.
The WASP era is over, we’re not in the early 1900′s Zak.
You look at things through a perspective that was say probable 120 years ago, not today.
The Dems don’t have that “white Christian superiority” you’re talking about, its the Republicans that do. The older bigoted ignorant crowd anyway, which is a large part of the American populace. It was the reason that Europe never prospered, till she she became secular. Prior to that all what she had by way of knowledge was imported. Even the musical notation “doh ray me soh” comes from the Arabic alphabet,
Finally Zak, most “white Chrisitans” as you say realise that their culture is not the superior one, and it was such only for a short while in history. In any case, the USA is a bankrupt nation financially, China owns it. The tea party crowd need to worry about what will happen when China calls in the marker. The US military cannot function for even 2 days without oil.
If all supplies were cut to the USA, oil traded in Euro’s and China called in her debt, the USA is history overnight.
November 9th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
“When are you guys going to get it? The Democrats, the so-called ‘progressives’ and liberals, are most emphatically NOT our friends. Neither are the Republicans, but they at least are quite honest and open about their hatred for Muslims, Arabs, Asians and just about anyone else who isn’t 100% WASP or willing to conform to it…”
Makes sense when you think about it. For all their claims of being different, most Democrats in office come from white Christian backgrounds, save a rare few like Keith Ellison. Look who they cater to. Almost every one of them caters to the religious kooks who wield incredible influence in this country. Even Obama! Remember when his people told the women in hijab not to sit within view of cameras at his rallies?
The main difference is their rhetoric. So-called conservatives want to kill or convert us all, turn America into a Christian theocracy where white Euro-American culture has a privileged status, and keep the rest of us limited to war-torn and exploited countries overseas.
The liberals want the same thing, albeit in different manners. They don’t want us to practice Islam or believe in God. They want us to ‘assimilate,’ to dress like westerners, watch western movies, eat western foods. Our holidays and foods become novelty items at best. They can eat at ‘exotic’ Moroccan restaurants, vacation in Dubai, and date half-naked bellydancers, but they don’t want us bringing our culture here. They want it to be a luxury item for bored Hollywood socialites, and for us to just disappear. We aren’t worthy of having our own culture in their eyes.
And that is the difference. Bill Maher, like so many other foppish liberals, would rather that other cultures stay away. If we live in the west then we have to concede everything that our ancestors gave us. We are to give up our names, our manners of dress, our food, our celebrations and customs… all of it. Just so some middle aged white guy like Bill Maher can feel ‘safe’? Well screw him. I have no intention of giving up even a scrap of my personal freedoms. If he isn’t comfortable with the way I live, he is welcome to go to some town in the middle of Kansas and pretend us swarthy, good-looking types don’t exist.”
Zak, that post was so awesome i had to post it in it’s entirety. The Lefties are definitely not our friends. i’m glad someone get’s it!
FXG Says: “Mind you most Muslims in the world live in democracies not theocracies as your brainwashed mind would like to think. I know this is a surprise but that’s the truth. Most Muslims come from tropical lands not desert ie Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh etc. Most Muslims are non-arabs. There are more Muslims in China than Saudi Arabia. Saudis are only 1% of the Muslim Population.”
Why are you jumping on Eric? He writes very conscientious pieces. Most Muslims do not live in democracies, they live in secular, sometimes totalitarian states pretending to be democratic by calling themselves “jumhuriyyat”, or republics, as Dawood stated. Most Muslim majority countries are secular client regimes of the West, as DrM said. The rest are monarchies. The only theocracy in the Muslim world is Iran. We Muslims aren’t perfect, only Allah. Perhaps we would be better off if we had Islamic states, but alas we don’t, so it’s useless to bristle when non-Muslims make a reasoned observation.
“Hell there are more Muslims in the biggest democracy (India) than the WHOLE Middle East.”
And India is actively discriminating against this large Muslim population as part of it’s “democratic” policies.
“Anyways, I personally didn’t like this article much–I found it too slanted to the Left. The fight against Islamophobia shouldn’t become too partisan, although I fear it may be already. We should all remember that before Bush, post-9/11 Islamophobic oppurtunists, and the tea party, most Muslims voted Republican (at least I’m pretty sure they did).”
As a Muslim i personally slant towards the center. Muslims are moderate by definition, as Prophet Muhammad(saws) reminded us. i’m right there with you
NassirH
“Frankly i’m puzzled at why you’re so anti left. Most of our allies are left wing. Surely you prefer to make your bed with allies, not those who would stab you in the back. They are NOT forcing their lifestyles on people unlike the conservatives.”
BMD,although we have nothing in common with Non Muslim Conservatives many Muslims vote Republican because they are seen as champions of traditional family values, lower taxes, and smaller government. However, the Left hates Islam/Muslims just as much as the Right. We should not go looking for allies who are not also friends. Their agenda will turn to us when they are finished battling their avowed enemies and began opposing those they secretly despise(us).
Remember what is going on with the strange bedfellows of the Christian Zionists and Jewish Extremist Zionists . Our allies and friends among non Muslims are best found among the center and freedom loving independents. Else we are nothing more than opportunists befriending our frenemies.
Allahu A’lam
November 10th, 2010 at 8:52 am
“Am I a racist to feel alarmed by that?”
No, islam is not a race.
April 16th, 2011 at 3:19 am
Without straying too far off-topic, I’d just like to comment on the positive implications of the ME revolutions and how they have changed my view of Muslim people in general. Up until now Ive fallen somewhat victim to the negative imagery and portrayals in American media of Muslims as being against any type of freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom to dress and act as an individual simply exercising his or her basic rights.
This changed when I began to use a webpage translator in order to read Arabic and Persian Facebook pages dedicated to these revolutions for example: 2011 Syrian Revolution and Bahman25 for the Iranian Green Movement. I began to discover these people (almost all Muslim) really thirst for basic freedoms denied them for years by their respective governments. The same freedoms that were paid for long ago in blood in my own country are now the basis for millions and millions of people taking to the steets, asserting their right to those same freedoms and declaring their intent to pay whatever the price to secure them for future generations.
I found out that these Muslims were, in fact, JUST LIKE ME! When the vail was lifted I was in a state of shock, to see that people who I thought did not possess a “freedom gene” were willing to die to have the same freedoms Ive taken for granted for most of my life. All I can say is most of them are far better and more courageous people than I will ever be.
When these countries turn the corner and have won freely elected governments and grant their citizens the right to practice the religion of their choice you will see attitudes towards the people living in them change radically. Mine already has, I really love those Syrians, Yemenis, Iranians, Libyans and all who have taken up the cause to add the word “Free” before the name of their respective homelands. I say “Good Luck to You, Brothers and Sisters”
March 10th, 2012 at 10:20 pm
I’m sorry to be longwinded after my already lengthy previous post but on the topic of Bill Mahr: He is not a liberal and those who call him a psuedo-liberal are spot on. He’s also a sexist and a homophobe. But he’s first and foremost an entertainer. I have no idea who finds him entertaining, but suppose enough people do, ( and I’d bet 90% of them hear 10% of what he says because they’re probably at home eating food and catching up on work while he bleets in the background ), for HBO to keep him on.
He is indeed quite a smug little man. I agree with that. He had the audacity to compare himself to George Carlin. On his best and most creative day, Bill Mahr couldn’t be better than George Carlins intestinal gas or dandruff. Carlin was a comedic genius and trailblazer. Bill Mahr was mildly amusing once in the early 80′s for about four minutes. In terms of comedy, he’s utterly and entirely insignificant and forgettable. He appeals primarily to homely, socially inept 15 year old boys who have never been felt up by a girl and think that people become rock stars just by looking like rock stars, instead of actually working for it. In other words, his audience is filled primarily with vain, frustrated males not dissimilar to Rush Limbaughs audience. Mahr has made no original contributions to the field of comedy whatsoever. Absolutely none.
In fact, I will likely forget both his name and what he does once I post this reply. Thanks to good fortune for THAT!!!!
March 10th, 2012 at 11:36 pm
@Scott
I haven’t heard anything Homophobic or sexist from Bill Mahar, but I haven’t watch his show much. Although I gotta admit, he’s pretty Islamophobic.
March 12th, 2012 at 7:29 am
No one else will probably see this but YOU, so why not send the message?
You are incredibly DISHONEST in your moderation of comments. You purposelly did not post my reply prior to the one that can be seen. While you allowed debate between other posters, it’s clear you only allowed those comments that are either pro-Islam or the pro-”progressive” ( yeah, right, we both know better ) that made any critic or critique or opinion that doesn’t support the radical Muslim agenda 100%. As a journalist AND a moderator, you have a professional ethical duty to be UNBIASED. But you’re not, and thus actually PROVE Maher’s points over your own. Good job.
Maher’s comment that ‘at least we’re not the Taliban’ WAS political, but your strawman argument is to insist that it had to do with comparing our country to Afganhistan. Big leap there buddy. That’s NOT what he’s saying, and you know it. Your pedantic and repetitive finale in your last paragraph sounds an awful lot like the insistence of a true believer in the more fundamental side of a religion that DOES want to be the one world religion and says as much in its holy book.
That you subtracted my first comments now does not surprise me one whit and it’s clear that you’re not worried so much about Bill Maher as you are about furthering an agenda that you are pretending not to have.
Islam is a violent, ignorant religion just like they all are and the Qu’arn makes that clear as did the [snipped]. Religion poisons EVERYTHING, but primarily it poisons rational thought and debate.
March 12th, 2012 at 7:57 am
@Scott
“You are incredibly DISHONEST in your moderation of comments.”
No, we’re not. We are very clear on the fact comments are published at our discretion.
“You purposelly did not post my reply prior to the one that can be seen.”
True, we purposely did not post your lengthy, hateful screed.
“…it’s clear you only allowed those comments that are either pro-Islam or the pro-”progressive”…
Obviously false. We post some dissenting views and engage in vigorous debate. I did so myself over the weekend.
“As a journalist AND a moderator, you have a professional ethical duty to be UNBIASED.”
Wrong again. This is a private website, and we have the right to set whatever policies we like.
“…you are about furthering an agenda that you are pretending not to have.”
We’re about furthering the agenda published on our “About” page. It’s not a secret.
Also, I snipped the part of your comment that was pure, vile hate and for the record, every single time I see something like that, I either snip it or gleefully dump the comment in the trash.
I will continue to do so, without apology. Ultimately, I don’t set the policies, but the administrator does–not the visitors.
Please keep in mind that you’re a guest viewing free content on a private website.
We’ve had this debate over “free speech” so often, we have a standard reply:
You have no “right” to post here, and it’s not a matter of “free speech.”
Can I exercise my “right” to free speech by spray painting “PLEASE DON’T FEED THE TROLLS” on the side of your house?
Posting comments HERE is a privilege. We are under no obligation to let you use Loonwatch as a venue for your inane comments and juvenile taunts.
If you want to rail against Islam/Muslims and exercise your right to hate speech, do so on your own website.