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Wisdom From Drum [EvolutionBlog]
Prior to Donald Trump’s latest expectoration, which has proven to be a bit much even for hard-core conservatives, the Republicans were worked up over a pressing question of semantics. In their telling, if you describe the threat we face as coming from “Jihadism,” then you are a politically correct pussy who just doesn’t get it. The proper term, they are quick to tell us, is “Radical Islam.”
I was planning on writing a post about how silly this was, but then Kevin Drum went and said everything I was thinking. And since he said it better than I would have, I recommend just following the link and reading his post. Here’s the opening:
I decided to watch President Obama’s Oval Office address on Fox News so that I could understand just how bad he sucked tonight. And sure enough, he sucked! His speech was a complete failure, ladies and gentlemen. There was nothing new. He showed no emotion. He refused to say “radical Islam.” He did nothing to assuage the fears of the American people. It took him four days to say anything about the San Bernardino shootings. And what was with the lectern, anyway?
Conservatives sure get bothered by some weird things. I mean, what’s the deal with their endless obsession about “radical Islam,” anyway? Hillary Clinton keeps getting asked why she doesn’t like the phrase, but shouldn’t the real question be why conservatives are so intent on everyone using it? How come no one ever asks them about this? Over at The Corner, Ian Tuttle insists the problem is that “The liberal mind…cannot take seriously the claim of religion as an animating force in human lives,” which is a singularly strange assertion to make. Then he ends up with this: “Until we identify the religious conviction at the heart of Islamic terrorism, we’ll continue to wage an ultimately futile war.” That doesn’t make much sense to me. I think everyone understands perfectly well the religious motivations that make up a big part of the stew of beliefs that inspire Islamic terrorists. Literally everyone. But why obsess about it in public? George Bush didn’t, and for good reason: he wanted all the non-terrorist Muslims in the world to be on our side. Why is this so hard to understand?
Well said! Now go read the rest.
Source: http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2015/12/09/wisdom-from-drum/
