Source: Daily Kos: The American Taliban:
The American Taliban
by kos
Fri Mar 11, 2005 at 09:13:07 AM PDT
Once upon a time, it was easy for the American Right to smear its opponents on the left — they could simply equate them with the nation’s communist enemies. It didn’t matter that the American “left” (Democrats) had more in common with the Right than international communism, the smear was useful.
Now, however, our international enemy — Islamic radicalism — is actually the polar opposite of what liberals stand for — their actions on women rights are deplorable, they insist on theocracy, they loooveee torture and the death penalty, they demand to control the culture (TV, movies, music), they rail against rampant sexuality, they seek to spread their ideology via force, and they have a well-defined black-and-white sense of truth.
Remind you of a certain American party?
That’s why hysterical assertions by the wingers that liberals hate America and want the terrorists to win are so absurd. As absurd as it would’ve been to claim that Reagan wanted the Communists to win the Cold War. The Taliban/Al Qaida/Hezbollah/Jihadists of the world are the exact embodiment of evil in the liberal mind. They are everything we are against, and against everything we are for.
In fact, they are exactly what we see in the Republican Party as the GOP continues to consolidate power — creeping theocracy, moralizing, us versus them, embrace of torture, the need to constantly declare jihad on someone, hysterics over football-game nipples, control over “decency” on the airwaves, lyrics censorship, hostility to women freedoms, curtaling of civil liberties, and so on.
So it’s pretty obvious — we don’t love terrorists. We don’t want them to win. For them to win would be to realize our greatest fears. The muslim terrorist is truly the anti-liberal. Like matter and anti-matter.
Republicans, on the other hand, hate the terrorists because they’re Muslim. But aside from that, they’ve got far more in common than they’ll ever admit to themselves.
And it’s high time we started to make that connection more forcefully.
I could not agree more.
I do not want to over-generalize and say, “All Republicans believe this,” but it appears that the most vocal wing of that particular party has the same black and white view of the world as the “ISLAMO-FACISTS” we are fighting in the “war on terror.” When http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pat_Robertsonright wing preachers call for the death of their fellow americans, they are following in the footsteps of other their conservative Imam cousins. These shrill voices are louder than reason–and it is very scary to see how well they harmonize with terrorist we are supposed to be at war with.
Placed into this context, I have to agree with W. We, as Americans, cannot allow any religious fundamentalists to “win.” Unfortuantely for W and the loudest voices from his party, I don’t too many difference between their belief system and that of Ahmadinejad.
Technorati Tags: Government, Religion, Republican, RightWingWackos, WarOnTerror, WingNut
Agreed as well.
I think it’s a shame that was written over two years ago and still Democrats are having difficulty making that connection clear to the public. Or maybe they are, and I just haven’t noticed.
The Dem’s haven’t made, or pushed, the connection because ( and this is just my idea) it is politically dangerous to do so. Certain elements of the Republican party, specifically the more vocal ones will take comments and statements out of context and mis-represent them to the public. I can see LoudMouth In Chief having a field day with this if a top tier candidate for an elected office actually said this.
It’s not just politically dangerous though, it is also divisive. If your political philosophy is based on unity, saying that well known, and for some odd reason, well loved, religious figures are just like “The Bad Guys,” you sabotage your very goal.
What irks me is that there is no real solution. I have a hard time believing that people who have such concrete beliefs are willing to engage in an actual debate, discussion or any type of free-flowing ideas. Any attempt to provoke discussion regarding their belief is perceived as an assault on the their beliefs.
Dem’s, Liberals and progressives have an uphill battle to fight, and this particular point is probably best left to loud mouth bloggers (self included) than mainstream politicians.
As an aside, I need to point out that while I wrote this comment, Like A Prayer has played on my iPod. Twice.
Man, for a second I thought your post was going to be about how Daily Kos is “The American Taliban”.
Heil Healthcare!
…Dear god no.