Glenn Greewald has an awesome column, about wingnut paranoia, that I am excerpting and commenting on.
This is so true. I could point you to message boards, talk radio shows, and cable TV shows, where Cons are shitting their diapers, wetting the bed, and wringing their hands in abject fear over this mythical “Muslim invasion”: Whenever some crazy Muslim crashes his car into a door at a Scottish airport, one can see the con fear manifested in cries of: ”The U.K. is under Attack!!!”. On the extremely rare occasion that some muslim is detained in the U.S. for suspicion of supporting terrorism, the cries of ”We need to spy on all Mosques in America” are heard throughout wingnuttia.
In the past I have decided to test the depths of this paranoia...my experiment is simple: do these wing nuts really believe muslim hordes could overrun America, and fly the Crescent flag over the US Capitol? Or, are they just parroting paranoid NeoCon talking points to promote the politics of fear, without having any real conviction behind them?
When the residents of wingnuttia are asked by me if they really think that massive muslim navies and invasion fleets could invade Norway, Iceland, Canada, Scotland, and the United States, and even have a prayer of “taking over” and forcing us to accept sharia law, wing nuts are loathe to admit how crazy this sounds. Usually, I will get some baloney response about ”What about the Caliphate??!!”. Or, some nonsense about if Bin Laden get his hands on Saudi oil, they will have the economic resources to build a military and invasion fleet capable of conquering western Europe and North America.
Clearly, to any modestly informed person, this is bug nut crazy. This is never going to happen. Winguts betray an absolute ignorance of world history, Islamic history, and basic military knowledge when they issue these fatwas of muslim paranoia. Do I really need to point out how ridiculous it is, that a muslim navy will come across the Atlantic to invade us? Do I really need to point how infinitesimally small the chances are for the divided and disparate Islamic cultures and countries to unite under one banner? Do I really need to address the paranoia that American Muslims, or muslim immigrants who come here to work as nurses, engineer, and doctors, are some sort of “Trojan horse”, that the cons think could undermine and take over the republic?
Do I really need to direct wing nuts to the writings and evidence that Bin Laden and his whacked out band of criminals, are largely using the siren song of “Caliphate” to cynically attract dim-witted followers and stooges, to participate in their “movement” which largely has political goals narrowly directed at change (in their view) in the Arabian peninsula, and north Africa?
In the art of war, Sun Tzu advised that you must know your enemy to defeat them. Informed people (aka, anyone who isn’t a Con), knows that there’s not a snow balls chance in hell, that muslim navies and muslim hordes are going to overrun Kansas City and Memphis. Let alone fly the crescent flag over a burning Capitol building. The dangers and threats of terrorism are real. But it is a threat of a largely criminal nature; one that can be dismantled through smart intelligence gathering, law enforcement, covert ops, and the intelligent application of our soft power and global cooperation.
Lastly, how wimpy do Cons really think we are? Even if muslim hordes from the middle east invaded our shores, they would be repulsed and driven into the sea within hours. This nation is armed to the teeth. Liberals think america could easily demolish any invasion of the american homeland. Cons, in contrast, evidently think we would lose (or, that there‘s at least a chance we would lose), and that we will be living under sharia law. You wing nuts don’t know liberal women - they are going to resort to guerilla war and fight to the death, before some conservative muslim cleric makes them wear a burka. LOL. Don't mess with progressive women. Our great strength against a mythical muslim invasion would be our (liberal) women.
Greenwald at:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/08/13/simon/index.html
This is so true. I could point you to message boards, talk radio shows, and cable TV shows, where Cons are shitting their diapers, wetting the bed, and wringing their hands in abject fear over this mythical “Muslim invasion”: Whenever some crazy Muslim crashes his car into a door at a Scottish airport, one can see the con fear manifested in cries of: ”The U.K. is under Attack!!!”. On the extremely rare occasion that some muslim is detained in the U.S. for suspicion of supporting terrorism, the cries of ”We need to spy on all Mosques in America” are heard throughout wingnuttia.
In the past I have decided to test the depths of this paranoia...my experiment is simple: do these wing nuts really believe muslim hordes could overrun America, and fly the Crescent flag over the US Capitol? Or, are they just parroting paranoid NeoCon talking points to promote the politics of fear, without having any real conviction behind them?
When the residents of wingnuttia are asked by me if they really think that massive muslim navies and invasion fleets could invade Norway, Iceland, Canada, Scotland, and the United States, and even have a prayer of “taking over” and forcing us to accept sharia law, wing nuts are loathe to admit how crazy this sounds. Usually, I will get some baloney response about ”What about the Caliphate??!!”. Or, some nonsense about if Bin Laden get his hands on Saudi oil, they will have the economic resources to build a military and invasion fleet capable of conquering western Europe and North America.
Clearly, to any modestly informed person, this is bug nut crazy. This is never going to happen. Winguts betray an absolute ignorance of world history, Islamic history, and basic military knowledge when they issue these fatwas of muslim paranoia. Do I really need to point out how ridiculous it is, that a muslim navy will come across the Atlantic to invade us? Do I really need to point how infinitesimally small the chances are for the divided and disparate Islamic cultures and countries to unite under one banner? Do I really need to address the paranoia that American Muslims, or muslim immigrants who come here to work as nurses, engineer, and doctors, are some sort of “Trojan horse”, that the cons think could undermine and take over the republic?
Do I really need to direct wing nuts to the writings and evidence that Bin Laden and his whacked out band of criminals, are largely using the siren song of “Caliphate” to cynically attract dim-witted followers and stooges, to participate in their “movement” which largely has political goals narrowly directed at change (in their view) in the Arabian peninsula, and north Africa?
In the art of war, Sun Tzu advised that you must know your enemy to defeat them. Informed people (aka, anyone who isn’t a Con), knows that there’s not a snow balls chance in hell, that muslim navies and muslim hordes are going to overrun Kansas City and Memphis. Let alone fly the crescent flag over a burning Capitol building. The dangers and threats of terrorism are real. But it is a threat of a largely criminal nature; one that can be dismantled through smart intelligence gathering, law enforcement, covert ops, and the intelligent application of our soft power and global cooperation.
Lastly, how wimpy do Cons really think we are? Even if muslim hordes from the middle east invaded our shores, they would be repulsed and driven into the sea within hours. This nation is armed to the teeth. Liberals think america could easily demolish any invasion of the american homeland. Cons, in contrast, evidently think we would lose (or, that there‘s at least a chance we would lose), and that we will be living under sharia law. You wing nuts don’t know liberal women - they are going to resort to guerilla war and fight to the death, before some conservative muslim cleric makes them wear a burka. LOL. Don't mess with progressive women. Our great strength against a mythical muslim invasion would be our (liberal) women.
Greenwald at:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/08/13/simon/index.html
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