DescentBB

by Roger L. Simon

I have frequently been called a “chickenhawk” on Iraq and, though I am loath to admit it, my critics are basically correct – I am pretty much of a chicken… on Iraq and everything else. I have been since the seventh grade when I chickened out on a fight with Ernie Schaub in the yard of Junior High School 167 Manhattan. (There – I’ve finally said it!)

Still, I am not nearly as much of a chicken as Lawrence O’Donnell revealed himself to be on the Hugh Hewitt radio show last week.

O’Donnell was on to discuss some controversial remarks he made about Mormonism on the McLaughlin Group in reaction to Mitt Romney’s speech on the presidential candidate’s religion. Actually the remarks were more than routinely controversial - the Democratic pundit/television writer (The West Wing) launched a full-scale attack on Mormonism, branding its founding father Joseph Smith a racist and demanding Romney disassociate himself from Nineteenth Century tenets and behaviors of his faith long ago abandoned.

Now I want to be clear - I didn’t take seriously a word O’Donnell said about Romney and Mormonism on McLaughlin. It was a plain, old-fashioned political hatchet job of the most transparent sort. If Mitt Romney had been a Democrat running for President, you wouldn’t have heard word one out of O’Donnell about Mormonism or Smith. And whatever you think of Romney, the man has already served as governor of Massachusetts with no discernible control being exerted on him by the solons of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake. The whole thing is a non-starter and made O’Donnell seem like a political hack – and I say this as an agnostic, frustrated that Romney’s rather banal speech completely ignored the contribution of religious skeptics to America.

What interests me far more is what O’Donnell said during the following exchange at the end of his interview on Hugh’s show, in which the seemingly playful pundit showed far more about himself than he may have intended:

HH: Okay. And do you believe, would you say the same things about Mohammed as you just said about Joseph Smith?

LO’D: Oh, well, I’m afraid of what the…that’s where I’m really afraid. I would like to criticize Islam much more than I do publicly, but I’m afraid for my life if I do.

HH: Well, that’s candid.

LO’D: Mormons are the nicest people in the world. They’re not going to ever…

HH: So you can be bigoted towards Mormons, because they’ll just send you a strudel.

LO’D: They’ll never take a shot at me. Those other people, I’m not going to say a word about them.

HH: They’ll send you a strudel. The Mormons will bake you a cake and be nice to you.

LO’D: I agree.

HH: Lawrence O’Donnell, I appreciate your candor.

I appreciate O’Donnell’s candor too, but perhaps not in the way that Hugh meant. In fact, when I first read those statements, my mouth dropped open.

They are particularly disturbing if you compare the estimated number of Muslims in the world (1.5 billion) to the number of Mormons (12 million) and the likelihood of either group being responsible for, say, a bombing in the New York subway. Of course, O’Donnell is clearly aware of this – all too clearly. And he has decided to opt out.

This means he has opted out as well of a whole series of the most important questions of our time, such as are there moderate Muslims, can Islam be reformed, what is the relationship between religious doctrine and violence, what is jihad, what is dhimmitude, can true democracy exist under Islam, is it terminally expansionist in its ideology, can women and homosexuals achieve their rights under Sharia law, what happens when Sharia expands into Western society, etc.

Compare those questions to whether taxes should go up or down five percent or even to the political relevance of Mitt Romney’s Mormonism and you will see just how absurd (and dangerous) O’Donnell’s terrified off-hand comments were.

Remarks like O’Donnell’s disqualify the maker from offering any serious opinion on foreign policy ever. Without the courage of your convictions, there are no convictions worth having. Indeed, in a sense, they are not convictions at all. They are not there.

O’Donnell’s cowardice would not be interesting, however, were he not typical. O’Donnell’s kind of fear is all around us. We have it among artists who censor themselves and journalists who are afraid to speak out. These people have buried their traditional liberal values under a veneer of false tolerance and trendy cultural relativism and essentially turned liberalism on its head.

O’Donnell is no longer a liberal in the sense I understood it growing up. In fact, he runs away from defending the basic canon of liberalism without which it cannot exist – free speech. A true liberal is a man like Flemming Rose who had the courage to defend that freedom against the onslaught of opposition to the publication of the Danish cartoons. Where was O’Donnell on that? Quivering in his corner, worrying whether he will be shot? Where was O’Donnell (a man of the entertainment industry, no less) when director Theo Van Gogh was stabbed to death by an Islamist on the streets of Amsterdam for making a film critical of Islam? Busy attacking George Bush, I imagine. The courage of Rose and Van Gogh (and Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Ibn Warraq and Wafa Sultan, etc.) is paying O’Donnell’s check from the McLaughlin Group in a very real sense. He owes them all a commission.

O’Donnell’s words remind me more clearly than anything in recent days why I no longer identify as a “liberal” in its modern usage. It has become a meaningless term. I may be a chicken, but I am not a coward. I have criticized Islam often and I will continue to do so.

A row of chest-high barriers splits the room into sex-segregated sections. In the smaller, enclosed area for women sits a pile of shawls and head-coverings. Literature titled \"Hijaab [covering] and Modesty\" was prominently placed there, instructing women on proper Islamic behavior.

They should cover their faces and stay at home, it said, and their speech should not \"be such that it is heard.\"

\"Enter into Islaam completely and accept all the rulings of Islaam,\" the tract read in part. \"It should not be that you accept what entertains your desires and leave what opposes your desires; this is from the manners of the Jews.\"

\"[T]he Jews and the Christians\" are described as \"the enemies of Allaah's religion.\"

The document adds: \"Remember that you will never succeed while you follow these people.\"

A poster on the room's door advertised a local lecture on \"marriage from an Islamic perspective,\" with \"useful tips for marital harmony from the Prophet's ... life.\" Other fliers invited students to join the Normandale Islamic Forum, or participate in Ramadan celebrations.

One thing was missing from the meditation room: evidence of any faith but Islam. No Bible, no crucifix, no Torah.

TechPro wrote:Hey TB, got any links for these things? ... (hint, hint)

Ferno wrote:

TechPro wrote:Hey TB, got any links for these things? ... (hint, hint)

don't worry about it dude.. he's our resident islamophobe.

ThunderBunny wrote:*random islamophobic crap*

roid wrote: *grabs a stick and joins the mob beating ThunderBunny*

ThunderBunny wrote:The funny thing is that alot of you would probably be hanged or stoned to death under islamic law.

Hey. Ya'll are welcome to walk into Saudi Arabia and smoke pot or do whatever it is you wanna do and see if it's true or not.

ThunderBunny wrote:The funny thing is that alot of you would probably be hanged or stoned to death under islamic law.

Bet51987 wrote:Especially if your a women. Anyway, I'm on your side and just can't believe the people who trust Islam.

Bee

Bet51987 wrote:

ThunderBunny wrote:The funny thing is that alot of you would probably be hanged or stoned to death under islamic law.

Especially if your a women. Anyway, I'm on your side and just can't believe the people who trust Islam.

Bee

Bet51987 wrote:
Especially if your a women. Anyway, I'm on your side and just can't believe the people who trust Islam.

Bee

Bet51987 wrote:Anyway, I'm on your side

ThunderBunny wrote:My opinion:
All religion is garbage...but not all people brought up under it are.
However- there are some religions (established cults- which is what they really are) that are more dangerous to a person's freedom to think and do what they want than others.
islam is far more of a virulent mind poison than others at the current time.

d3jake wrote:Arg! I hate people that will assume that all people of a certain group think the same way. Yes, in some\\most cases it proves true. But if you think about it, in Christianity, you have those that think that if you don't convert to their side, then you're SOL-KTHXBYE.

MD-2389 wrote:...and if you think that every Muslim is out to hang or stone you, then you are an idiot. I hate to break it to you, but not every religion is perfect.

Ferno wrote:the Arabs I know would be absolutely offended if they heard this.

ThunderBunny wrote:…islam is far more of a virulent mind poison than others at the current time.

Bet51987 wrote:In the latest episode, thousands and thousands called for the execution of a teacher for naming a teddy bear Mohammed but I haven't heard of any Christians getting even ticked when seeing a likeness of Jesus.

Bet51987 wrote:Since you were being so impolite, I wonder if you’re either Islamic or uneducated.

Bet51987 wrote:Your right. I would be stripped of my clothing, raped, stoned, and then beheaded just like all the rest.

TIGERassault wrote:Hey, you know what else?
Canada also has meeting areas that could potentially breeding ground or criminal minds. I say we bomb Canada.
It's the American way.

TIGERassault wrote:As far as I can tell, that isn't practiced in American schools anymore. Boys and girls are generally given equal oppertunities in eductaion.
Unfortunately, the Media prefers to have things otherwise...

TIGERassault wrote: Whoa, BIG difference there! Muslims believe that one shouldn't make pictures or objects that are a representation of Mohammad, while Christians don't have an equivilent for Jesus.
There are many cases of Christians executing people of ridiculous equivilents too, remember. Most well-known one is witchcraft. Heck, even Christians did the same thing as this Muslim case towards a man because he invented the first robot.
Also, I'd like to see the scource of this 'thousands and thousands' figure you stated.

TIGERassault wrote: OH THE IRONY OF THIS SENTENCE, IT HUTS SO BAD!

TIGERassault wrote: Also, "your right."? His right what? His right hand is resting on the table? His right leg broke when he kicked the dumpster? His right-brained son ate a mushroom? You make no sense!
(Yes, I shall continue to pester you about this until you finally figure out what the words "your" and "you're" mean.)

Bet51987 wrote:

ThunderBunny wrote:…islam is far more of a virulent mind poison than others at the current time.

How come only you and I can see this?

Bee

Bet51987 wrote:

d3jake wrote:Arg! I hate people that will assume that all people of a certain group think the same way. Yes, in some\\most cases it proves true. But if you think about it, in Christianity, you have those that think that if you don't convert to their side, then you're SOL-KTHXBYE.

It’s not some, it’s most. In the latest episode, thousands and thousands called for the execution of a teacher for naming a teddy bear Mohammed but I haven't heard of any Christians getting even ticked when seeing a likeness of Jesus. I'm only concerned with the present, not the past, so what the Crusaders did has nothing to do with this.

MD-2389 wrote:...and if you think that every Muslim is out to hang or stone you, then you are an idiot. I hate to break it to you, but not every religion is perfect.

I'm sorry but I think the real idiot is you if you continue to defend Islam as a good religion that promotes tolerance and equality. Since you were being so impolite, I wonder if you’re either Islamic or uneducated.

Ferno wrote:the Arabs I know would be absolutely offended if they heard this.

Your right. I would be stripped of my clothing, raped, stoned, and then beheaded just like all the rest.

ThunderBunny wrote:…islam is far more of a virulent mind poison than others at the current time.

How come only you and I can see this?

Bee

Bet51987 wrote:I'm sorry but I think the real idiot is you if you continue to defend Islam as a good religion that promotes tolerance and equality. Since you were being so impolite, I wonder if you’re either Islamic or uneducated.

Bet51987 wrote:Secondly, I’m really getting sick of your corrections to my grammar. I make mistakes and I will make more, but what I don’t need is grammar correction from an arrogant individual like you.

Bet51987 wrote:Please honor the PM that I sent you several weeks ago.

Sirius wrote:Dictionary, sir.

Cuda68 wrote:Religion is only good for starting wars and turning friends against each other. Look at this thread. It's turning into a disgusting free for all. Organized religion should be outlawed.