Citing two divergent Op-Ed articles, one from Tony Blankley in the Moonie Washington Times (Islamist threat in France), and one from David Brooks in the once proud New York Times (Gangsta, in French), Bill Bennett--incredibly--suggested on his radio program this morning that the rioting in France is the product of--I kid you not--"Gangsta Islam."
I'll leave it to the reader to measure the quality of the arguments in Blankley's and Brooks's articles. But there's no way I can't comment on Bill "I am not a racist/hypocrite/compulsive gambler" Bennett's crazy notion.
The idea that there may be such a thing as "Gangsta Islam" makes no sense to anyone who knows anything about Islam, and especially Islamic fundamentalism. It is equivalent to asserting that Saddam Hussein and al Qa'ida were allied, when they were avowed mortal enemies.
What's up? I have never been a fan of Bill Bennett's reactionary cultural nationalism. But I never thought he was stupid (okay, I had some suspicions). My thought is that the American far right is trying desperately to make this seem not only like the newest front of the war on "Islamo-fascism," but even worse: Islamo-fascism with an attitude.
That's even scarier, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment