Glenn Beck - Installs A Hotline For The White House
Glenn Beck accusing Obama again of having a hidden agenda. Obama in re-branding re-packaging of his policies uses moderates to present the message covering up the fact that Obama's administration is really working incrementally towards a radical agenda ie universal health care.
Beck claims Americans do not want to radically reform health care but this is not quite true what has happened is that the Glenn Beck and the Conservative movement have used misinformation, scare tactics etc. to convince a large number of their fellow citizens that such a policy would not work and would be a disaster for individuals and for the nation. Besides they argue this is just another step down the road to communism and a totalitarian state.
If Glenn Beck would examine the real world he might find that his crackpot theories don't add up but his reality is a matter of his beliefs and perceptions steeped in his religious beliefs and in American Exceptionalism and rugged individualism and the Free-Market place and so on.
This is nonsense Great Britain , Canada and other countries have government run health care programs and are not totalitarian communist or fascist states. As a Canadian it just seems these dire predictions are laughable if it wasn't for the fact that some 40 million Americans will continue to suffer because of these rich faux populist Media stars on Fox News or CNN and their Faux Experts from right wing & Religious Right funded "Think Tanks" and Conservative Christian Universities which have a skewed agenda. Therefore the students who obtain their degrees and the highest marks are the ones who accept the Universities' ultraright agenda and so have learned and been trained to think within a conservative framework and perception. For instance as lawyers they adhere to a strict interpretation of the law based upon a more literal reading of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and are critical of what they refer to in a dismissive manner as "activist judges" who interpret these documents against the background of current knowledge and the changes which have taken place in society etc/
The other issue is that Glenn Beck is using Joseph McCarthy's ploy of guilt by association. If someone attended a university and took a course from a professor or had a friend or acquaintance who had a particular political or religious viewpoint that one is then somehow infected. So by befriending someone who is a Marxist, a socialist , a "liberal" "a secular humanist' an atheist , a UFO buff or whatever then that stain goes with you everywhere. Glenn Beck and his gang of Fellow travelers believe you should only have Christian born again Ultraconservaive pro-capitalist who are superpatriots ie my country Right or Wrong except when a Democrat is in power and that God created the world and Darwin and evolution is all bunk and that Jesus was into the Prosperity Gospel and so only answers the prayers of winners and not losers.
Glenn Beck , O'Reilley and Pamela Gellar at Atlas Shrugs were upset that the notorious racist Aryan Nationalist Keert Wilder was not permitted to enter Great Britain or Canada because of his radical "eliminationist" views on Islam. So this week they are all exited because he has won his case in Britain and might be allowed to go to Britain and make speeches about the evils of Islam.
It is a sign of the times that Muslim bashing has become more and more acceptable to a large section of our society.Those who are raising the alarm over what they consider to be the unwarranted influence of Islam on Western Culture don't differentiate between Isalamic extremist and the average Muslim. I have read about and written extensively about the danger posed to America by the radical Religious Right who are somewhat anti-democratic and the state they would ultimately create would be an authoritarian theocracy. But this does not mean that all Christians or all Evangelicals wish to create such ant-democratic anti-pluralist anti-liberal society.
But these radical Christians do exist and do have some power over public policies and laws and so on. It is a matter of being aware of their existence their policies and deciding when compromise is acceptable and when it is not. It is also a matter of whether they match their Hate Speech to actions. It is one thing to call Homosexuals, adulterers, those who indulge in sex out of wedlock sinners and quite another to have them beaten, or stoned or killed .
The most radical Evangelical Fundamentalist as we have seen are the Dominionists and Reconstructionists who insist that America should become an authoritarian Theocracy with its laws based on the Bible. Other leaders in the Evangelical movement have been influence by the Dominionist & Reconstructionists ideology or theology over the past two decades and so are now spreading these views throughout a large segment of the Evangelical Fundamentalist community. So what is troubling is when these fringe groups ideology begins to go more mainstream.
These extremist Christians could be as dangerous to America as any Islamic extremist since both are anti-liberal, anti-Secular Humanism, anti-Modernity, anti-multiculturalism, anti-pluralism, anti-homosexual, anti-feminist etc.
The issues which Keert Wilder and anti-Islamic alarmist are concerned about for the most part can be dealt with by our various institutions and laws. If a man who is a Muslim commits what he considers to be an honor killing we still put him on trial and prosecute him and if found guilty is punished according to the laws and policies of the state in which he resides. When it comes to private schools Madrassas this is more difficult to deal with if a private Christian school teaches their students that homosexuality is a sin and should punishable by execution -even this we might allow as long as teachers do not go so far as inciting students to take the law into their own hands. As Martin Luther King said I may not be able to force others to love me but I can surely be protected by the law so that he cannot with impunity beat or kill me or put arbitrary restrictions on my rights.
Geert Wilders Warning to America Part 2 of 2
Geert Wilders says the fight against Islam is Western Civilizations great struggle and it is a matter of survival. He says "We will never give up, we will never surrender " He expresses the view that Western Leaders the political elite have fallen for the false doctrine of cultural relativism. Western culture he argues is superior to other cultures. Islam he argues is a political totalitarian ideology and is not a "religion".
The Religious Right also begins its attack on "liberalism" "Secular Humanism " & modernity by pointing out the perniciousness of "cultural relativism" As we see in the words of Francis A. Schaeffer, Jerry Falwell, Pat Roberson, Lou Engle, Ron Luce, Pastor john Hagee etc.They too lament the acceptance of cultural relativism which they also erroneously tie into Charles Darwin's "Origins of Species" and the teaching of evolution.If someone truly believe in this form of extreme relativism then they would be correct since if everything is relative why should one punish anyone for any action whether lying, stealing, or murder.Ayn Rand's writings get very close to saying just that as have the writings of Nietzsche been interpreted in this way or how some would view libertarianism.
Keert Wilders argues that given his definition of Islam as a political ideology it is therefore not a "religion" and is not eligible for religious freedom that all religions have.
Therefore no more Mosques should be built and all Islamic schools should be shut down.
He goes on to say he has a solution which sounds like that of any racist or anti-Semite . He says no more Muslims should be allowed to enter Europe or America. Any Muslim who refuses to completely assimilate to Western Culture should be exported.Therefore no more Mosques should be built and all Islamic schools should be shut down.- This is all rather extreme so what happens if he disapproves of some other religious group because of their social and political activism.
"Why don't we just tell them all to go back to the Middle East where they belong"
Pat Robertson.
Hidden Jihad: The War in America - CBN.com
Pat Robertson interviews Robert Spencer on The Stealth Jihad
School bans Jello product because it contained fat from pigs.
He compares this tolerance of Islam whith what he believes is a war on Christians by the ACLU and the US government.
This is in fact disingenuous and hypocritical as Pat Robertson and other leaders of the Religious Right in America want to impose their Christian theology and ideology based upon their literal inerrant interpretation of the Bible.
Some of the issues they brought up seem rather trivial for instance allowing Muslim students to not attend schools during Islamic Holy Days. I went to a public school which was mainly made up of Protestant and Jewish kids and Jewish kids were permitted to not attend school during Jewish High Holidays. Students of certain Protestant denominations were excused when a class would sing Christmas Carols or various other activities. I'm not too sure what the big deal is. Even I sometimes wonder if in America too much is made of things which many Canadians would just consider not worth fighting over. When I was in school up til junior high we had prayers each morning and once a month an assembly when a United Church minister would give a sermon. I wish I had been able to be excused from such sermonizing and proselytizing.
As for Spencer example concerning 'jello" couldn't one make the case about the banning of peanut butter in schools because a couple of students are allergic to peanut butter.At Halloween most people now make an effort not to give out treats with peanut butter in them.
I believe that all religions should not merely be tolerated but should be shown some respect. It is a matter of concern when there are competing rights. It is also a matter of concern when someone traditions are in opposition to the laws of the land and traditions . Sometimes the law of the land prevails in others we might compromise if possible.
But again look at the Christian right who are anti-abortion they go to abortion clinics harass the clients and staff or blow the place up or kill doctors who perform abortions. Some of them would like to make homosexuality a crime or at least deprive homosexuals of the same rights as heterosexuals. They would also like to restrict the rights of women but also of workers and of collective bargaining and outlaw unions, or insist as already occurs in the United States that politicians need to publicly state how they are strengthened by their faith -so they already have a religious litmus test, these are also the people who want the Teaching of Evolution banned from the schools or to give equal time and scientific weight to Intelligent design "Creationism". So their concern over Islam is a bit of a red herring as they would also like to set up a state based on Biblical principles.
It is also disconcerting hearing these Evangelicals going on about Islam as a violent religion when the History of Christianity is also steeped in blood from the killing of Pagans , to killing heretics and Jews to the over two hundred years of crusading and the Witch hunts and their destruction and obliteration of Native Americans etc.
and so it goes,
GORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment