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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSPLC Disgraces Itself on Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Last edited Sat Nov 5, 2016, 09:02 PM - Edit history (1)
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/southern-poverty-law-center-labels-a-muslim-reformer-and-ex-muslim-atheist-as-extremists/At the heart of the controversy is a media blacklist under the title “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.” The title itself is indisputably dehumanizing and indirectly threatening. “Field guides” typically describe plants and non-human animals, and the term is associated with hunting. An online search brings up “2016 Hunting and Trapping Field Guide” and “Field Guide for Buck Deer” and “Field Guide: Duck Hunting the Skagit County Coastline.” The title may or may not constitute incitement, but it is at best surprising coming from an organization that has built its legacy by calling out dangerous innuendo.
...
But outcry against the list—including a Change.org petition that garnered 8000 signatures in three days—centers on the fact that the SPLC list of 15, which does include some deplorable racists also includes two well-known and widely respected (if controversial) critics of Islam, Aayan Hirsi Ali and Maajid Nawaz. Ali, is a former Dutch politician of Somali descent and a harsh critic of Islam whose foundation opposes honor killing, forced marriage and female genital cutting—which she faced in her own family and community. She recounts this history in her book, Infidel. Nawaz is a practicing Muslim reformer, founder of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank in London.
I'm signing the petition against this. If this doesn't change, I'm not giving my monthly $100 donation to these guys. And I will help troll them pretty hard online.
update: Here is a great rebuttal to this idiocy that got her on this list:
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stone space
(6,498 posts)
ericson00
(2,707 posts)as is putting Nawaz and Pipes on this list. Nor do they do things like promote or condone suicide bombings, like many REAL extremists, who are often found on the far-left of academia and ME studies these days.
patsimp
(915 posts)ericson00
(2,707 posts)not just in Europe (like Jean Le Pen, Jorg Haider's successors, Golden Dawn), but far, FAR more in the Middle East, like Al-Bashir, Al-Shebaab, Boko Haram, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran's regime, I could go on and on.
tritsofme
(17,379 posts)ericson00
(2,707 posts)ANY problem with how Islam is practiced, is coming to a head. There's no reason we can't both fight those who stoke a new McCarthyism against perceived Islamists AND some of the barbaric savage practices that are widespread or condoned by enough Muslims to affect societies. Islam is a proselytizing religion; what goes on does matter.
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)Raw Story is a den of morons, as usual.
Hirsi Ali's cozy relationship with the anti-immigrant right is really gross and she deserves to be called out for it.
Their argument re: the use of "field guide" is too stupid to be believed.
ericson00
(2,707 posts)immigration worth addressing. Should we not care about the culture being brought by new immigrants, or the record of integration in other places? Especially when they bring a religion which is spread by missionaries, as most other religions are (Bahai'ism and Judaism are NOT proselytizing, but most Christianity and Islam are)
We all know the only reason much of the left thinks Muslim immigration is not worth scrutinizing more; because we assume that as mainly non-whites, they'll be scared off by conservative racists and legitimate xenophobes and vote for the center-left party. Which is all well and good, until they start making their policy views felt in terms of who they vote for and what propositions they vote for in elections, or a party like the GOP ultimately does an about face on Muslim social views and co-opts them. Or that some people think all borders are inherently racist, that letting anyone in is how to correct that.
This isn't Mexican immigration here, which I got no problem with. This is immigration from parts of the world where the predominant culture thinks:
and lives:
(in the apostasy map, only one country is non-Muslim).
Albertoo
(2,016 posts)ericson00
(2,707 posts)what the SPLC did is yet another example of the kind of disconnect between much of the left and the reality out there. Also, the left should be careful for what it wishes for in immigration from the Middle East.
What an offensive, anti-immigration, anti-Muslim post. You should delete this.
Marr
(20,317 posts) philosslayer
(3,076 posts)I can present data that can put any minority group you can pick in a bad light. Yet for some reason, on DU its acceptable to present data that puts Muslims in a bad light, and thats just a-ok.
Marr
(20,317 posts)It's a bit disturbing that some people here think it should be otherwise.
And for the record, data is not slam poetry or painting. It can't be used to make any point with validity. If any of the data presented above is flawed, you are free to point out the errors or describe exactly how it's misleading.
ericson00
(2,707 posts)so he'll just keep killing the messenger (or trying).
Albertoo
(2,016 posts)It's not the people who posted the Pew Reserach data who are a problem.
The problem are the hundreds of millions of Muslims who adhere to literal Islam, and therefore support the death penalty for imaginary crimes (sexual or opinion)
philosslayer
(3,076 posts)The opinions of a few fanatics does not change that fact.
Albertoo
(2,016 posts)• religion was propagated by the sword
• sacred texts enjoin holy war to impose Islam
• Pew Research shows hundreds of millions of Muslims support death for imaginary crimes
Now, tell me why Islam is a religion of peace?
philosslayer
(3,076 posts)look up the videos. I'm not going to do your work for you. He knows more on the subject and you ever will, and I trust him
Response to philosslayer (Reply #96)
Post removed
Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)Try the utterly repressive belief systems, and real life horrific outcomes, buttressed and given justification by the teachings itself, of hundreds of millions of it's (most other religions as well) followers.
Upin
(115 posts)... or if you consider the treatment of women and non-muslims as second class "peaceful" as long as they aren't being physically attacked at that very moment.
Wow...
Taitertots
(7,745 posts)You should be anti-immigrant toward anyone who supports genital mutilation, honor killings, blasphemy laws.... They have no place in western civilization.
lapislzi
(5,762 posts)A seasoned jihadist will give the right answers to the screener's questions. That being said, it appears that Hirsi-Ali is also well-versed in how to appear a credible asylum-seeker. Yes, she came clean years later, but the fact remains that dissembling is not difficult and would likely fool many screeners.
There is no foolproof way of screening. That being said, the moral obligation to refugees legitimately fleeing humanitarian disasters is legitimate, and real.
There are no easy answers here.
mwrguy
(3,245 posts)The woman is a vile xenophobe and Islamophobe.
Upin
(115 posts)
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Nor does denial make it untrue.
Upin
(115 posts)... tend to disbelieve by default until proof or evidence is provided.
Someone makes a claim then they have the burden of proof. Serious accusations like xenophobe and Islamophobe should have substantial substance behind them. Especially if you are talking about someone who has been literally and physically mutilated as a direct result of those cultures and religion.
On another completely unrelated note... Typing something twice doesn't make it any more true either.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Cool rationalizations, yet lacking any evidence to support your own premise, regardless of how many times you want to type it.
Upin
(115 posts)... that the person making a serious claim/accusation must provide serious evidence is a rationalization?
opiate69
(10,129 posts)
Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)Albertoo
(2,016 posts)And the silence of most Muslim clerics in the countries practicing FGM or the wedding of pre-teen girls is deafening.
Taitertots
(7,745 posts)Coming out against a victim of FGM for condemning the ideology used as a justification is abhorrent.
Calling bad ideas "religion" doesn't mean everyone should respect these horrible ideas. It doesn't mean the people who peacefully condemn terrible ideas are extremists.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Shutting down free speech and ideas just because they criticize a religion is wrong too. She grew up as a muslim and was victimized by its practices. She has every right to be critical, even violently opposed to its beliefs and teachings.
Taitertots
(7,745 posts)When these beliefs and teachings manifest into behaviors a violent response is justified.
I.e. We should stop female genital mutilation by force, up to and including killing everyone who tries. We shouldn't use force against people simply because it is part of their backward ideology.
Enrique
(27,461 posts)and SPLC has the right to list them as a hate group.
Upin
(115 posts)... if they add people like this to it.
If the spectrum runs all the way from advocates against FGM to full blown KKK then what value is it?
It becomes a list of 'people who don't like things'. Big whoop...
Marr
(20,317 posts)lapislzi
(5,762 posts)I include a link below, not as an endorsement, but in case people want to make up their own minds.
https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-borders-of-tolerance
A word that jumped out at me at around the 40:00 mark (I don't remember exactly) was Ali's assertion that Muslim immigrants to the west must be "civilized," as if there is a fixed and immutable concept of what that might look like, and that concept is incompatible with a basic reading of Q'uranic text.
I agree and disagree with a lot of what she presents. I will need to do more reading to determine where I fall here. Discuss?
Taitertots
(7,745 posts)An easy to understand contradiction is the Koran calling on Muslims to use violence to take protection money (Jizya) from non-Muslims. People like me view religious violence and systemic oppression as a cause of unnecessary human suffering.
The Koran/Hadith say that Mohammed raped women and kept them as his sex slaves. People like me view rape and slavery as a cause of unnecessary human suffering.
By any reasonable standard, a literal interpretation of the Koranic teachings is counter to our system of justice.
lapislzi
(5,762 posts)Sorry if that wasn't clear. I'm trying to assemble enough facts to form an opinion. That's one of the facts. Clearly both Harris and Ali are controversial figures. There's a lot of what Harris says that I agree with unequivocally. There's also a lot that puts him beyond the pale into fanatic territory, in my opinion.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)philosslayer
(3,076 posts)In other words, she is implying they are savages. Its offensive, anti-islamic language and justifies the SPLC's decision.
lapislzi
(5,762 posts)I would. I think that is empirically true. I think the same of "honor" killings and the killing of people who don't follow your religion, or even your interpretation of your religion.
I'm also playing a bit of devil's advocate here, because I don't have a firm opinion on Harris or AHA.
I hear what you're saying and I see where you're going. It is unclear whether she is condemning people or practices, and I think that's what's driving the reactions.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)Upin
(115 posts)Not all cultures and their practices are equal.
Marr
(20,317 posts)Ali is one of the most prominent voices urging reform today. I don't see anyone can deny that's needed, and I don't see how anyone can expect it to actually happen when we're shooting down actual reformers.
Much of the left, in both Europe and the US, is wildly out of step with reality and public opinion on this issue, and it's going to have big, long term repercussions.
lapislzi
(5,762 posts)We have to call out barbarism (i.e., the death penalty for nonbelievers) for what it is. And barbarism needs to be traced back to its source, in this case, part of a religious text. It's not "islamophobic" to point this out. When beliefs antithetical to a society are imported from elsewhere, those belief deserve the most rigorous scrutiny. That's also not bigoted. Western cultural norms are routinely rejected by Islamic societies. Why would the west not apply the same standards to ideas that westerners would consider oppressive or misogynistic, or antithetical to free speech, a value which we hold sacred in the west?
Marr
(20,317 posts)anti-intellectual, anti-science, authoritarian religion. They'd never do the same for a Christian sect with similarly draconian views, but call it Islam and they're all over it.
Upin
(115 posts)... tied into the relationship between the West (mostly US) and the Middle East.
lapislzi
(5,762 posts)You can call out the barbaric ideas in a religious text without going overboard and broad-brushing an entire class of people. I don't understand the timidity of many Europeans, who are apparently afraid of offending the immigrant community. Some in the immigrant community hold ideas that would oppress westerners and do away with many of our freedoms. Some are actively working toward that end, based on nothing more than a selective interpretation of a religious text. You can hold those two thoughts in your head at the same time, and not be "anti-immigrant."
kcr
(15,317 posts)Some think they can bundle their bigotry with statements of anti-misogyny and anti-gay, and think they can then claim anyone who doesn't join them in their bigotry are being hypocritical. It's an old, obvious trick.
procon
(15,805 posts)Hirsi Ali worked at the rightwing American Enterprise Institute, and has long been the darling of all the fomenting Islamofasists over at Faux News, so that gives her all the credibility of a Sarah Palin or Pam Geller.
Her story is largely a fabrication as reported by Alternet:
http://www.alternet.org/media/anti-islam-author-ayaan-hirsi-alis-latest-deception
Marr
(20,317 posts)Blumenthal ought to be ashamed.
procon
(15,805 posts)Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)Max is a writer and self-declared “anti-Zionist,” known for his active support of the BDS movement and his calls for the dismantling of the State of Israel. He trolls pro-Israel writers, as I can personally attest. Max’s widely panned 2013 book Goliath, Life and Loathing in Greater Israel is full of anti-Israel rants, omissions and outright lies. In it, he repeatedly compares the Jewish state to Nazi Germany, and advocates that the majority of Jews currently living in Israel must be removed from the land to make way for a Palestinian state. Mimicking the Islamic State’s acronym ISIL, Max created the hashtag #JSIL – Jewish State in the Levant. To Max, the democratic State of Israel and Islamic State are morally equivalent entities.
His opinions are seen as radical leftist claptrap even by Left-leaning detractors of the Jewish state. The Nation columnist Eric Alterman – himself a critic of Israel’s presence in the West bank – described how the book “could have been published by the Hamas Book-of-the-Month Club.” J. J. Goldberg of The Forward described Goliath as an “unpleasant book.” By contrast, David Duke, the racist former Klu Klux Klan leader, praised Blumenthal’s book.
procon
(15,805 posts)Did you notice that this in only an opinion piece and not an analytical report with supporting citation links?
That's a critical distinction, yeah?
Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)
procon
(15,805 posts)Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)the rest of the community can decide for themselves
procon
(15,805 posts)Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)http://forward.com/news/344431/max-blumenthal-slams-elie-wiesel-hours-after-death-draws-rebuke-from-hillar/
Maxx Blumenthal, the journalist and harsh critic of Israel, harshly condemned Elie Wiesel after his death last weeekend, Tweeting that the iconic Holocaust survivor did “more harm than good” with his unswerving support of the Jewish state.
“Elie Wiesel went from a victim of war crimes to a supporter of those who commit them,” said Blumenthal, whose father Sidney is a close confidant of Hillary Clinton. “He did more harm than good and should not be honored.”
The outburst drew a rebuke from Clinton.
“Secretary Clinton emphatically rejects these offensive, hateful, and patently absurd statements about Elie Wiesel,” Jake Sullivan, senior policy aide to the Clinton campaign, said in a July 6 statement to The Jerusalem Post. “She believes they are wrong in all senses of the term. She believes that Max Blumenthal and others should cease and desist in making them.”
Max Blumenthal is the author of Goliath, a book that harshly criticized Israel and its occupation of Palestinian land. He is also a force on on social media, where he has a large following.
snip
WILD THING: MAX BLUMENTHAL’S CREEPY ANTI-ZIONIST ODYSSEY
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/189172/max-blumenthal-and-anti-zionists
Late last year, Germany was captivated by a mesmerizing, almost absurdist video at the heart of something eventually dubbed Toiletgate. In it, anti-Zionist activists Max Blumenthal and David Sheen chase Gregor Gysi, the chairman of die Linke, Germany’s left-wing opposition party, down his office’s hallway. The two men hound Gysi with accusations that he called them anti-Semites, which Gysi denies. Gysi flees into a toilet stall, and Sheen and Blumenthal try to force their way in, without success.
German newspapers across the political spectrum denounced the obsessive radicals who had tried to prevent Gysi from urinating in peace, and the German media wasn’t shy about calling Blumenthal and Sheen—who are both Jewish by birth—anti-Semites. But the story behind Toiletgate was a little more complex. Two Linke politicians known for their opposition to Israeli “imperialism,” Inge Höger and Annette Groth—who had also sailed on the Mavi Marmara in 2010 when Israeli commandos disastrously raided the ship bound for Gaza—had invited Blumenthal and Sheen to speak at a conference on Israel in the Bundestag on Nov. 10. Tipped off that the two men were ferocious denouncers of Israel, Gysi canceled the invitation.
The reason was simple politics. The Baader Meinhof era still echoes in Germany: Nothing can tarnish a German politician like charges of anti-Semitism. Gysi has for years now been trying to put a stop to the radical antics that have led most Germans to shrug off die Linke as a sideshow. In June 2011, under Gysi’s leadership, die Linke adopted with a large majority statements affirming Israel’s right to exist and in favor of a two-state solution. Gysi also pushed through a measure stating that Linke representatives would not take part in boycott efforts and Gaza flotillas or advocate for a one-state solution. Höger and Groth, boisterous radicals (and not just about Israel), have been chafing under these restrictions. Toiletgate was their failed attempt to push back.
The day before their Bundestag conference, Nov. 9, Blumenthal and Sheen were supposed to appear at Berlin’s Volksbühne to discuss Israel’s “war crimes” in Gaza. That event also got canceled: Nov. 9, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, is a day of solemn commemoration in Germany, not a time for attacks on Israel. An unfazed Blumenthal explained that he had particularly wanted his event to take place on the day of Kristallnacht. “For us,” he said, “it was the perfect time to explain how the legacy of the European genocide had inspired our work, to emphasize that ‘never again’ meant never again to anyone.” Characteristically, Blumenthal cast Israel as a planner of mass murder and on a day consecrated to the memory of the Shoah.
snip
Another Milestone For the Mainstreaming of Anti Semitism : The New American Foundation and Max Blumenthal's Goliath
http://brandeiscenter.com/?/publications/research_articles/another_milestone_for_the_mainstreaming_of_anti_semitism_the_new_american_f
http://www.brandeiscenter.com/images/uploads/articleuploads/marquardt-Bigman_research_paper.pdf
Abstract
This paper argues that, by providing a platform to Max Blumenthal for the promotion of his book
Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, the New America Foundation (NAF) bestowed legitimacy on
a book that is, in effect, antisemitic because its author intended to convince readers that Israel should
be equated with Nazi Germany. It will be shown that during the NAF event, Blumenthal was allowed to
justify his comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany without being challenged. Furthermore, it will
be documented that when the event was held, the NAF already knew, or could have known, that the
book had been eagerly embraced by notorious antisemites and that it primarily appealed to activists
campaigning for the delegitimization and elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. It will also be shown
that Blumenthal expected – and indeed received – mainstream recognition in the aftermath of the NAF
event, including an endorsement by a NAF board member. At the same time, however, there were
additional endorsements for his book that illustrate its appeal to groups and individuals opposing Israel’s
existence as a Jewish state and espousing antisemitic views. As will be documented, Blumenthal himself
endorsed reviews that praised his book for making the case that equating Israel and Nazi Germany is
entirely justified.
* * *
Introduction (2) – Praise for Goliath from notorious antisemites and Israel-haters (8) – Criticism of
Goliath (13) – Opposition to NAF’s promotion of Goliath (20) – Goliath at the NAF (23) – Mainstream
exposure for Goliath in the aftermath of the NAF event (34) – Roger Waters praises Goliath (41) – How
anti-Israel activists define anti-Semitism (44) – Conclusion: The NAF and the power of the poison pen
Note: All links provided in the references have been accessed between December 25, 2013, and January 18, 2014.
About the author
Petra Marquardt-Bigman is a German-Israeli writer and researcher with a Ph.D. in contemporary history.
She has written a book on American intelligence analyses on Germany in the 1940s (Amerikanische
Geheimdienstanalysen über Deutschland 1942-1949. Munich, 1995: Oldenbourg) and a number of
related academic articles. Her blog, The Warped Mirror, focusing on how Israel is covered by the
international media, has been published by The Jerusalem Post since late 2006, and her writings on
Israel and the Middle East have appeared at The Guardian’s Comment is Free, World Politics Review,
The Commentator, The Algemeiner and other sites.
snip
Wiesenthal releases 'Top Ten 2013 anti-Semitic, anti-Israel slurs' list
http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Wiesenthal-releases-Top-Ten-2013-anti-Semiticanti-Israel-slurs-list-336564
Also notable on this year’s list was the presence of two anti-Israel Jewish Americans whose language contributes to anti-Semitism, according to Hier. Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, occupied the third spot and the journalist Max Blumenthal scored ninth place.
Rabbi Hier told the Post that he considers Falk and Blumenthal to “absolutely” fall in the category of Jewish anti-Semites.
“It is not the first time in the history of the Jewish people” that Jews have made anti-Jewish rants, Hier said. He stressed that one has to “judge people by their words. You can be an anti-Semite if you talk like anti-Semites.”
Hier continued, “Richard Falk should not be given a free pass because he is Jewish. We think he, Richard Falk, is an outright anti-Semite.” Likewise, Hier said of Blumental, “we judge him by what he wrote. He crossed the line into outright anti-Semitism.”
According to the Wiesenthal list, Blumenthal uses chapter titles in his book Goliath to equate Israel with the Nazi regime. Chapters in his book are entitled “Summer Camp of Destruction,” “Date with the Devil,” “There Is No Dream,” “The Concentration Camp,” “The Night of Broken Glass” and “How to Kill Goyim and Influence People.” The center noted that “he quotes approvingly characterizations of Israelis soldiers as ‘Judeo-Nazis.’”
snip
procon
(15,805 posts)But you are way off topic in trying to hijack this thread to vent your blinkered prejudices. Look, here's the thing; I disagree with you and everything you say. From your biased views to your hatreds, and your one-sided advocacy, I have nothing in common with you.
If you want to start a puff thread to exalt your preferred country, do start a new thread. But if you've just run out of inventive ways to express your biases against the SPLC for disagreeing with your personal opinion, you're done. Your personal opinions are antithetical to the basic human qualities of equality and tolerance that I value. Got it?
Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)the top slagging. I am not even particularly pro Israel. I think Netanyahu is a RW nutter, and some of what they do to the Palestinians is horrific. I just happen to also think Max Blumenthal is an anti semitic hack. It is possible to think both things. Sorry for my lack of binary thinking and refusing to be placed by you into some pre-concieved box or bin.
I see so much evil done in the name of pretty much all religions, especially the fundie versions of the 3 Abrahamic ones. I also do not like when people are so knee jerk dogmatic in their world views that they auto default to push for or against a person based on the pronouncements of an organisation (the SPLC). I also do not respect people who istantly try to lump all criticism of Islam into the RW Islamophobe category.
I am acutely aware, as a woman of colour (and thus sensitive to Ali's plight in some aspects) and as a member of the LGBTQ community of the effects of prejudice and hate, so I denounce your trying to cast shade on me in any fashion when it comes to that as well.
procon
(15,805 posts)Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)Upin
(115 posts)philosslayer
(3,076 posts)Perhaps they know something we do not.
Upin
(115 posts)That's the point of this whole thing.
It's gotten to the point where fighting back against a culture than physically mutilated her as a child is now seen as intolerant and as hate mongering.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)I've used them all my life on day long hikes and horseback rides.
I use them to identify plant life, so that I know what grows in my region, and can recognize it when I see it. I use them to do the same for wild life, especially birds. Not because I'm hunting them, but because I'm interested in local fauna as well as flora. At one time I used them to recognize and report birds showing up to my feeders as part of a study of migratory birds and population growth or decline. I've also used them to identify which hawks and falcons are around, because I only recognize the red-tail from a distance. Field guides have been used by bird watchers and other nature lovers for generations, with no association with "hunting" to kill.
As for the rest? I don't know them well enough to form an opinion at this point, but I won't be rushing to outrage just yet.
Albertoo
(2,016 posts)Nawaz is a Muslim who defended Islam at a famous Intelligence Squared debate
tenderfoot
(8,437 posts)Albertoo
(2,016 posts)- Nafeez Ahmed: wrote a conspiracy theory book on 9/11, saying it was an American plot
- Max Blumenthal: wrote for Al Akhbar, a quasi Hezbollah mouthpiece
I have no doubt these two gentlemen were perfectly honest in their fact searching about Maajid Nawaz 
struggle4progress
(118,290 posts)BY NATHAN LEAN
January 27, 2016
... he’s ingratiated himself in the growing union of neoconservatives and hawkish liberals who believe in Western exceptionalism and the efficacy of power, especially military power, to expand its influence and protect its interests. He has found in them an opportunity to expand his platform, and they, in him, a veneer that deflects accusations of Islamophobia and Western triumphalism by fixating not on Islam per se but on the alleged threat posed by its foreign “ism” affix: Islamism ...
Buried beneath the adulation .. are the sighs of those who have long maintained that Nawaz’s dramatic tale of redemption isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Interviews with his friends and relatives suggest that his account is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies—indications, they say, of a turncoat who cares more about being a well-compensated hero than he does about the cause he champions ...
Ashraf Hoque, a friend from Nawaz’s college days, is more blunt.
“He is neither an Islamist nor a liberal,” he said. “Maajid is whatever he thinks he needs to be” ...
https://newrepublic.com/article/128436/maajid-nawaz-really-believe
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)literally no one can or should.
kcr
(15,317 posts)
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Muslim refugees considered for resettlement in the U.S. are 'extreme vetted' over a period of up to 2 years to exclude potential terrorists.
Apart from terrorist inclinations, we don't employ thought police to to blackmark a person's personal opinions on other issues. Whatever someone believes about 'honor killings' or FGM, immigrants here are subject to the same U.S. laws as the rest of us.
I haven't yet dived into the background on why SPLC added these people to their list, so for now I'll give SPLC the benefit of the doubt. Moreover, I'll reject the assertion that "SPLC Disgraces Itself" on its face.
What's disgraceful is a DUer making such an over-the-top statement like that.
struggle4progress
(118,290 posts)of the violence in the world today, Muslims are responsible” ... Hirsi Ali provided no citation ... Hirsi Ali’s AHA Foundation did not respond to my request for a citation .. nor did the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute that employs Hirsi Ali ... My email query to Hirsi Ali’s personal account at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government .. also went unanswered ... Instead of responding to my question .. Ali’s AHA Foundation forwarded my .. query to the Washington Free Beacon, a right-wing publication with its own history of .. tall tales and hoaxes ... Her tale is an uplifting, comforting one ... The .. problem is that .. much of what she has told the public about herself is questionable ... “Yeah, I made up the whole thing,” Hirsi Ali admitted on camera ... Hirsi Ali’s history of lying tumbled conveniently down the .. memory hole ... While American media demonstrates an endless appetite for her polemics about Islam, holding her to account remains taboo.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Latest Deception
By Max Blumenthal
March 26, 2015
struggle4progress
(118,290 posts)April 11, 2014 1:08 PM EDT
MICHELLE LEUNG
... Hirsi Ali is not moderate in her views of Islam -- once referring to the religion as "a destructive nihilistic cult of death" in a 2007 interview with The London Evening Standard. The New York Times reports that Hirsi Ali has also "advocated the closing of Islamic schools in the West and said that 'violence is inherent in Islam' and that 'Islam is the new fascism'." In a 2007 Reason interview, she also called for Islam to be militarily crushed and suggested the Constitution should be amended to permit oppression of U.S. Muslims ...
Fox and other conservative voices such as Pamela Geller, Zuhdi Jasser, and the National Review use figures like Hirsi Ali to boost their own anti-Islamic positions as legitimate, giving them cover to continue spreading anti-Muslim hate. Conservative media's rush to uphold Hirsi Ali's story is therefore much more a defense of their own Islamophobic narratives than of Hirsi Ali herself ...
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/04/11/why-aayan-hirsi-ali-gets-a-conservative-media-s/198856
Albertoo
(2,016 posts)I don't know who wrote that, but their sympathies visibly lie with muscular, literal Islam.
Not quite sure they are the bearers of truth on how Islam could evolve into something compatible with democracy, including sexual freedom and freedom of speech.
struggle4progress
(118,290 posts)According to Jasser, the Muslim Brotherhood’s mission is to upend the Constitution and impose Sharia law and Islamic “political collectivism” in America.
By Sarah Posner
MARCH 8, 2011
... Unlike more wild-eyed anti-Muslim agitators like Frank Gaffney (with whom Jasser has collaborated) and Pamela Geller, Jasser comes across as calm, sober and professional. He gained notoriety in 2008, with the release of the Clarion Fund film The Third Jihad, which claimed that a fifth column of Muslim extremists have infiltrated America with the intent of establishing a theocratic state. The star of the film, Jasser helped promote the claim that has ricocheted all over the right — that a single document written by a lone Muslim Brotherhood member in the early 1990s proves that American Muslim charities and advocacy groups are part of a plot to subvert the Constitution and America and install an Islamic theocracy.
More recently, Jasser made an appearance in Newt Gingrich’s 2010 documentary, America At Risk: The War With No Name, produced by Citizens United, the conservative group whose efforts to air its anti–Hillary Clinton documentary led to the Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited corporate money in campaigns. The release of the film roughly coincided with the Geller-created hysteria over Park51, as well as with Gingrich’s own calls to ban Sharia, warning of “a comprehensive political, economic and religious movement that seeks to impose sharia — Islamic law — upon all aspects of global society.” The film is notably anti-Obama ...
https://www.thenation.com/article/meet-dr-zuhdi-jasser-star-witness-peter-kings-anti-muslim-show-trial/
struggle4progress
(118,290 posts)Zuhdi Jasser: "Most Of The Mosques In America Are ... Connected To The Muslim Brotherhood"
Video ››› February 3, 2016 11:51 AM EST
ZUHDI JASSER: Well I think he's basically using it as a political prop in this height of a partisan season and also right before the National Prayer Breakfast, wants to make a point. Why didn't he visit a Sikh temple, why didn't he visit a synagogue? ... This is not -- even if you take the president's liberal values, he's basically using Muslims as a prop who disagree with his own liberal values it's bizarre.
http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/02/03/on-fox-zuhdi-jasser-claims-obamas-mosque-visit/208347
MellowDem
(5,018 posts)by labeling Nawaz especially as anti-Muslim, has just insinuated that religion is not a belief system, but rather an inherent identity above criticism, even when the religious ideas are themselves bigoted, they attack victims of Islam who are standing up to it. They are way out of their wheelhouse and look like fucking idiots.
Religious privilege drips from every facet of society, and the SPLC is oblivious that it is reinforcing that privilege.
Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)tenderfoot
(8,437 posts)Her husband's a douche too.
davidn3600
(6,342 posts)If you criticize anything else, it's a hate crime.
ericson00
(2,707 posts)but ESPECIALLY Judaism because of Zionism and "Palestine."