[dirtboy]

But perhaps perceptions are shifting. Mainstream politics and public opinion are affected by fears – some would say hysteria – over immigration, asylum, terrorism and Islam.

Hysteria? Only to those who seek to perpetuate multiculturalism as a blunt instrument against traditional Western secular governance, and as a means to prevent looking at Islam in an objective manner:

Beyond Madrid: Winning Against Terrorism

A RAND report released in March categorized Muslims into fundamentalists, traditionalists, modernists, and secularists. The report recommended that the West support the modernists first; support the traditionalists against the fundamentalists; confront and oppose the fundamentalists, and selectively support the secularists. Such an approach is a start. But I believe that it oversimplifies the problem by failing to recognize what all Muslims share in common. It overstates the differences within the global Muslim community.

It is a fact that there is a living, vibrant Islamic ummah, or global Islamic community, perhaps more so today than in any time in modern world history. The ummah is not monolithic. But the identification that all Muslims feel for events affecting other Muslims has become real and visibly stronger and more widespread since global communications have facilitated the dahwa, or missionary activities of the Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia preaching and spreading Wahhabism with its oil wealth. Denying that there is such a globalized Muslim political and religious consciousness, or trying to argue that a universal ummah is a danger or somehow undesirable, only mobilizes all Muslims to dig in as they feel their religion is under siege.

What we are confronted with is a dynamic spectrum and not static categories within the ummah. When we ask why is it that moderates in such a spectrum do not raise their voices to challenge extremists, we must acknowledge that one reason is that, on many issues, they share much common ground, even when they disagree on particulars.

Do you seek to change the world by prayer and faith? Do you work with an imperfect reality and strive towards its perfection? Do you not reject all that is not Islamic and seek to destroy it by force so as to re-establish the perfect caliphate? These are all questions that vibrate and resonate around a single axis of faith.

We know that we should work with the moderates and isolate the extremists. But as we seek to separate the wheat from the chaff, we need to recognize that both come from the same plant.

[cwb]

What's amazing about modern-day liberalism is that as they tout multiculturalism, diversity and tolerance in the West...they argue against all those things in the so-called East, as they literally defend this extreme conservatism.

In fact, as they roll-out the welcome mat in all our Western nations, they've excused Arab anger and hatred by blaming those who have attempted to liberalize a society still trapped in the 7th Century.

I actually read a liberal journalist describing the terrorist as "heroic" for trying to preserve their cultural and ethnic identity. Excuse me...but if conservatives in this country embraced these same attributes, it would be these same liberals waging war against them for their genocidal racism and bigotry.

It is simply amazing that liberals defend what is in essence, the most conservative ideology on the planet...that still sees absolutely no separation of church and state; no women's rights; no tolerance of diversity...or anything that liberals claim to uphold. As immigrants flood this country, not only refusing to assimilate but to establish their own sub-cultures, liberals blame Arab anger and hatred on those who would dare step foot on Muslim land and do far less. HYPOCRISY!