Posted on 08/19/2006 10:10:09 PM PDT by theothercheek
The Washington Post, columnist David Ignatius asks, “Are We Fighting Islamic Fascists?” and answers a bold, “Yes and no.”
His argument for “yes” is pretty strong:
Ernst Nolte's "Three Faces of Fascism," a classic study of the social forces that created fascist movements in France, Italy and Germany during the 1920s and '30s … concludes … Fascism is "resistance to transcendence" … rebellion against the liberating but destabilizing transformations of modern society.
In the countries where it took root, fascism began as a middle-class assault on the liberal elites who were creating that era's version of globalization. Jews were a special target, but they were also symbols of a larger internationalist movement. ...
I do see many of these same factors in the growing popularity of radical Islam in the Middle East. ...
Today's Muslim radicals, like the Nazis in Germany, gain support by promising dignity for a people who feel shamed by defeat in war. That's the appeal of Hezbollah's leader, Hasan Nasrallah: The Arabs feel they have suffered 40 years of military humiliation from Israel. Nasrallah offers the tonic of defiance and, for the moment at least, a sort of victory. That makes him a hero, even though he brought on the ruination of Lebanon.
In many ways … [“Islamic fascists”] does capture the rage that fuels America's enemies. What is most pernicious about the movement is that, as with European fascism, it has made Jews the symbol for larger forces that confound angry Muslims. This is perverse: The corrupt elites who obstruct Iranians, Egyptians, Syrians and Saudis today are their own rulers and their legions of fixers and bagmen, not Israeli Jews.
And then, Ignatius blinks:
Yet I balk at the term. The notion that we are fighting "Islamic fascists" blurs the conflict, widening the enemy to many if not all Muslims. It's as if we were to call Hitler and Mussolini "Christian fascists," implying that it is their religion, not resistance to transcendence, that is the root cause of the problem.
The Stiletto thinks that Ignatius has it exactly backwards. European fascism has little or nothing to do with Christianity, whereas Isamofascism has everything to do with Sharia law – which is the root cause of the resistance to transcendence throughout the Islamic world. The proof is the inexorable spread of Wahhabism, an uncompromising, fundamentalist Islamic theology that originated in Saudi Arabia that seeks to “restore Islam from … innovations, superstitions, deviances, heresies and idolatries,” according to Jim Kouri, a top official of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
Even the less orthodox Shia and Sunni Muslims – who are not considered Islamic enough by Wahhabis, BTW – living in Western countries resist assimilation. The result is that their allegiance to the tenets and practices of Islam is stronger than to the mores and cultures of the countries in which they live – whether they are recent immigrants, or first-generation citizens.
As columnist Cal Thomas notes so pithily:
The British are still shocked that people who are born in their country, go to their schools, have British accents and eat fish and chips would kill their fellow Brits. They do so because their allegiance is not to Britain, or to the Queen, but rather to their perverted view of God and the instructions from the hate preachers telling them to go bag some Jews, Christians, Westerners and other “infidels.”
Want more proof that resistance to transcendence at the heart of Islamic fascism is rooted in religious fanaticism? Consider this: The Taliban’s new terror tactic in Afghanistan is to torch newly built schools – even when class is in session and teachers and students die as a result. Why? According to Reuters: “Most of the schools attacked are co-educational. The Taliban banned girls from school during its 5-year rule and has warned teachers against allowing girls. Suspected militants recently shot dead a lecturer in front of his pupils after he defied them.”
Note: This is excerpted from the third item in "The Daily Blade" feature.
See also: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701193_pf.html
http://www.commonvoice.com/article.asp?colid=5584
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CalThomas/2006/08/12/time_to_go_on_offense
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-08-18T095806Z_01_ISL318437_RTRUKOC_0_US-AFGHAN-SCHOOLS.xml&archived=False
Yes, and it's ignored that Hitler's Nazi ideology glorified the pre-Christian pagan past with its Nordic, barbaric, "blond beasts" of tribal ferocity. And who was the "official" philosopher of the regime? Yes, Nietzsche who professed nihilism, atheism, and the "will to power".
Absolutely. What politically correct weed was Ignatius smoking?
Whatever you call it, it is pure evil.
We are fighting the anschluss of the Islamic Reich.
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