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Australian Sue Hoffman, on a visit to Syria, helps build some cultural bridges:

I was asked about anti-Muslim sentiments in the west and explained about talkback radio and the like, that there are Aussies who think that Muslims can’t be believed because the Quran says it’s OK to lie; that Muslims beat their women; that Islam is a religion of war not peace; that Muslims are out to convert the world to Islam; that Muslims support terrorists and suicide bombings. My friends were perplexed as to why people in the West might believe this stuff ...

Nice work, Sue. Way to help. Of course, some Australians do think the worst of every Muslim, but equally some Muslims do lie, beat their wives, wage war, wish to convert the world, and support terrorism. The likes of Hoffman always become offended when this is pointed out. But give her a chance to run down her own people ...

Posted by Tim B. on 12/04/2005 at 06:25 AM
  1. My friends were perplexed as to why people in the West might object to this stuff . . . [fix’t]

    “Seriously, Ms. Hoffman, why are you reciting our credits?”

    Posted by DrZin on 2005 12 04 at 07:40 AM • permalink

  2. To be fair, much of what she’s saying is right, the vast majority of Syrians don’t have the slightest whiff of Wahhabism about them. This is a result of the only truly successful counter-insurgency campaign in modern Arabic history; the Hama Massacre.

    Posted by AussieJim on 2005 12 04 at 08:23 AM • permalink

  3. Well some do. As a Catholic, some of my ‘betters’ do things they shouldn’t either. Doesn’t mean I can’t voice my disgust about it.

    Posted by Nic on 2005 12 04 at 08:24 AM • permalink

  4. “Ms Hoffman, meet Ms Mulhearn,
    Why hello, daaarling, I believe that you are a member of the deluded idiots club as well, Did you manage to get a nice little hijab and a prayer mat down at that darling little souk in downtown Baghdad? blah, blah, blah…..”

    Vacuous morons.

    Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2005 12 04 at 09:09 AM • permalink

  5. How asinine.  I don’t hold any of those beliefs about Muslims as a group; the idea that that’s the gulf between us and them shows how clueless she is.

    I hold the belief that in a part of the world that’s politically backward, vast amounts of oil money have been used to spread a particularly primitive and vicious form of Islam which bears striking resemblances—in its quest for purity, in its hatreds, in its blithe acceptance of mass murder—to the fascism we had to destroy in our own culture.  And that anyone who goes to a place like Syria and tries to convince them that it’s just a matter of OUR ignorance and hatred is a fellow traveler and ought to be, at minimum, interned for the remainder of the war.  If not considerably more.

    Posted by Mike G on 2005 12 04 at 09:57 AM • permalink

  6. Some Australians do think think the worst of every muslim because the ones who supposedly don’t lie, beat their wives, wage war, wish to convert the world, and support terrorism are extremely reticent in opposing those who do and taking responsibility for the malignancy of their culture, yet not at all reticent in demonising islamic terrorists’ victims.

    Posted by Jim Geones on 2005 12 04 at 10:54 AM • permalink

  7. Supposedly, Jim? 

    Every one of them, extremely reticent?  All 300,000 of them?

    Posted by slammer on 2005 12 04 at 11:24 AM • permalink

  8. There’s Wm. F. Buckley’s recent line :

    `The moment has not come, but it is around the corner, when non-Muslims will reasonably demand to have evidence that the Muslim faith can operate within boundaries in which Christians and Jews (and many non-believers) live and work without unconstitutional distraction.’‘

    That’s not about generalizing but about a fairly astounding silence.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2005 12 04 at 11:44 AM • permalink

  9. It is still rare for moderate Muslims to speak up against Islamic extremism, but it does happen.  And when it does, they get almost no coverage from the mainstream press.  So Muslims are not the only ones to blame.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2005 12 04 at 02:31 PM • permalink

  10. After 9/11, there were fears of a backlash against Muslims in the US and the rest of the West.

    Instead, we’ve bent over backwards kissing their asses.

    I guess terrorism works.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2005 12 04 at 02:42 PM • permalink

  11. Bending over backwards will never endear us to muslims.However touchy they may appear to be.
    It is not our remarks or actions which upsets them. it is simply our very presence as infidels, whose only right to life is as lesser humans under the rule of islam as dhimmies,- people of the book.
    We must abandon our culture and all that is dear to us Our religion and churches, our museums of art, our literature , our musical heritage , our cinema , our ornate architecture and statues. Every moment of our day and every action we make must be governed totally by islam. and our women turned into mules to be beaten and oppressed.
    Any softness on our bahalf is merely another opportunity to make further gains within our society.
    it really is that simple.

    Posted by davo on 2005 12 04 at 06:55 PM • permalink

  12. I forget who makes the comment here regularly. But, When the first Christian cathedray is erected alongside a mosqe in ANY islamic state they have entered the 20th century. (deliberate dating)

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2005 12 04 at 07:15 PM • permalink

  13. Arrg! PIMF cathedral

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2005 12 04 at 07:16 PM • permalink

  14. There are at least two issues here: first, the Muslim religion condones these practices and many accredited Imams preach them.  Second, some or maybe even the majority of Muslims do not practice them but of those who do practice them virtually 100% are Muslims.

    How can it be fixed? Well a good start is to hold a convention of Muslims and at that convention they should create a new code that liberates women and outlaws jihad.  This will allow Muslims then to establish their allegiance to the new code and isolate those who want to practice the existing code. 

    This would have a positive impact on relations with the west and we could all work together to deal with the hold outs.

    Posted by allan on 2005 12 04 at 08:43 PM • permalink

  15. I am about half way through a very good book on this subject called “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by Robert Spencer. I highly recommend it.
    To those of you wondering why moderate Muslims are very quiet, the Koran mandates war and death to non-believers and “hypocrites”. Hypocrites are moderate Muslims. According to the Koran, moderate Muslims are no better than Christians and Jews, and are to be treated accordingly. No wonder they keep quiet.

    Posted by DropDeadUgly on 2005 12 05 at 03:02 AM • permalink

  16. It’s amazing how effective threats of violence can be in maintaining order - or at least silence on certain subjects.
    Watching the program about the Normans the other night was a reminder that Euro culture was once no better - around 1066 AD.
    They had their own versions of the Hama Massacre. But Europe and the English speaking countries are the beneficiaries of reforms over subsequent centuries. The Arab world is yet to benefit from a long overdue reform of Islamic teachings, and of their deeply flawed political and cultural practises.
    We will know when this has succeeded. As the f’ing mole rightly observes above, there must come a time when Christian churches are accepted in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, and when Christian schoolchildren are no longer in danger of beheading in evil Indonesian provinces.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2005 12 05 at 07:02 AM • permalink

  17. DropDeadUgly, that book is in my lending library along with Spencer’s Islam Unveiled.

    I’m getting up quite a little collection that I pass around to friends and acquaintances when they tell me that I should learn about what’s really going on.

    I prefer Islam Unveiled, but the PIG is great because it’s written in such an accessible style - 15yo’s shouldn’t have any problems with it holding their attention. :)

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2005 12 05 at 07:39 AM • permalink

  18. I don’t offer this lightly or intend to be gratuitous but Sue Hoffman and her friends need to wake up.

    I couldn’t watch it all so by all means take my word that it is sickening and appalling.

    http://www.iran-e-azad.org/stoning/video.html

    No, not all Muslims condone such things but we are not talking about myths here.  This is a piece of a world some who call themselves Muslims want us all to share - and they are willing to murder to bring it about.

    Posted by Inurbanus on 2005 12 05 at 03:09 PM • permalink

  19. Arbad,
    If you have not yet read them I highly recommend three books on the subject.  David Pryce-Jones’es book The Closed Circle is an examination of Arab political culture by a British journallist who has spent many years in the Arab world and learned Arabic as a child.

    Bernard Lewis is the formost Western student of Islamic History.  Two of his latest books are What Went Wrong and The Crisis in Islam.  They look at the historical developments that led to the present crisis.  One of my Arabic teachers said Lewis has ulterior motives in his writing.  I have found none, and since he thinks that swine Edward Said is the greatest thing since pita bread I’m inclined to take his criticism of Lewis with a rather large grain of salt.  Said definitely had an ulterior motive in his writing, and that was genocide.  I found all three books very readable.

    Posted by Michael Lonie on 2005 12 05 at 10:26 PM • permalink

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