Who Suffers Most?

by Sam Huntington

In a 2007 study, the Pew Research Center concluded that 61% of American respondents indicated that Islamic extremism was a problem in the United States; thirty-five percent believed that Islamic extremism was not a problem. Four years later, responses to the same question differed by one percent.

Let us wonder about that for a moment: if such is the perception of most Americans, why isn’t the United States government proceeding along similar lines? Do we the people govern, or not?

But wait … what if those 61% of respondents were American Moslems?



That is the case.

If such a large percentage of American Moslems think that Islamic extremism is a problem within the United States, then why is our government discounting this concern? In fact, after so many years of terrorist acts and threats, what is our government doing to address domestic Islamism?

We don’t know the answer to the preceding question, but we do know what our government isn’t doing. Here is a short list of what our government isn’t doing:

1. They aren’t listening to mainstream American Moslems.
2. There does not appear to be any anti or counter-Islamist campaigns.
3. We are not having a public discussion about what it is about Islam that makes it radical and dangerous to a free society.
4. Our government is not working to defund organizations that pay for radical programs.

If we can spend billions on televised public health and safety ads, why haven’t we spent a single dime on a campaign designed to save our young people from the effects of radicalization? Do young people even know why they should plant bombs next to the finish lines of races —beyond the racist tripe that spews from the mouth of Wahhabis and Sufi Imams?

I think it was Robert Spencer, who several years ago observed that moderate Moslems are much like unicorns. Everyone knows they exist, but no one has ever seen one. Absent any credible undertaking, as discussed above, it is easy for the average person to conclude that there are no moderate Moslems, or that there are no non-violent Islamacists. It would be incredible if this were even partly true.  Our problem is that we simply don't know for a fact that moderate Moslems exist.

Is this knowledge a key element to moving forward to defeat radical Islam?

Bad news travels very fast.  It didn’t take long to hear about the Moslem assault upon proselytizing Christians in Dearborn, Michigan.  News that local police aided and abetted Moslems in denying non-Moslems their civil rights spread like wildfire.  Yet, we hear almost no good news at all regarding moderate Moslems, and so the questions remain: are there any viable efforts among moderate Moslems to work with interfaith partners in changing the perceptions of most Americans about Islam?

Here’s what I think: there are moderate Moslems, but we have been denied access to them.  I believe this has been intentional.  I believe there is an agenda that intentionally ignores the works of moderate Moslem communities, and that the American press and agencies of the US government are complicit.  Apparently, good news isn’t worth the effort, or the expense.  Federal, state, and local governments thus penalize moderate Islam by treating it as if it didn't exist.  In this sense, moderate Moslems suffer most under the heavy fist of terrorism.

Admittedly, I am making a stab in the dark here, but I suspect moderate Islam is being ignored because American leftists have aligned themselves with the most radical elements of Islam.  Both groups have been working tirelessly to destroy the American Republic.  Digging deeper, who controls the parts of the federal government that could possibly ameliorate the problem?  The American left.  Who controls the American media?  The American left.  Who regards mainstream America as an enemy that must be defeated at every turn?  The American left. 

If 61% of American Moslems think radical Islam is a problem in the United States, while leftist controllers steadfastly refuse to implement common sense programs to help combat it, is it time for conservative Americans to challenge the status quo?

AOW and I have been discussing a quote that has been attributed to Marco Polo.  

"A militant Muslim is the person who beheads the infidel, while the moderate Muslim holds the feet of the victim." 

It is doubtful Marco Polo ever said this.  First, I think common usage back in Polo's day was Mussalman, rather than Muslim.  Second, I believe moderation or extremism depended on the temperament of the Caliph or Sheikh.  It is hard to imagine tolerance for a public debate over the behavior of theocratic dictators.  On the other hand, if Polo did say it, then the indication may very well be that moderate Moslems are exactly like unicorns.