This ignorance-and-hate fest is in amazon.com's top 100-selling books. In Islam the pig is considered unclean, so I have to wonder how the pig on the cover is going to go down among Muslims. (Not that the wingnuts who like to endanger all Americans with their anti-Muslim rhetoric and actions give a shit...) The cover's claim that "Muslim persecution of Christians has continued for 13 centures -- and still goes on" is kinda funny in light of what we know about what happened to Muslims at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq at the hands of "Christian" U.S. soldiers and how Muslims are still being kept at Guantanamo Bay Concentration Camp (gee, I don't know of any American "Christians" who are being kept at Muslim concentration camps...). This book will sell, despite its blatantly obvious distortions and lies, because "Christians" need to feel better about their miserable selves and their miserable lives by hating others -- just as Jesus Christ taught them to do.
Whom would Jesus hate?
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), which, I understand, has not even been released yet*, already is at No. 49 in amazon.com's top 100 as I type this sentence.
I don't need to read this book to know that I hate it.
Here are the other two books in the Politically Incorrect Guide to... series thus far:
(Released in December 2004)
(Scheduled for release in November 2005)
Um, clearly there's a pattern here. The idea is to equate being a Neaderthal, a troglodyte, an atavist with being "politically incorrect," and to posit that being "politically incorrect" is cool -- thus, it's cool to be a Neanderthal, a troglodyte, an atavist. I don't see that being an ignorant assbite is cool or even "politically incorrect" -- it's just being an ignorant assbite. But apparently ignorant assbites need to justify their atavistic beliefs and their drain on the gene pool, so they call themselves "politically incorrect." (The pig is an appropriate mascot for them and for their ignorance- and hate-filled books.)
On amazon.com I clicked on the name of the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), Robert Spencer, to see what else he has written. Surprise, surprise: His past books include The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims (2005); Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World's Fastest-Growing Faith (2002); and Onward Muslim Soldiers (2003).
Apparently there's good money to be made in post-9/11 fear- and hate-mongering.
And then there are the five-star reviews of Spencer's new anti-Muslim book; how these wingnuts were able to read a book that, to my knowledge, has not yet been released, I'm not sure. Here are some of the five-star reviews:
 Fantastic!, July 28, 2005
If you really want to pierce the fog, take a breath of sanity and begin to see through the all-pervasive propaganda about Islam, this is the book you've been looking for.
Don't wait, run to the bookstore and buy it today! Buy two or three for friends and have one on hand to loan out. When Islamic pc propaganda starts running out of the mouths of your friends, you will want a handy way to staunch the flow.
Every major pc myth about Islam is exploded in the fantastic, straight forward, easy to read, no-nonsense book.
A great read and sure to be a bestseller. America needs this book now!
Clearly, this woman is fucking the author. And is "Islamic pc propaganda" really "all-pervasive" in the United States? Or is not wanting World War III to happen because the crazy motherfucking fundamentalist "Christians" and the crazy motherfucking extremist Islamists don't give a flying fuck if they take the rest of us out along with them in their insane "holy" war considered to be "Islamic pc propaganda"? I suspect that in Becky's world, anything short of seething hatred for Muslims counts as "Islamic pc propaganda." And I'm sure that she considers herself to be a good "Christian," because Jesus was a big-time hater just like she is.
Simply Amazing..., July 28, 2005
I often find it to be very interesting and amazing that people, especially liberal's have this incredible and tremendous capability to write there thoughts in a cohessive and understandable manner, all the while actually lacking the ability to read history. This book just regurgitates in a very digestible way what historical "PRIMARY SOURCE" documentation verifies. Please if you write a review number one know your history and two please, please actually read the book.
As Ted Rall once noted, the future belongs to those who can spell. And again, I wonder whether Augustinian has really read a book that, to my knowledge, is not yet available, although he or she recommends that we read it before we post a review.
Great way to get up to speed on Islam fast, July 29, 2005
Robert Spencer's The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is not a gentle college text that evaluates Islam while refraining from saying things that might upset sensitive readers. The purpose of this book is to answer the question: Is Islam a religion of peace and tolerance that has been hijacked by radicals, or are there parts of it that actually support the Jihadists and their terrorism?
The author does a good job of keeping his mouth shut and letting the Koran and Muslim leaders do the talking, i.e., he doesn't paraphrase or summarize what they say, instead he provides the actual passages and quotes themselves. The result of this is a series of well-supported evidence that is difficult to refute.
While acknowledging those Muslims who heroically strive for peace, the author is definitely politically-incorrect and points out things that would get him expelled from an academic luncheon.
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam has sections devoted to Islam's teachings about women, non-believers, the Crusades and all major areas, and is one of the best ways to get up to speed quickly on the full picture of Islam.
This review on its face sounds somewhat sane, especially for someone who lives in a place called Toad Suck Ferry in Arkansas, but this review prompts me to ask the question: Is "Christianity," as it is practiced in the United States of America, a religion of peace and tolerance that has been hijacked by radicals, or at there parts of it that actually support the "Christian" crusaders and their terrorism?
I can only answer answer that question as yes, Christianity, on paper, is a religion of peace and tolerance, but that "Christianity" (Christianity as it is practiced in the United States) has been hijacked by radicals, and no, Jesus' teachings most certainly do not support the "Christian" crusaders and their terrorism (more on this shortly).
While Spencer and his five-star-giving fans see all of fundamentalist Islam's faults, they appear to be blind to the many faults of fundamentalist "Christianity."
"Christians" flat-out ignore (if they are even fucking aware of) Jesus Christ's basic teachings, such as:
-
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." (Matthew 5:38-39) Gee, how many "Christians" advocated turning the other cheek after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001? (And how many of them who did not advocate turning the other cheek were wearing WWJD bracelets?)
- "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." (Matthew 5:43-44) The good "Christian" U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq apparently didn't get that memo.
-
"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.... But when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your father, who is in the secret place...." (Matthew 6:5-6) There goes the argument for school prayer and other forms of public prayer -- Jesus was against it, considering it to be hypocritical.
-
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Matthew 6:24)
-
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:24)
- "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)
Clearly, Jesus was a non-materialistic peacenik who didn't consider it possible to be rich and to be godly at the same time, yet the Republican Party, which has co-opted "Christianity," is all about war and revenge and "pre-emptive strikes" and greed and money and things (how about "President" Bush's "ownership society," which is a clear violation of Matthew 6:19-21? Hell, for that matter, we can say from Jesus' own words that it's more likely that a camel will squeeze through the eye of a needle than it is that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and other rich "Christians" are ever going to be let inside of those pearly gates).
To be fair and balanced, I will note that I tried to read the Koran a while ago -- not to convert to Islam, but to see what the "enemy" believes -- but I couldn't get into it. I found the generous amount of anti-Jewish and anti-Christian language off-putting. It struck me that Islam, the youngest of the three Abrahamic religions, historically has had an inferiority complex, as evidenced by the apparent importance in fundamentalist Islam of bashing Judaism and Christianity.
But, if the Koran is full of hatred toward Jews and Christians, and if fundamentalist Muslims thus are full of hatred toward Jews and Christians, at least we can't call the fundamentalist Muslims hypocrites, can we? No, they would just be following their scripture -- entirely unfuckinglike fundamentalist "Christians," who completely fucking ignore Jesus' teachings, spelled out in black and white in language that even George W. Bush could understand, to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek.
I don't assert that the Muslims are perfect. Hell, many of them would like to see me dead just for being gay. (Iranians earlier this month hanged two teenagers for accused homosexual acts.) Many Muslims would like to see me dead just for being an American. This does not make me feel warm and fuzzy toward Islam.
However, I can't see what good hating the Muslims would accomplish, and that was the point of Jesus' teachings against hatred that I presented above.
So when I see that ignorance- and hate-filled books targeted at wingnuts like The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) are released, it pisses me off. It pisses me off because books like this only throw more fuel onto the fire of inter-religious hatred and violence, and that makes all of us Americans -- all of us human beings -- less safe.
Memo to the fundamentalist "Christians" and the extremist Islamists: This planet doesn't belong to you asswipes. If you wanted to kill each other, I'd be fine with it, because your removal from the gene pool would be a boon to the species. However, that's not the way it works in the real world, that only the assbites experience pain and suffering and loss and death. The rest of us, those of us who are sane, also have to suffer the consequences of your stupid "holy" wars.
It's funny that the fundamentalist "Christians" and the extremist Islamists hate each other so much when they have so much in common, such as the belief that women are inferior to men and that men should be the leaders; that anti-gay violence or even the murder of gay men is OK (most fundamentalist "Christians" would love it if we would hang fags here at home [and how about bringing back witch-burning while we're at it?]); and the belief that it is not only OK, but that it is one's duty, to kill for one's religion.
I could easily write The Politically Incorrect Guide to Christianity. All I'd have to do is take Spencer's book and substitute the words "Christianity," "Christian" and "Christians" for "Islam," "Muslim" and "Muslims" -- because fundamentalist "Christianity" and fundamentalist Islam are two sides of the same coin.
*Amazon.com gives the book an Aug. 1 release date, barnesandnoble.com gives it a September 2005 release date, and the wingnut book publisher's Web site says, as I post this piece, that the book is "coming soon."
10:56:01 PM 
|
|
