For anyone concerned with combating Jihad terrorism, there are some interesting developments in USA.
I write now about the actual fight for hearts and minds of the good people on this planet who oppose wanton murder, enslavement and oppression, and not the mendacious platitudes of the 'War on Terror' espoused by presidents Bush and Obama.
Why this war of ideas is being fought here in the West, and not in those countries that fund and support the war against us, is still quite mysterious. And make no mistake, despite Bush's bluster, this is a war that was declared against us long before 9/11 and the resulting military adventures.
One of the leading figures in this, the real war on terror, is Robert Spencer, author and Director of Jihad Watch, and he combines those efforts with speaking engagements around the world, where he tries to educate and inform those who will listen, about the dangers we all face.
On 14th November he is scheduled to address the College Republicans at Stanford University where one might assume he will be met by young and inquiring minds, all of whom have a vested interest in finding out about the growing threat to what is, after all, their very own future. But the event has been met with stout resistance, such that it appears opposing Islamic terrorism, is itself a crime.
Given the high repute of Stanford, we could still hope for some coherent and well reasoned objections rather than the usual personal insults that trying to save humanity usually engenders, and one piece that caught my eye, was from a young Jewish student who equated counter terrorism with antisemitism; an interesting juxtaposition, but she had reasons which deserve looking into.
She cites a seminar where they discuss the notion that 'hatred accumulates', saying that:-
"Nazism was only a thinkable outcome because hateful ideologies," ...[I'm excluding a small reference here which is probably libelous]... "gained widespread acceptance and intensity throughout the history of the Western world."
While this is a viable conclusion - that small hatreds become reinforced and grow over time - she appears to take another step, and suggest that hatred for one group or race, can quickly turn against another, and again, this is a valid conclusion but it supposes that the person or group committing this nastiness was already looking for something to hate, so that for them, today's Muslim is simply tomorrow's Jew:-
"Any platform for Islamophobia is well-equipped to double as a platform for anti-Semitism."
Unfortunately, the title of Spencer's latest book 'Confessions of an Islamophobe' does give some leeway for her to use the islamophobic smear, even if the book's purpose is to dissect and debunk the term, but hey, that's showbiz.
In any case, her use of that term here is merely to signify Muslim hatred; but when did opposition to (or even hatred of) Jihad terror, become hatred of Muslims, or is she saying that all Muslims are engaged in, or support, Jihad terror?
The other problem with her theory is this:-
If it's OK to hate people who one perceives as themselves being hateful, doesn't that mean one has started down the slippery slope of 'hatred accumulation', and that same one is subsequently just waiting to have their hatred re-directed towards some poor and unsuspecting innocent?
In truth, as a regular reader and commenter on Jihad Watch, I can testify that Robert Spencer is probably the least hateful person I have encountered online, and given the horrendous subject matter that he deals with on a daily basis, that is little short of astounding.