Cenk Uygur, in his article in The Huffington Post, is uncommonly clear-eyed and persuasive in making his point that we are not engaged in a War Against Terror, but, rather, in a War Against Fundamentalism. He points out that we cannot win a war if we don’t know who the enemy is, and the fact that we don’t know the enemy in the “War Against Terror” is becoming more and more clear each day. Uygur argues that it’s pointless to fight George Bush for starting this misguided war, and that the administration’s concept of a War Against Terror is meaningless; and he asks, “What are we really fighting against?”
I have a simple answer – fundamentalism. Muslim fundamentalists believe it is their moral duty to fight a jihad against the West. They are guided by their strict, literal reading of the Koran (helped along by hateful imams who select the worst parts of the Koran).
But we are not just aligned against Muslim fundamentalists. The problem is broader than that. It is Jewish fundamentalists like the Gaza settlers and Christian fundamentalists like Tom DeLay who want to drive us further into this conflict. They also rely on their absurd interpretations of their religious texts.
The point that we have fundamentalists in this country, and that they are in power, is the important point that Uygur makes.
[Christian fundamentalists] believe that Israel should rebuild the Temple on the Mount, thereby destroying holy Muslim sites and assuredly starting a gigantic war. Finally, they think that when this happens, Armageddon will ensue, most of the people on this Earth will die and Santa Claus, I mean Jesus Christ, will come back to save them (and only them). There’s another word for these people – crazy.
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Our former Attorney General, John Ashcroft, is a fundamentalist. He anointed himself in holy oils before he took the oath of office. You know who does that? Crazy people.
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Our President thinks God talks to him. You know who thinks that? Crazy people.
We need to understand that the fundamentalist in the White House is no different, in his basic craziness, than the fundamentalist in the pulpit or the fundamentalist in the synagogue or the fundamentalist in the mosque. They are all crazy, and they are collaborating (although they don’t see it that way and would deny it) in bringing about the apocolypse they all crave.
Uygur thinks that our failure to engage them is rooted in our politeness: you don’t criticize another man’s beliefs. But we have to engage them; our civilization depends on it.
Right now, it’s completely one-sided. The fundamentalists in this country attack with impunity and the secular Americans sit back for fear of offending the crazies. It’s time to hit them back (proverbially, violence is usually the refuge of weak-minded fundamentalists, not thinking, rational people).
It is not acceptable to be against teaching valid science to our children because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to hate gay people because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to deny other citizens their privacy because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to be one-sided in dealing with the Middle East and drive us all into war because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to root for Armageddon and try to take steps towards getting there because you think your Book tells you to.
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Thinking you talk to God doesn’t qualify you to lead the nation – it qualifies you for a mental institution. The time for accommodation has come to an end.
Well said, Cent Uygur. Your war is one in which I will enlist, gladly.
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