One of Islam's Greatest Threats is Dick Cheney and Those Who Bow to Him
I finally discovered the threat to my well-being as a Muslim living in the West. His name is Dick Cheney.
At first I thought the threat was the anti-hijabers who want to pass laws banning head scarves in public buildings because they seek to liberate the Muslimah from an oppressive patriarchal society. Or maybe it's because modest women make white guys nervous. I dunno.
Then I was sure it was Fox News. They did their best to ridicule and then dissect President Obama's speech to the Ummah. They were certain there were hidden messages to terrorists in his quotes of the Qur'an, and then wondered why he threw Israel and all Muslim women "under the bus" for reasons only they know. But then Fox newsman Shepard Smith expressed alarm about the crazies "way out there on a limb" over Obama. Suddenly, I have warm fuzzy feelings for Fox.
But, no. It's Cheney. The well-spoken and forthright Dick Cheney has been making the talk show and lecture circuit rounds sounding the alarm that Obama is making the Western world less safe from terrorists. Every former president and vice president for the past 200-plus years has managed to keep his mouth shut and let the new administration do its job. But Cheney feels an obligation to tell the world that the new administration is ready to let terrorists win.
How does this make Cheney a threat to me? He invokes the memories of 9/11 at every opportunity, reminding Americans that nearly 3,000 people died at the hands of Islamic extremists. We should never forget the events of 9/11 and who perpetrated those crimes. But there's a difference of remembering and honoring the dead and using the tragedy as crass exploitation to wage fear.
He says shutting down Guantanamo Bay and bringing detainees to prisons on U.S. soil will make America less safe. Cheney says the Bush administration did a heck of a job keeping terrorists from striking again. But it's only a matter of time before the Obama administration lets one get through and the U.S. has another 9/11 on its hands.
The subtext in Cheney's speeches is that Muslims are a threat to U.S. security. I remember a few weeks ago a video clip from Jon Stewart's Daily Show showed an imprisoned convicted killer describing how he ate portions of his victim, prompting one to wonder just who is the threat: a cannibalistic killer escaping from a maximum security prison or a 19-year-old wanting to prove his manhood on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Cheney doesn't talk about a cannibal's threat within America's borders because it's not germane to his argument. We assume that convicted serial killers and mad-dog rapists are safely behind bars. But for some reason the wily terrorist with a secondary education, no family, no English language skills and zero understanding of American culture outside of Steven Segal and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, will wreak havoc on Anytown, USA.
By reminding the American public that terrorists may be your next door neighbor, Cheney encourages the Ann Coulters and the Michael Savages and their extremist followers to spew their hate. These modern-day Father Coughlins acquire new recruits to wage a war against imaginary threats of the Islamification of the West, the implementation of Shariah at the local traffic court, and wearing the hijab that seems to threaten Western civilization.
Cheney's speeches give the appearance of reasonable dissension of Obama's policies, but they are calculated to whip the right-wingers into an anti-Muslim frenzy. This will embolden state legislators to pass laws banning the hijab in public buildings and on government-issued identification cards. We've already seen such attempts. The Oklahoma state legislature attempted to pass a law banning the wearing of the hijab on driver's licenses and other government photo IDs. The bill was dismissed in April. Yet these efforts, fanned by Cheney and right-wing pundits, create an intolerant climate.
I worry for my brothers and sisters in the West. I hear nary a beep of concern over the demonization of our religion and the fact the all of us are branded with the terrorist label by Cheney and is ilk. No, Cheney didn't tell the world that my best friend in Canada is a terrorist, or that my small circle of Saudi girlfriends in Newcastle, UK, are terrorists. But he might as well have. We're in Canada, the US and the UK for an education. But every time Cheney spouts off, his 21st century brown shirts write endless "Every Muslim is a Terrorist" tracts.
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I'm often surprised at the common sense of ordinary people.
In my small town, there are several hijab-wearing women who take their children to playgrounds and interact with their non-Muslim neighbors without creating any sense of alarm. As far as I can tell, nobody is stockpiling ammo to fight off the headscarf legions.
As the offspring of immigrants once thought to be strange to WASP sensibilities, I think I know where this is headed.
Despite their parents' anxiety and active resistance, these kids will become Americans. Yeah, short skirts and suggestive music. This isn't tribal Europe, this is muttAmerica.
Welcome, but forget about preserving the old ways. For better or worse, you are becoming us. Try to remember this when you are upset by whatever new wave of immigrants arrives.
"I'm often surprised at the common sense of ordinary people."
I'm not. They're our only hope, Obi Wan.
BTW, love your icon.
:-)
It isn't simply that the next generation assimilates to the ways of the new country; the new country, in large part, demands that all immigrants abandon, if not their culture, at least any notion that their culture is central to their identity. Public education in America was begun on the Prussian model, in part, to ensure that Catholics of Irish and Italian descent did not pass on their cultural uniqueness to their children; in so doing, the family was supplanted as the source of cultural authority, and it is still so today. As you note, there are often few problems when people get to know each other in their neighborhoods; perhaps, with that in mind, there needn't be such pressure brought to bear on immigrants to relinquish their cultural uniqueness, but rather they could be urged to preserve it, and thereby make it part of the heritage of us all going forward.
There's much less official pressure now than in the times you mention, the real pressure comes from our popular culture which draws -- some would say infects -- people across the globe, even in their own countries. This force seems to be a lot more corrosive than any edicts, and makes them largely unnecessary.
The result s a generational gap that separates children from their parents' values rather effectively. Short of state censorship, there's little that can be done about that.
My parents' generation was transitional from eastern European immigrants, they referred to less assimilated people of their own ethnicity derisively as "greenhorn
So unlike more tribal European nations, we're more welcoming. At a price, but it beats social conflict.
"Most people are surprised to learn that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are branches of the same religous tree. In fact both Abraham, the founder of Judaism, and Jesus, the founder of Christianity, are considered prophets in the Islamic faith". - Morgan Spurlock, 30 days.
Educating ourselves about other peoples religions/cultures will silence the voices of ignorance and prejudice.
Cheney doesn't talk about a cannibal's threat within America's borders because it's not germane to his argument.
- - - - I would suggest to you that there are very few cannibals in the US. However, there are a large number of radical Muslin terrorists with the intent of doing harm to the US. This article is so full of empty arguments it's pathetic.
Fear, fear, fear. Gets old, ya know.
This will embolden state legislators to pass laws banning the hijab in public buildings and on government-issued identification cards. We've already seen such attempts. The Oklahoma state legislature attempted to pass a law banning the wearing of the hijab on driver's licenses and other government photo IDs.
-Does anyone else see how ridiculous this comment is? I don't think any state DMV allows you to wear a hat or anything that covers your face when you get your drivers license photo taken. You need to be able to identify the person by the photo and anything obstructing your face would make that difficult. Please people, can't we make arguments based on common sense!?
Your fear should be of radical Islam. The fact that you can live in this country as a Muslim says a lot. I don't think the same could be said for Christians and westerners in many predominantly Muslim countries. Also, so you don't think I'm anti-Muslim, I was born in Lebanon and even though I am not a practicing Muslim, most of my family is.
To be honest although he certainly adds to the problem he is not really essential. There are enough 'Every Muslim is a terrorist' types posting on even sites like this to keep the embers of ignorance alive without Chaney fanning them.
I worked in small post-secondary college in Bahrain in the mid 1980's. Despite the fact that I was a definite minority there, I was always treated with kindness and courtesy. I met so many Bahraini women who were warm, wonderful human beings. President Obama is right that we desperately need to look for the things that unite rather than divide. The neocon years, as represented by VP Cheney, played into the hands of many Americans who tend to believe that conflict really can solve the world's problems. They think of World Wars I and II, in which there were definite winners and losers, and they think that military might solves problems. They don't remember that the Cold War was won by defusing violence and not resorting to military resources. Military might won't win this conflict either. There are no soldiers on both sides hunkered down in the trenches. If we want to have a peaceful world to leave our children and grandchildren, we must admit that people can worship God in different ways or not at all. We have to pay attention to problems that know no country lines--pollution does not know it has hit the borders of a new nation; Global warming does not know that either. We have to start talking about important issues, instead of sniping at our political opponents 24/7, as if that is consequential.
Remember, Dick Cheney is appealing to a fringe element that is a threat to every American that does not fit into their Pro-America as Sarah Palin said and continue to say!
These characters will not prevail! President Obama knows what he is doing and diplomacy with all countries are the answer!
Just think of the lives and cost that would have been spared if leaders in the free world had listened to the warnings in the 1930's by knowledgeable world leaders of that time rather than "peacenics" like Norval Chamberlain.
It was Neville Chamberlain.
"Cheney's speeches give the appearance of reasonable dissension of Obama's policies,.
Wrong. Cheney couldn't master sophistry if his life depended on it, but lucky for him, his ra.bid assortment of conservative followers do not require anything that bears even a passing resemblance to a rational argument. Excessive amounts of hate, fear, paranoia's, and the obligatory assortment of right-wing rhe.toric is more than sufficient to rally his fellow Republicans into his corner.
How true. Hate, fear, and paranoia pretty well sums up what's left of the GOP.
Hate, fear and paranoia? Tell that to the families of the 3,000+ Americans who dies on 9/11.
If the news media would give Cheney the attention he deserves we wouldn't hear about him. The people who own and finance the media control the narrative, so look to them for the blame.
Do you see the irony in your first sentence?
Frankly, I've been wondering why on earth the media have been giving him so much attention, as he has no official position anymore and is functioning as an obstructionist to the current administration rather than one who offers constructive advice.
Irony?... No...but they should include him out of their coverage..
The most frightening part of his hate speech is that it's like a dog-whistle -- only heard by those we want least to hear it. You are right to identify him as the greatest threat. But I would have to say that his daughter is ranking pretty high up there.
Jennifer
Thanks for the very apt metaphor.
I hope you realize that most of the world is not like Dick Cheney. Our country (and I say ours because you are more than likely a citizen of this country and a citizen of the world) was not founded on the principals of the likes of Mr. Cheney. We were founded by individuals that wanted a freedom of religion without the tierrany of the crown. Mr. Cheney harkens back to a time when we still had a crown that manipulated the people. In the time of the revolutionary war people like Cheney who used "scare tactics" to get what he wanted and when they didn't get what they wanted they were tarred and feathered. Today Mr. Cheney just waterboards to get what he wants. People beyond the Bush/Cheney doctrine know better than to think that Islam is nothing but terrorists. I am one of the people who believe that ALL people, regardless of religion, race or creed deserves peace and it will come.
On behalf of the non-muslim people in my small world, I'm sorry. I'm sorry people misunderstand you. Some of us want to get to know you & embrace diversity. I'm sorry the people in my country who label & chastise you are some of the loudest voices around.
Keep rockin' your hijab sista! They'll come around some day.
I've always found it ironic that people like Cheney/Cou
Perfectly stated, DavidC. . .
You are so right!
Cheney is the biggest EXTREMIST in America.
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