Don't Go Into The Light

Actually what he's saying is how remarkably similar the language that the Muslim leaders inspiring their followers to jihad is to the language our own leaders use to encourage us to "stay the course" in Iraq. And yes, the only possible way to believe that someone would produce propaganda like this is to sit down and force yourself to watch it, and subsequently weep for the fear-mongering that's permitted to exist in this country.

Nonetheless, there's a distinct dishonesty to this kind of moral equivalence.

In the regions where the madrassas operate, people are taught to hate and kill people like us. Those who don't agree with the Islamic leaders aren't likely to disagree for long.

Here in the U.S., you're free to disagree as you wish with no such fear. Were the Bush administration in any way similar to radical Islam, Glenn Greenwald would have had to flee the country to write his book or write on his blog.

Fear-mongering? Not if it's true. There's ample evidence that there is a real and ongoing threat from radical Islam. I see nothing wrong with any attempt to educate people on that threat. Telling kids to look both ways before crossing the street could be viewed as fear-mongering as well, I suppose. It doesn't change the fact that kids who don't look sometimes get hit by cars.

Assuming that the movie is propaganda suggests that the information contained in it is not true. How are you sure that it isn't? What would you suggest as a leftward-leaning rebuttal to "Obsession"?

There's a difference between recognizing something as a threat (which Islamic extremism certainly is) and exploiting the fear of that threat to prop up the government.

To use your car analogy, yes, it's good to warn kids to look both ways before crossing the street. But the current wave of hysteria has been more along the lines of, "The cars! They're everywhere! THEY WANT TO KILL YOU! Hitler drove cars. All the Nazis did. You must do everything we, your parents, tell you to do or cars will not just stay in the street... they will come into your bedroom and kill you. Anyone who disagrees with this is on the side of the cars."

Since I'm not a leftist I can't really suggest a leftist 'rebuttal'. I don't think it needs a rebuttal, really. Radical islamists really do want to kill us, that's completely true. It doesn't make the panic-mongering of our so-called 'conservative' government any more better. George Will sums up my opinion in general nicely.

Hi, 76. Thanks for dropping in.

I'll have to admit I'm not familiar with George Will's views on the topic. Got a spare link for the needy?

76,

On the rest of your comment...

In my view, the administration has little choice in their PR efforts. The non-stop pounding of the media and the left started nearly as soon as the war did, Democrats and the media were telling us the war was a disaster long before it became one. The administration has difficulty being heard above the din, yelling has become a necessity.

And not because they could see into the future, either. The left has been reflexively obstructive and unhelpful from the beginning of his first term, and working to undermine the administration from an early stage actually served to embolden our enemies and demoralize the public. The failures in Iraq have many fingerprints, many of them belong to the left.

I don't believe, as some do, that the left is actively rooting for our enemies to win. I do believe, however, that they have decided that if the U.S. loses in Iraq as a part of their effort to regain power, then it's just collateral damage they're willing to accept.