Carrying Holy Water

Christopher Hitchens observed that “If you want to get good people to do wicked things, you need religion.” This observation popped into my head in the aftermath of a failed Islamic terror attack outside New York’s Gracie Mansion. Two teens, of Afghan and Turkish descent, traveled to the Mayor’s residence and threw a couple homemade bombs, which fortunately failed to detonate. The teens reportedly self-radicalized by watching ISIS propaganda, and sought to commit an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing that killed 6 and injured as many as 500.

We don’t yet know that much about the teens’ radicalization, but there’s time for that. Today, I ponder the Left’s reaction to this act of terrorism, and its broader attitude toward the Iran war, the Gaza war, October 7th, and so many other matters related to Islamism.

This now-deleted tweet from CNN is a microcosm.

For years - decades, really - we have been force-fed a narrative that Islam is a religion of peace. No matter its centuries of war and conquest. No matter its embrace of violence in enforcing its rules. In Iran in the past few years, thousands of women have been arrested for the sin of showing their hair. Since the Islamic Revolution, thousands of gays have been executed simply because they are gay. Sharia law also specifies the death penalty for leaving the religion. Yes, indeed, if a child is raised Muslim, and decides upon achieving adulthood that he or she doesn’t believe any more, the law imposes the death penalty. Between half a century of Sharia enforcement and the recent quashing of protests, the Iranian government has killed tens of thousands, and quite possibly over a hundred thousand, citizens of that land.

None of this is news. While the majority of the world’s 2B Muslims don’t embrace radical views, several hundred million do. About a dozen nations enforce strict Sharia, and another dozen or so apply it partially.

One might expect that Western liberals would recoil from all this religious fundamentalism and mistreatment of historically oppressed groups (women, gays). After all, championing the oppressed is their bread-and-butter.

Somewhere along the way, however, they went off the rails. Muslims, despite outnumbering Jews in the world by over a hundred to one, were and continue to be deemed the “oppressed” faction in the Middle East.

Islamists, despite being exactly the sorts of theocrats the Handmaid’s Tale crowd railed against, are given endless deference.

Behold, good people doing wicked things.

I am convinced a big part of this is simply a reaction to the Right’s suspicion of Islam. And, of course, TRUMP!! When your politics consist of taking the opposite of the position of the team you don’t like, you end up with people excusing the unjustifiable.

We see moderate Muslims putting their religion above their humanity. Islam must not be criticized, even when people and governments commit barbaric acts in its name. I get it, even as I reject it. That’s simply how religion works.

We also see Leftists, many of whom purport to stand above religion, do the exact same thing. If their team has chosen a side on an issue that defies common sense, the common sense gets tossed aside. Tribal loyalty trumps all. Their behavior mirrors that of religious fanatics.

Thus, we have CNN beclowning themselves. Even in their mealy-mouthed retraction.

Thus, we have NYC’s Muslim-Socialist mayor pretzeling himself to cling to his narratives. Forcefully condemning the anti-Iran regime rally that was targeted by teh bombers, but mush-mouthing criticism of the bombers and refusing to say anything bad about the underlying ideology, Mamdani personified leftist fanaticism.

Thus, we have coverage of the Iran war that routinely fails to detail the myriad sins of the nation’s Islamic regime, routinely ignores the dozens-to-hundreds of attacks against Americans and American interests perpetrated by that regime since 1979, and routinely talks up Iran’s military might.

Thus, we have relatively little coverage of the anti-regime Iranians marching for freedom, or of the Iranian women soccer players seeking asylum in Australia, or of other examples of truly oppressed people cheering for freedom.

There are many legitimate points of contention and disagreement regarding the Iran war. Let’s make no mistake, however. Iran’s Mad Mullahs are not the good guys in this. They are not an “oppressed” identity group warranting Leftist white-knighthood. They are mass murderers, oppressors of women and gays and others, and religious fanatics who would export their fanaticism across the globe.

Likewise, two radicalized teens attempting to murder people in solidarity with ISIS are not merely wayward sightseers who, oops, made a couple bombs. They sought to murder people going about their lives and exercising their liberties.

Carrying their water is contemptible.