Your Useful Questions - an Excellent "Islamist-Litmus Test"

Submitted by Goran Andrijasevic (Israel), Dec 8, 2003 at 01:46

Your Useful Questions - an Excellent "Islamist-Litmus Test"
Dr. Pipes let me say, regarding your article "Do you believe in modernity?", with the exception of one single word your article is simply brilliant!

That word is "accused" in the sentence "do you agree that institutions accused of funding terrorism should be shut down...?".

Human rights activists (with whom I would agree on this) would take issue with a proposal to close down an institution merely for being accused. And Left-wing people (with whom I will disagree on this in advance) are sure to blast you asserting that that you are calling for a "right-wing McCarthy-type" shift to the right that will install a [right-wing] Big Brother era, etc, etc. (My wager is 10:1 that they will denigrate YOU yourself, not your unlucky choice of a word). Please do this not merely for protecting your essay from being unnecessarily misunderstood but also for the sake of all those uninformed members of the public who might otherwise hear (not for the first time) unfair attacks on you in an attempt to silence your voice as one of the few who have clearly highlighted the real nature of the foremost enemy of our civilization in our days.

So while by "accused of funding terrorism" you in all probability meant "found to be funding terrorism" I sincerely and earnestly urge you to put out a correction; otherwise, what is a mere lexical oversight will be claimed by the ever-more vociferous lefties (and of course by condoners of Islamism) as living proof that they have unmasked an anti-Islamic wolf in sheep's clothing!

But to get back to the substance of your articles:

I honestly believe you have formulated, in your Useful Questions an efficacious spell that must serve well as an "Islamist litmus test"!

In fact I believe that it is so good that it will have the secondary effect of exorcising many Islamist demons! - Mostly through numerous articles, talk-shows and interviews on this issue which your essay is bound to generate.

But demons, by the way, it is widely believed, often tend to pounce on their exorcist if they in any way can so I do exhort you to take good care of your personal protection from them!

And than you for charging with courage where many others have been apprehensive (or plain frightened!) to even look the enemy into his face!

====

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".