One of These Things is Not Like the Others

Here is a hatchet job on Sarah Palin that tells us nothing whatsoever about Sarah Palin, but quite a lot about the leftist mind and the way in which it views the world.

David Hughes writes a post on his blog at the Daily Telegraph entitled: "What do Sarah Palin and fundamentalist Muslims have in common?" in which he notes that hardline Muslims in Britain have mounted a campaign of fear and intimidation against a Muslim academic who come out in favor of Darwinism:

The hounding of Dr Usama Hasan, a science lecturer at Middlesex University and a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, following a lecture he gave on evolution is turning ugly. The First Post reports that Hasan has been forced to retract his assertion that Darwinism is compatible with Islam after receiving death threats. He delivered his message in a lecture at the Masjid al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton and was accused of “blasphemy” by some in the audience and even branded an apostate who should be killed. His father, Suhaib, head of the mosque’s committee of trustees, has now issued a statement on his son’s behalf which read: “I seek Allah’s forgiveness for my mistakes and apologise for any offence caused.” The climbdown exposes the depth of feeling on this issue among some Muslims.

He then has the temerity to assert that Sarah Palin is just like these illiberal brutes. And why does he think this? Has Palin issued death threats to Christian scholars who teach evolution? No. Well, has she called for making the teaching of evolution illegal? Actually, no. Does she advocate the killing of anyone who abandons the Christian religion? No, she hasn't done that either.

So how exactly is she "just like" these 7th century fanatics? Well, you see, she expressed doubts about the holy book of Darwin and said that teaching creation and evolution side by side in schools would be a good idea so that people could make up their own minds. Imagine, freedom of thought for the masses! No wonder liberals get the shakes and fear the apocalypse.

Let's look at the difference between Palin and Islamists.

Palin: She is a conservative, which means she stands for classical, 19th century liberalism in which there is free speech, free association, freedom of religion and so on. The role of government is not to inculcate a secular or a Christian or an Islamic worldview into the population; the role of government is limited to what parents and churches and local communities cannot do such as national defense and a few other things. She believes everything that possibly can be done at the state level should be. She is a woman who demonstrates that women are competent and equal not sniveling victims. She is a Christian who is not ashamed of her faith and she is a patriot who loves her country.

Islamists: They believe in imposing their religion on everyone else by force and want to establish a theocracy in which Sharia Law reigns supreme. They do not accept free speech and want anyone who criticizes Islam to be fined, jailed or worse. They do not accept freedom of religion and believe that apostates from Islam should be killed. They oppress women mercilessly and cannot accept individual freedom or democracy (except as a means to a totalitarian theocracy as in Iran and Gaza).

Now, these two things are pretty different, I'm sure you would agree. But let's look at one more thing: Liberalism.

Liberalism: Now, by liberalism I meant the 20th century version which has been hijacked and twisted out of recognition by progressivism and socialism - the kind represented by Democratic Socialists of America, political correctness, and Barack Obama. They want to impose their secularist creed on everyone and they do not believe in freedom of religion. They do not believe in freedom of speech; in fact, they are constantly pushing speech codes that force people to speak in politically correct ways or face punishment, harassment and shaming. They are intolerant of Christianity and love to promote Islam as a counterbalance to Christianity. Multiculturalism is a great excuse to systematically eradicate Christianity from the public square in the West. They are collectivists and do not trust individuals with too much freedom.

Now, as they say on Sesame Street, one of these things is not like the others. Which one?

Why, it seems to me that Liberalism and Islamism are much closer in spirit to one another than either is to Sarah Palin.