Stealth Islamism

 We received our first bitter taste of Islamism in 2000, with the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole and, failing to respond forcefully to that attack, we received a devastating blow from radical Islam on 9/11/2001.

Since then, America has largely been successful in preventing an attack of the magnitude of 9/11, but Islamism isn’t done with us yet.  We may have prevented (so far) most of its violent manifestations here in America, but Its norms and practices are seeping in through the cracks and crevices of our society like a fog.  It has disguised itself and has begun to slip in surreptitiously.  And it has powerful allies inside our country.

Having just read new book The War on the West, it is abundantly clear that the West is under attack on several fronts—from China, Russia, and from Islamism.   China and Islamism, in particular, have been enormously successful in forging networks and alliances inside the U.S., particularly within the academic and political classes.

Islamism has gotten a foothold in Congress, following on the Islamist sympathies of the Obama Administration. The Squad got itself elected (with a little help from the Obama administration steering Somalis into a single district).  The anti-Semitism of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib wears the thinnest of veils and when Omar made blatant Jew hating remarks, the best the House could do was to pass a watered down resolution condemning hatred of all kinds.

It will be recalled that Obama pushed (and Biden is still attempting to restart) the JCPOA, which Trump killed and is being resurrected by the Biden administration.  The JCPOA will provide Iran with a direct path to the bomb.   After Trump facilitated the Abraham Accords, which historically allied some of the Arab nations with Israel to blunt the Islamist threat from Iran in the region.  By resurrecting JCPOA, and loosening sanctions on Iran, the Biden administration is kicking over the game board and empowering the most dangerous Islamist state in the region.  And remember, it was Obama who, after every terrorist incident across the globe, rushed to the podium to urge people not to “rush to judgment.”  And Obama was the only Western leader not to bother to make the trip to Europe in solidarity with other Western leaders after the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.

Of course, there the matter of  leaving the Taliban with $80 billion of advanced US military hardware by cutting and running from Afghanistan last summer, providing weapons of war to the most backwards, most fundamentalist Islamist regime in the world.  It was quite a gift. 

But wait, there’s much more, and it’s stealthy and carries the odor of Islamism in our midst.

We have witnessed pathological movements over the past few years that raise significant issues.  Taken together, they raise the uncomfortable specter of Islamism’s tenets being adopted right here as cultural norms.

The face coverings were the first worrisome practice.   At first, they may have made sense because we didn’t know much about COVID.  But as time went on, we learned a couple of things.   Studies concluded that they were of little benefit.   Yet, politicians demanded that they continue to be used and teachers’ unions were the fiercest defenders of them, even though they imposed great impediments to learning, especially among younger children and children with special needs that need facial expressions and visualization of mouth movements to articulate words.  Face coverings are dehumanizing.   They deprive us of a significant facet of communication and prevent us from recognizing friends and allies.  They are STILL being required in NY schools and as cases rise, are being held over kids as a sword of Damocles in blue cities.

Second has been the development of the transgender movement.   Through the transgender movement, special protections for women have been removed.   Men that “identify” as women can compete in women’s sports, and in California, are allowed to be placed in women’s prisons.  The height of this absurdity has been the assertion that men can menstruate and have children.   What started as a movement for tolerance, the movement denigrates and erases women, leaves them vulnerable to abuse and most diabolically, attempts to contradict the thing that makes women so vital—only women can create and carry human life.

Third has been the sexualization of children.  I began to notice this with opinion pieces in the New York Times that suggested decriminalization of pedophilia and treating it like a sickness.  Then, we began to see the language play, with radical Leftists trying to water down the term pedophile to Minor Attracted Persons.  A couple of years ago, Drag Queen Story Hour became a feature in libraries across the country. The ball rolled downhill very quickly as Abigail Shrier raised the alarm about the transgender movement pushing at preadolescent girls with her book Irreversible Damage.  In some quarters, children are administered puberty blockers and are having gender reassignment surgery before adulthood.  And now we are in a full blown culture war with some school districts and Woke corporations like Disney, Mattel and State Farm behind exposing young children to matters of sexuality at a very young age.  The California legislature is not considering stripping away an important protective guard rail and impediment to pedophilia by allowing a defendant to assert that he or she “reasonably believed the child to be of the age of consent” which effectively means that, if enacted, it will be very difficult to convict these predators.  The Biden open border policy is a tacit acceptance of the child sex trafficking that is going on as a result right under our noses.

It will be recalled that the Obama administration’s official policy was to instruct soldiers to “look the other way” when Afghan soldiers and police sexually abused children and the State Department had a quandary when Afghan refugees brought their child brides with them to the states.  ISIS was infamous for having underage girls as sex slaves.  

So let’s add all this up and take stock.  We have a requirement for face coverings (even in the absence of a rational reason for them).  Check.  Degradation of women.  Check. Sexualization of children.  Check.  Genital mutilation. Check.

Gee, all of this is starting to look pretty Taliban-y to me.  The most abhorrent and revolting aspects of radical Islam are beginning to show up in our society under the guise of something else.  We are normalizing and accepting face coverings, the degradation of women, genital mutilation and the sexualization of children.  They may call them something different or assert a different purpose. Gender affirming surgery rather than genital mutilation.  Trans rights rather than degradation of women.  Face coverings to “slow the spread.”  But these are Islamist societal norms and practices and must be rejected in all their forms.   We must not let these practices take root here.