Sharia Law is NOT Closer to America than it Appears Part III: Fear Inc.

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

LeaNder, in comments to COL Lang's (working) vacation notification brought up the new Center for  American Progress (CAP) report: Fear Inc.   SST readers can find both links to the whole report as pdf, as well as its specific chapters, at the link, as well as CAP's write up on the report.  I pulled the whole thing over the weekend and have only had a chance to read through about a third of it, with the plan to do a post about the whole thing tonight.  I recommend that anyone who is interested in how this concept of a concerted attempt by Muslims to impose sharia (as if it was one monolithic set of religio-legal concepts) through subterfuge on unsuspecting Americans click through and give it a look.  From what I can tell so far they have done a very thorough job in their research and investigation and I doubt anyone will be surprised, both based on what several of us have written about on SST, and others have written elsewhere about just who is spreading this privately funded false message intended to promote anti-Muslim anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and hate.

Just one housekeeping note: I do have official duties during the day (and sometimes after hours as well).  While US Army War College (USAWC) encourages its personnel to blog, as well as publish in more traditional venues, I may not get to comments that have been posted immediately.  I will clear comments as often as I can my schedule permitting.

* Adam L. Silverman is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College.  The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Army War College and/or the US Army.

Comments

[J]

Adam,

Unfortunately, there is a LOT of money to be made in the business of 'fear'. Look at how fear is driving the Congress to get and remain stupid on a number of issues and unnecessary agencies. Fear mongering spread through the religious realm means $$$ in their personal coffers, and 'stroke/power' over flocks of human sheep.

Fear Inc. I dare say has in one form or another been around since Cave Man days. From ancient to modern societies, the same record keeps being played over and over again, only with a newly minted label on it.

Will our species ever learn?

[Arun]

Question: has an American President ever appealed to American dissidents not to burn the American flag?

Why do I ask - I started reading the report, came upon this: quote

Daniel Pipes, another go-to expert in the Islamophobia network, repeats the attack on Obama:

Mr. Obama, in effect, enforced Islamic law, a precedent that could lead to other forms of compulsory Shariah compliance

end quote

I looked for the context, the link in the report no longer works, but here it is:

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4532

The context was the Florida pastor's burning of the Quran.

To answer Daniel Pipes' charges, we would have to show that the Quran is not privileged among the various things that Americans have burned or attempted to burn as a mark of protest. Hence my question.

[Arun]

A few days ago, I was part of a twitter exchange between Pakistani liberal Marvi Sirmed and someone named 'pyar_pakistan'. The question was "What would be wrong if Pakistan became like Saudi Arabia", my answer was "Utter lack of religious freedom, for one".

The disconcerting answer from pyar_pakistan was: "Did the US allow communists"?

I leave you to ponder over that reply.

[ked]

Arun,
I'm pondering... was communism a religion?

Anyway, does the fact that the US has often made errors in its short history mean that others should embrace error? I don't know of another culture that has been as self-critical - before, during & after its many errors - as ours.

we have progressed via constant & unrelenting self-criticism. our standards are not "what would the Saudis do?" but "what is the best that ought be done?"

for all of our flaws, I prefer it that way - shattered idealism & all. it is why I fear the failure of quality critique in what passes for our corporate media these days. a fear I'm afraid is quite real.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

We have far more to fear in the likelihood of a Christian analogue of Sharia law than we do the real Muslim thing. http://bit.ly/om4gZs

[rjj]

was communism a religion?

sort of. it was a cult and it was treated as a heresy.

[rjj]

the best way to debunk a utopian scheme is to implement it.

[J]

ex-PFC Chuck,

Imagine how our U.S. would look were Rev. Hagee and those with the same mindset were to be allowed to rule the roost. Would we see execution squares all over the nation? What type of 'religious court' would the Hagee types use, and who would comprise their makeups? Would we see modern day Sanhedrin Courts spot the land? How would the 'law of retaliation' work? Many questions with even more disturbing possible answers.

[Roy G.]

It is interesting to see that the states that are the most concerned with this phantom menace (OK, SC, etc) are the least likely places for it to happen.

rjj, I agree. Too bad we are currently living in the utopia of Big Money. I can't even say it's Republican, even though this is the culmination of their wet dreams. At this point, it is a bipartisan effort between both wings of the Money Party.

Personally, I think the Muslims are a convenient scapegoat, both for the fact that they are not a mainstream ethnic group, and that many of them are perhaps less susceptible to the usual blandishments of money and whores, and therefore, more dangerous to the status quo.

[Bill H.]

Was communism a religion?

Short answer is no. It was sort of a cult, but it was mostly advocacy for a form of government. It was prosectued for its tendency to advocate the overthrow of the current government by violent means.

[Charlie Wilson]

Way back in the 80's I voted for an African American woman who stood against Tip O'Neill on the Communist Party ticket. I think she got two votes.

[Arun]

I think that the US has very real and committed enemies among those Muslims who see Islam, other religions, communism as competing and mutually exclusive political systems.

I think that the report cited by Dr Silverman is correct about the mistaken stereotyping of all Muslims as subscribing overtly or secretly to Islam as a political ideology.

I think Pipes, etc., would do us a service if they focused on the real threat instead of finding enemies everywhere.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

rjj & j,
One of the more disturbing aspects of the Christianist right is how they have adopted such tactics as infiltration of civil society institutions and secretive, cellular organizational structures (an explicit goal of the New Apostolic Reformation), tactical concepts that were perfected by the USSR-directed Communist parties of the mid-20th century. The latter has been addressed extensively in the writings of Jeff Sharlet. See http://jeffsharlet.com/ for links, and especially in his Harpers article "Soldiers of Christ." http://bit.ly/r2cikY

[Nancy K]

I really don't see much difference between the dogmatism of Perry/Backman and Hagee than I do Sharia law. The last thing the US needs is a religious war.

[J]

Nancy K,

What would be interesting would be to see the 'law of retaliation' turned inwards on its own proponents like Mr. Hagee, and how they would behave as a result.

[rjj]

... infiltration of civil society institutions ...

it's a good idea - from a darwinian point of view. Irony or Paradox?

[ked]

"It is interesting to see that the states that are the most concerned with this phantom menace (OK, SC, etc) are the least likely places for it to happen."

A near-perfect example of the reactionary cast of mind... "amplifying perceived threats in order to increase the perception of offense."

My own view is that this style of nativism is part insecurity & part Christian sectarian competition for holier-than-thou-ness (Sunday School Gone Wild).

[Anna-Marina]

The defense of homeland, the Iraq War, and the Deputy Director of the CIA Michael Morell—“Hear No Evil—Speak No Truth"

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/08/30/the-rise-of-another-cia-yes-man/