Sorry, but I just can't help myself from attacking the abundance of abysmal center-left journalism in Britain. At least Robert Fisk, in his Sept 11th piece, made a genuine argument, even if equating Terry Jones with terrorists and dictators is ridiculous. Yet Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, whose spiteful diatribe is number 3 on the Independent's most read list (after two Robert Fisk articles), instead just serves up outright lies:
[Would be Koran burner Terry] Jones et al are not maddened desperados. They are part of a mainstream, resentful alliance with Sarah Palin's Tea Party, growing ranks of fundamentalist Christians and Zionists, bitter and racist frontiersmen and women...The real struggle today [in America] is between hate-filled Yankees and those who hold on to the most noble aspirations of their country. If the idealists fall..[America's] potent mythology, self-definition, patriotic anthems, poems and hymns will turn to ash and the Great United States Of America that was will be no more.
Excuse me miss? Jones is mainstream? Give me a mainstream newspaper, television channel, or politician in America who supports him. The politician that Ms. Alibhai-Brown gives--Sarah Palin--roundly denounced Jones (so did Glenn Beck, another tea-party favorite). Ms. Alibahi-Brown could easily have found that out through a quick web search, but she seems more interested in furthering her agenda. Ms. Alibahi-Brown of course also throws out some red meat--she obviously knows her crowd--with an unsubstantiated reference to "fundamentalist Zionists" who purportedly help lead the American racist coalition. Name me one mainstream "Zionist" who supports Jones. In fact, America's top "Zionist" politician, Mayor of Zion-on-the-Hudson Michael Bloomberg, is the biggest supporter in the country of the "ground zero" mosque. Unfortunately, nuance makes for bad propaganda.
The larger point of the article is that America, despite its high ideals, has always had an ugly underbelly of racism. This is of course true-- the founders of the country preached an inalienable right to liberty while they themselves held slaves. But part of the reason for this divide is that American ideals have always been ahead of their time, and are so high-minded as to be ultimately unattainable. Does this cause tension? Sure. But is it a bad thing? No, it's what makes America great.
So yes, "the land of the free" was also the home of the slaves. As recently as 45 years ago, many blacks couldn't even vote. No country, aside from perhaps Germany and South Africa, is more self-aware of its racist past. Yet, like every other country, America still has identity politics, and they can be very ugly and divisive. There are (gasp!) still racists in America. Because the economy is horrible, people are more prone than usual to the appeal of identity politics.
But unlike every other non-African country, a majority of Americans also voted in a black president, descended from Muslims in Kenya, in a country where 88% of the people are not black, and 99% are not Muslim. If this isn't proof that America is not an intolerant land imperiled by racist islamophobes, then I don't know what is. Get over yourself, Ms. Alibhai-Brown.
- Jon
[Would be Koran burner Terry] Jones et al are not maddened desperados. They are part of a mainstream, resentful alliance with Sarah Palin's Tea Party, growing ranks of fundamentalist Christians and Zionists, bitter and racist frontiersmen and women...The real struggle today [in America] is between hate-filled Yankees and those who hold on to the most noble aspirations of their country. If the idealists fall..[America's] potent mythology, self-definition, patriotic anthems, poems and hymns will turn to ash and the Great United States Of America that was will be no more.
Excuse me miss? Jones is mainstream? Give me a mainstream newspaper, television channel, or politician in America who supports him. The politician that Ms. Alibhai-Brown gives--Sarah Palin--roundly denounced Jones (so did Glenn Beck, another tea-party favorite). Ms. Alibahi-Brown could easily have found that out through a quick web search, but she seems more interested in furthering her agenda. Ms. Alibahi-Brown of course also throws out some red meat--she obviously knows her crowd--with an unsubstantiated reference to "fundamentalist Zionists" who purportedly help lead the American racist coalition. Name me one mainstream "Zionist" who supports Jones. In fact, America's top "Zionist" politician, Mayor of Zion-on-the-Hudson Michael Bloomberg, is the biggest supporter in the country of the "ground zero" mosque. Unfortunately, nuance makes for bad propaganda.
The larger point of the article is that America, despite its high ideals, has always had an ugly underbelly of racism. This is of course true-- the founders of the country preached an inalienable right to liberty while they themselves held slaves. But part of the reason for this divide is that American ideals have always been ahead of their time, and are so high-minded as to be ultimately unattainable. Does this cause tension? Sure. But is it a bad thing? No, it's what makes America great.
So yes, "the land of the free" was also the home of the slaves. As recently as 45 years ago, many blacks couldn't even vote. No country, aside from perhaps Germany and South Africa, is more self-aware of its racist past. Yet, like every other country, America still has identity politics, and they can be very ugly and divisive. There are (gasp!) still racists in America. Because the economy is horrible, people are more prone than usual to the appeal of identity politics.
But unlike every other non-African country, a majority of Americans also voted in a black president, descended from Muslims in Kenya, in a country where 88% of the people are not black, and 99% are not Muslim. If this isn't proof that America is not an intolerant land imperiled by racist islamophobes, then I don't know what is. Get over yourself, Ms. Alibhai-Brown.
- Jon
