If I had to list my top 2 writers, they would be Tim Blair and Mark Steyn. Mark has a new column/book review in Macleans entitled, "You can't believe your lyin' eyes." It is hilarious and makes some good points.

I believe the old definition of a nanosecond was the gap between a New York traffic light changing to green and the first honk of a driver behind you. Today, the definition of a nanosecond is the gap between a Western terrorist incident and the press release of a Muslim lobby group warning of an impending outbreak of Islamophobia. After the London tube bombings, Angus Jung sent the Aussie pundit Tim Blair a note-perfect parody of the typical newspaper headline:

"British Muslims fear repercussions over tomorrow's train bombing."

An adjective here and there, and that would serve just as well for much of the coverage by the Toronto Star and the CBC, where a stone through a mosque window is a bigger threat to the social fabric than a bombing thrice the size of the Oklahoma City explosion. "Minority-rights doctrine," writes Melanie Phillips in her new book Londonistan, "has produced a moral inversion, in which those doing wrong are excused if they belong to a 'victim' group, while those at the receiving end of their behaviour are blamed simply because they belong to the 'oppressive' majority."

He forgets claims of torture of the arrested terrorists, which arrive at the same time as fears of Islamophobia. Torture, in the Canadian case, translates as "being kept in jail."

Well, if Hizzoner wants to make himself a laughingstock, what's the harm? Only this -- that the more rubbish spouted by officials in the wake of these events, the more the averagely well-informed person will resent the dissembling.

And here Mark hits the nail on the head. The blogosphere, as one example, rants about the "broad strata of society" who are inevitably pious Muslims. Is this intellectual dishonesty on the part of the police and government? Yes, of course.

Is it good policy? I believe it is. As the Guardian pointed out, we are winning the War on Terror because the mass of Muslims are sitting the thing out. We don't want to make this a Muslim vs. the West issue; we want it to be a "tiny minority of religious extremists" vs. the West and keep everyday Muslims on the sidelines. Bin Laden and his ilk want all Muslims to rise and fight, we want them comfortable on their couch, watching the World Cup.

Posted by: cbjohnson at 11:52 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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