Well then… Happy Shabbos to all, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. This coffee is much needed this Saturday.
The insidious snake in the room.
Close to 20,000 people. Ari-fucking-zona couldn’t leave it alone, as Walz said. It’s a record. And among them a few snakes. Yes, make sure your coffee is strong today. We’re going for a ride.
In an expected repeat of Michigan, a few pro-Hamas simp hecklers were in the crowd at Glendale’s Desert Diamond Arena yesterday. Harris paused her speech and addressed them checking her written notes on the podium, proving this time she was prepared for a more diplomatic, prepared response. Instead of telling them to STFU, she told them what her position is. Twice.
And twice she said the time is now to get the ceasefire deal done and BRING THE HOSTAGES HOME. Twice. Loud and clear. No ambiguity. But leave it to the pro-Hamas simps to take care of that. In SM, again and again, ONLY the ceasefire part is mentioned. Some go as far as playing a sound edited clip of her answer where you can only hear Harris mentioning the ceasefire, editing the hostages part OUT by turning the sound off when she says it. Wow! Go Hamas!
I was raised a Catholic in Portugal, one of the most religious countries in Europe. Roman Catholic. I have lived in it during fascism and democracy, I witnessed the transition. I also witnessed the way religion worked in both systems. How the state promoted it during fascism, pushing hard on religious fanaticism as they capitalized on “the miracle of Fátima”, to this day one of Christianity’s largest pilgrimage locations. Religion can be perverse. It almost always is.
I used to spend a small part of Summer in Fátima with family when I was a child. Long ago it was a peaceful little town with beautiful woods surrounding the huge basilica erected at the site where it is said the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917. I watched the faithful crawl around the preserved olive tree where the mother of Christ stood on. I saw their knees bleeding as they recited the rosary. Penance for their sins. A practice reminiscent of self flogging.
In Fátima, a religious center, as in cities, towns and villages around the country, including where I lived, the church bells would ring at mass time to call on the faithful. In selected places the carillon played familiar melodies, evocative of the faith. Where I live now, in Oakwood, Ohio, a nearby church does just that at times, although it’s not the real carillon I was used to but a recording. It never bothered me, it’s actually kind of comforting in a nostalgic way.
I have been an agnostic for many years, so all the religious paraphernalia is but an echo from my childhood and it’s attached to good memories. No one told me to hate anyone at Sunday school, let alone at school itself. My mother never hoped one day I would become a martyr and the crusades lived in History books, not used to invoke the fervor of a new holy war. I know far too many Muslim children have a much different experience. The actual opposite of mine.
They are taught to hate in their religious schools. They have no others. Religion and state are one and the same in most Muslim countries, the Arab ones in particular (and in Iran). The children are taught to hate; their mothers do wish they will one day become martyrs, and the Crusades are very much alive as they dream of the lost gardens of Cordoba and Jihad; their new holy war. This is the reality of most Arab countries today, if not all.
Secular people are the equivalent of Satanic worshipers and those of a different faith, in particular Jewish and Christian faith, are also to be converted or destroyed. This is what many of their children are being taught, in some cases with proper funding from the United Nations. It’s been this way for decades, which means many, many adults today are radicalized by these ideas. All of them? No. Does Islam have a peace loving following base? Yes. Most certainly a very large one.
But among the billions of Muslims there are many millions who know nothing of peace but the one derived from ultimate victory in Jihad. No matter the cost. This tragedy is of our making. We turned the Arabs into what they are today because we thought they would be more malleable if they didn’t outgrow their Jihad the way we outgrew our Crusades. We were wrong. And this isn’t just a post World War One phenomenon.
Even the more sophisticated and educated Persians, who managed to sideline the Western conjuring of the Arab world for obvious reasons, were pushed back into religious fundamentalism by us. We just couldn’t leave it alone. As Persia turned into modern day Iran and their democracy flourished we decided to put it down and install a dictator in its place. That worked real well. But we cannot allow our colonial world building guilt keep us from facing reality.
And reality is fundamentalist Islam is growing and it’s coming to a town near you. One look at Europe tells you their objectives are achieved by either inserting themselves into society or making society ostracize them. It works both ways. The first turns a secular, tolerant society into a fundamentalist intolerant one. The second causes the rise of authoritarian nationalist movements that lead to fascist governments. Win, win. To them, chaos precedes victory.
My childhood memories the tolling church bells evoke have nothing to do with the Arabic adhan recited by muezzins from mosques. It’s actually quite beautiful and soul inspiring, the adhan. Unfortunately it is also daunting in today’s world. Xenophobia is a terrible thing. It breeds in the dark until it matures and comes out to claim its pound of flesh. Just like its breeding masters: Christian nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism.
Sure, Catholics toll their bells three times a day, why shouldn’t Muslims call for adhan five times a day? Or the Jews sound the Shofar? When you think of it this way it makes sense, doesn’t it? All considerations of the role religion should play in modern secular based societies with clear separation of religion and state aside, the difference is what each religion signifies in today’s world. And unfortunately for Muslims, Islam is turning into a fundamentalist faith.
There is so much to do before we can look at Islam as “just a religion”. To excise the fanatic components from it will take decades. To figure out which kind answers the adhan is virtually impossible and if you are not fluent in Arabic the teachings disseminated in their mosques are a mystery. In all honesty, to a westerner, Islam remains an alien culture requiring deep intent to understand. That doesn’t help when it comes to acceptance and tolerance. It’s a pity.
But such is the reality we live in. On October 7, the liberal Israelis at kibbutz Kfar Aza were betrayed by Palestinians who peacefully worked among them for decades. They provided Hamas with detailed maps and instructions, details of vulnerabilities and where young people lived. They seemed friendly for years only to sell them out to be slaughtered. Once peace loving liberal Israelis who believed in coexistence will never trust an Arab again. That’s our reality.
How can we trust the Muslims around us? How can we tell them apart? Who among them are radicalized? How do we reconcile the need to help those who truly wish for a better life away from fundamentalist oppression with the certainty of the existence of sleeper cells among them? Democracies are tolerant by definition and that is their weakest point. The paradox of tolerance.
“The paradox of tolerance states that if a society's practice of tolerance is inclusive of the intolerant, intolerance will ultimately dominate, eliminating the tolerant and the practice of tolerance with them.”
In Minneapolis today you can hear adhan being called five times a day. A very tolerant measure approved by the city. Unfortunately, it applies to an extremely intolerant religion that is far from proving to us it is not.
Antisemitism is very real, especially among radicalized Muslims who are raised to hate Israel and all Jews. But that’s not all they are raised to hate. They are taught to fight the holy war that will bring about the destruction of Western societies. First they take care of Saturday, then they take care of Sunday. First the Jews, then the Catholics. It is this reality we need to accept if we are to make any progress. Ignoring it is as dangerous as denying it.
Summer is coming to an end. Colleges will soon resume classes. We will surely witness a renewed call for global intifada in campuses across America, complete with adhan and prayers turned to Mecca on university grounds. The Iranian backed organizers of these protests are very clear in their manifestos: they aim to destroy Western society. So when they bark “Free Palestine” at Kamala Harris what they are really saying is death to America. Even if they are dumb enough to not realize it.
We need to address this issue head on. We can’t run away from it. Part of the responsibility of the next administration is to pragmatically answer this question. And in doing so, remove all antisemitic elements from our society as best it can. Today is Shabbos. Let’s make sure we keep it or else we will soon lose Sunday. This is not a religious fight. It’s the fight for the survival of secularism in a world of religious hate. Either we break the tolerance paradox or it will break us.
As we feel the excitement of this campaign to save our democracy, in the joy of nearly 20,000 souls gathered to defend it, let’s not forget the snakes among them and what they’re after. Yes they are very few but ignore them at your own peril. Because they are dead serious. And so should we. We are fighting for the soul of our country once more, but remember it’s also a fight for the soul of humanity. Let’s get it right.
Shabbat Shalom.
