{"id":61487,"date":"2012-09-15T08:21:19","date_gmt":"2012-09-15T12:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=61487"},"modified":"2012-09-15T08:21:19","modified_gmt":"2012-09-15T12:21:19","slug":"dark-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/by-judith-gayle-2\/dark-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Q: What’s the difference between a Christian radical and a Muslim jihadist?
\nA: Not too damned much.<\/p>\n

We’re having a Salman Rushdie moment on steroids. As the ignorant are prone to do when prodded, zealots across the Muslim world have arisen in defense of their Prophet, once again ready to punish disrespect with death and terror. We knew there was a fuse out there, waiting to suddenly spark our attention and justify our feeling that chaos was closing in, but nobody would have guessed that a couple of movie-maker wannabes with hate-filled hearts would strike the match that lit it.<\/p>\n

\"PoliticalWhat we could assess with surety, however, was the inability of the fundamentalist world to do other than react in the worst possible terms to any goad, in this country with self-serving rhetoric and across the Mid-east with fire and death. Would it seem uncaring to mention what a typical, boring and mindlessly stupid response this is? Nah, I cried at the service for the American dead returned to Dover today, my hand over my heart. Let’s just say this kind of fire-bombing, rock-throwing, mindlessly-violent stuff — man’s inhumanity to man — is getting old. Or maybe I am, whatever.<\/p>\n

The fragile new governments established in the countries that liberated themselves from dictatorships during the Arab Spring now find themselves facing down their own religious fanatics. In Benghazi, the newly established government is filled with remorse at the death of a man who proved their champion in harder times. In Cairo, the Muslim Brotherhood is caught between their own fundamentalist leanings and the people’s determination for a 21st century government. These newly configured governments chose a moderate path forward, each trying for a homegrown blend of the old way and the untried path of democracy, but as with so many similar ventures — big and small, in this era of radical polarization — the enemy to their progress may be their own hardcore fundamentalists. Everywhere, nations are facing the worst aspects of their own culture, trying to claw them back into the black and white absolutes of the old paradigm.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How could this happen in a 21st century embassy, we wonder? It’s mostly neglect. The State Department is the stepchild that has gone underutilized and underfunded for most of this century. Think about it. How did George W. use his statesmen? He trotted them out when he needed them — Colin to legitimize, Condi to dazzle — while the majority of his attention was invested in the raw power he found at the Pentagon. Money that flooded into militarism was often funding withheld from the department of state. Logic dictates that Marines should be guarding embassies around the globe — and most certainly in the Middle-east — but they are not. Why? Insufficient funding, withheld by a Congress more eager that those bucks end up in the hands of private contractors, i.e<\/em>., mercenaries, engaged in profit-making efforts on foreign soil.<\/p>\n

We know that the attack on Benghazi was no religious protest, but rather a terrorist attack, a savage, coordinated assault on the American consulate that took American lives, including that of Ambassador Chris Stevens. But because of the protests that have erupted over an anti-Islamic YouTube clip — reminiscent of the violence over Danish cartoons insulting the Prophet in 2005 — the firestorm of outrage has morphed into a single anti-American protest playing out at Western embassies in places like Yemen, Sudan, Tunisia and Egypt, nearly a dozen countries as I write, and counting. In Lebanon, Palestinian refugees protested the YouTube “movie trailer” by burning Obama in effigy. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has called upon the faithful to escalate bloodshed and punish American soldiers for the affront to Allah’s Prophet.<\/p>\n

All this over a 14 minute YouTube clip? Apparently so, although no one has actually seen a whole movie called the “The Innocence of Muslims.” It may not<\/a> actually exist. Actors hired to make the YouTube footage have reported that nothing about Mohammed or Islam was even suggested in their dialogue, which was badly dubbed after the fact to portray the Muslim Prophet as a child molester and murderous thug. Amateurish footage of sex and violence playing against a green-screen desert scene was put together by a couple of radical Coptic Christians, one of whom operates a website promoting Islamophobia, designed to convince Muslims that their religion is fraudulent.<\/p>\n

Anti-Islam minister Terry Jones, famous for his Koran-burning plans, is promoting the film, along with a California man, Steve Klein<\/a>, who has a long record of radical Christianity, and is an anti-Muslim (and Mormon) propagandist tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center (who tells us that two of the organizations he’s affiliated with have been designated hate groups). Jones received a call from General Martin Dempsey at the Pentagon this week, asking that he withdraw his support. Jones, who says the film is “educational,” remains noncommittal, while Klein is verbal and defiant.<\/p>\n

Early reports that the filmmaker was Israeli, as were the (bogus) “millionaire backers” of the film, seem intent on inserting Jews into the plot. As Coptic Christians make up some 10% of Egyptian society, violence against them, along with high rhetoric against America’s supposed support of this “production” appears to be in the offing. This is the kind of thing that has a ripple effect, a self-perpetuated toxicity designed to continue the loop of religious violence, such as Michele Bachmann’s declaration that the embassy attacks are an attempt by Islam to impose Sharia Law on the U.S. is a ploy to spread fear, portray Obama’s response as weak, and impose radical Christianity on our own politics. The zealots are furious at the Prez for refusing to trash all Muslims as dangerous cutthroats, for drawing down troops in the region, and for playing a cool game of chess with Bibi Netanyahu in his desire for hot war with Iran. To their mind, his ability to thwart their escalation of the global conflict is not part of the neocon script, nor, apparently, Gawd’s plan.<\/p>\n

This nasty little video is, in short, the rhetoric of the Islamophobia Industry<\/a>, which is mixed in a petrie dish of Zionism and evangelical longing for Armageddon. It is met by a similar force half-way round the world fighting against democracy and modernity, wearing the face of radical Islam. All these fringe players have the same purpose in mind: to inflame a religious war that will explode the planet into “the last days.”<\/p>\n

There it is, a tiny pocket of dark matter, vibrating to the strains of Onward Christian Soldiers and shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” seated squarely at the heart of both the Islamic and American Taliban movements. And while not nearly in the numbers we think, there are always those who will come running when they hear the call.<\/p>\n

The same hate-mongers who made our current mess showed up to protest the building of a mosque in New York last year. They make it their business to kick up this kind of shit and cry victimization when responsibility is directed back at them. They’re the people Robert Fisk calls “the provocateurs.”<\/a> They are ignored by mainstream Christians, quietly tolerated by Christocrat fundamentalists, and only championed by religious radicals; and please note how MANY radicals we have in our government power structure now, most of them wearing Tea Party tri-cornered hats.<\/p>\n

These folks work at the dark business of Armageddon, pulling strings to trigger Gawd’s wrath, as much warriors against tolerance as those they claim to hate — and the good news is that now, not only do we see them coming, we’ve got them figured out. Ms. Bachmann, for instance, may not be back in the House next year, but if she is, only the faithful will pay attention to her dog whistle. The rest of us have heard it all before.<\/p>\n

To view what’s happening today in the Mid-east as anything but the residue of a failed attempt to turn the world dark would be a mistake. I have a suspicion it will all fall flat. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the energy for this anymore. I don’t know anyone who is interested in pounding hell out of Iran as a preventative, or continuing our occupation of Afghanistan, for that matter. Eleven years after the towers fell, our toxic load is finally spent and our spirits are weary of revenge.<\/p>\n

Yet here we are, you say, still at it. Osama bin Laden’s Gawd and George W. Bush’s are still duking it out, eleven years after OBL successfully launched his plan to create a global religious conflict that would pit Islam against the rest of the world in a clash of civilizations. Allah was to be the winner, but so far, no cigar. On the other hand, America no longer has the military might or the bankroll to go after another Muslim nation, so — who knows? — maybe that means God\/dess wins in the long run, and Gaia won’t have to shake us off like fleas!<\/p>\n

All across the globe, people are turning to matters of more immediate concern than international conquest. They’re looking for ways to feed their kids, keep their schools open and teachers paid. They’re working together to take on the bureaucracy that is putting them out of their homes, pushing them out of their jobs. They’re coming together in their communities, assessing the fallout from apathy and decline that we let happen while we chased after foreign “righteousness.” We’re coming together to problem solve the basic needs of our social structures, to recreate ourselves much like those newly formed democracies are attempting to do. We don’t have time or patience for extremists now.<\/p>\n

Perhaps those who don’t think we’re “on the right path” under Barack Obama ought to look back at the eight years that came before him and ask if THAT was the right path. Maybe we should ask if spending hand over fist and starting two cataclysmic Middle-eastern wars without raising taxes to pay for them was the right path. Hindsight trumps foresight, every time. That’s a reality we need to look at, as we contemplate the possibility of a bumble-brained Romney administration relying on aggressive neocon foreign policy and plutocratic fiscal policy for another round of “American exceptionalism.”<\/p>\n

Haven’t we had enough crazy to last a lifetime? Can’t we recognize extremism in a comment on birtherism? A demand for the top 1% of the nation’s wealthy to receive more tax breaks while American kids go to bed hungry? A picket line set up at the burial of a fallen soldier declaring God’s hatred for America? A rocket grenade at the Libyan embassy or a load of bombs on a neighborhood in Syria? Is there anything NOT crazy about war or greed or arrogance? I don’t think so.<\/p>\n

It’s just that simple, isn’t it? What is not conceived in love is a form of hate. The Golden Rule is all of God\/dess we need to make the Shift of Ages. It’s the largest part of sanity and cooperation, the greatest blessing of an evolving planet. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is the simple astringent that chases crazy away and makes it look like the dark matter it really is. We can only beat back extremism if we open our hearts to love for one another, working together to rebuild our future and letting the dark shadows fall back to the Light.<\/p>\n

This week, let’s give everyone we meet exactly what we’d love to receive — and don’t forget to ask them if they’re registered to vote. If they need a ride, you know what to do next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves Q: What’s the difference between a Christian radical and a Muslim jihadist? A: Not too damned much. We’re having a Salman Rushdie moment on steroids. As the ignorant are prone to do when prodded, zealots across the Muslim world have arisen in defense of their Prophet, once again ready … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1744],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}