As reported by Fouad Ajami's op/ed in The Wall Street Journal, a survey by Elaph an electronic daily in the Muslim world, showed that 58% of people polled objected to the building of the Cordoba Mosque. Additionally, in the aftermath of Pastor Terry Jones' Koran-burning threats, 63% of saw America as a tolerant rather than bigoted country.
These are some interesting numbers.
From Ajami's op/ed:
"The truth is that the trajectory of Islam in America (and Europe for that matter) is at variance with the play of things in Islam's main habitat. A survey by Elaph, the most respected electronic daily in the Arab world, gave a decided edge to those who objected to the building of this mosque—58% saw it as a project of folly.
"Elaph was at it again in the aftermath of Pastor Terry Jones's threat to burn copies of the Quran: It queried its readers as to whether America was a 'tolerant' or a 'bigoted' society. The split was 63% to 37% in favor of those who accepted the good faith and pluralism of this country."
Read all of Ajami's piece. It gives much food for thought.
As Prof. Jacobson at Legal Insurection points out, these numbers give little credence to Islamophobia being the main reason for objections to the Geound Zero Mosque.
From Jacobson's "Debunking the Islamophobia Card":
"So does that make 58% of the Arab world 'Islamophobic'?
"Something is going on here which was obvious even before this survey. The constant agitation over Islamophobia, like the constant use of the race card, is just another political tool to demonize people who happen to disagree.
"There certainly are some people opposed to the mosque who hate Islam, just like there undoubtedly are some people in favor of it who hate Jews and Christians, but in each instance that is a minority opinion.
"So the next time someone screams 'Islamophobia' once the topic of the Corboda mosque comes up, tell them to tell it to the Arab world."
Lachlan Markay at Newsbusters.org points out that these numbers pretty much exceed the American media's numbers on the GZM.
From Markay's piece "Survey Shows Arabs More Opposed to GZ Mosque Than American Media":
"Here's a fact you're not likely to see on tonight's evening news broadcasts: According to a recent poll, Arabs living abroad are more likely to be opposed to the "Ground Zero Mosque" than the American media are.
"According to a recent survey by the Arabic online news service Elaph (Arabic version here), 58 percent of Arabs think the construction should be moved elsewhere. And according to a Media Research Center study released last week, 55 percent of network news coverage of the debate has come down on the pro-Mosque side.
"The MRC study also found that on the question of whether opposition to the mosque demonstrated a widely held 'Islamophobia' among Americans, 93 percent of network news soundbites answered ion the affirmative. In contrast, when asked whether the United States is a 'tolerant' or 'bigoted' society, 63 percent of Elaph respondents chose the former."
Honestly, this isn't all that surprising. The American media has a very poor opinion of regular Americans, most likely a much poorer opinion then the rest of the world. I'd like to see a survey on that.
Monday, September 20, 2010
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Hmm, interesting. And of course this says far more about our leftist loon fringe media than it does about anything else. It seems that only they and actual jihadis want the mosque . . . hmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call 42% of the people who respondeded to Elaph's poll jihadists.
ReplyDeleteJust as the huge majority of people who don't support the GMZ aren't bigots, so too are the huge majorioty of people who do support it not jihadists. People can support the GMZ for a variety of reasons. I don't support it, but...
Peronally, I find the poll numbers interesting because they illustrate the rather obvious silliness of both the American Left and Right's contentions that Arab-Muslims are a single, monolithically (is that even a word?) thinking group.
But here's the thing, Yukio, the mosque was originally called "Cordoba House." The mosque is supposed to be opened on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The mosque is, purportedly, to grow trust and understanding between the Muslim and Christian faiths, yet Christians are the ones, the only ones, who are expected to exhibit that trust and understanding.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt, none at all, in my mind that this is intended to be a triumphal mosque. Heck, even the imam whackjob who is heading the project has threatened the U. S. with Muslim violence if it's not allowed . . . . I know you talk a lot about Christian fundamentalism, but when did we hear of Christians threatening violence if their desires weren't met? What? The 12th century? 13th?
You know what I do when someone mocks my God? I pray for them. I don't behead them with blunt knives and video it for the world to see. I don't chase them down and slaughter them in the streets to the cheering of my countrymen. I don't hang their burned and headless bodies from bridges. And I don't dance and sing songs of glee in the streets when we take down their people, their leaders. Indeed, I was horrified by the treatment of Saddam Hussein in the minutes before his hanging (which I could not bring myself to watch, though I have watched and been deeply and forever changed by the beheadings of American journalists, Jews, random contractors).
Where, please, is the Christian equivalent? Where? In the abortion bombings in the '80's? Vile and repulsive as that was, Christians stood up and spoke out against that course of action. We condemned murder, and we condemned the murderers. Indeed, we sentenced most to death. But here's the deal: Islam requires Muslims to seek global domination by any means. If that is wrong, show me. Frankly, I'm just a little sick of indulging insane, misogynist, genocidal freaks. Particularly as my own religion has been deemed unworthy of Constitutional protection.
Tell me, show me that Islam, that Sharia is not bent on global domination and the murder of non-Muslims. I want very much to know this, to believe it . . . but I don't. Show me that Islam is a religion and not a political ideology that wags the religious dog.