It's always easier to deny that there are bad people who belong to our groups than to acknowledge their presence and do something about them.

I remember very well how Mario Cuomo vociferously denied that the Mafia existed! Cuomo was, as far as I can tell, a perfectly honest, perfectly decent man without the slightest connection to the Mob. And yet his first inclination as an Italian-American was to insist that there was no Mafia. For all Rudy Giuliani's many faults, I give him full credit for acknowledging publicly that the Mafia was real, that it was an all-Italian operation, and that it was an evil to be combatted.

I think many Muslims have fallen into the same trap as Cuomo- rather than acknowledge the evils committed and/or espoused by their co-religionists, they prefer to deny that there's a a problem at all. Perhaps, like Cuomo, they're merely embarrassed, or just wary of being tarred with the same brush as the bad guys.

But either way, the bad guys win if no one has the guts to stand up to them.
astorian | 10.31.07 - 1:01 pm | #

Mark,

A good piece. But how many of the things one would advise moderate Muslims to disavow before they can be welcomed in polite society are specifically permitted --if not commanded-- by the Koran?
Mike Walsh | 10.31.07 - 1:18 pm | #

You need to understand who you are talking about when uou use the term "Moderate Muslim". You talk about antisemitism as an evil. Many of these "moderates" would wonder what is wrong with hating Jews. This distance between us is so large it is hard to even talk. A Cardinal recently complained dialogue about the Koran was impossible because even discussing it was blasphemy to them. We need to try but the gap is huge.
Randy | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 1:43 pm | #

The gap is huge. Pope Benedict succinctly expressed the root problem in his call for reason in Regensburg.

There was a short article in the WSJ yesterday pointing out that only Rep. candidates are using "Islamic" as a modifier for terrorism. The usual suspects accused them of "islamophobia", whatever that is.
Catherine L | 10.31.07 - 2:04 pm | #

Let's not forget the past 100 years of Western political powers using the Middle East as their personal playground- they don't call it "The Great Game" for nothing- UK, France et al and more recently the US and Israel have played the role of imperialists- invading, overthrowing, disrupting the sovereignty of nations through neo-colonialism- undermining more secular and moderate Muslim leaders like in Iran back in 1953 - come on Mark can we not take the log out of our own eye here- what we have going on right now is basically a war of jihadists vs. imperialists- we are definitely the imperialists in all of this, the jihadists were supported by the Western powers when the big enemy was Nasser, Mossedegh- the nationalists who could have formed strong rational States in the Middle East- but this would have disrupted the Oil and strategic interests- not to mention Zionist interests that have the most power in our system. Let's call out neo-colonialism simultaneous to the problem of jihadist Islam and consider the historical record as presented in the books- Devil's Game, All the Shah's Men, A Peace to End all Peace- by Dreyfuss, Kinzer, and Fromkin for starters.
Anonymous | 10.31.07 - 2:46 pm | #

I don't think there was anything saying fault couldn't be passed around. That the US or Europe could be to blame is mentioned almost weekly, often by Muslims, as well as Americans and Europeans. But it wouldn't hurt, as Mark points out, if those moderate Muslims were more open about some of Islam's darker aspects then and now.
Dave G. | 10.31.07 - 3:07 pm | #

Anonymous, the history of jihad violence goes way back before imperialism and oil. Keep in mind that America's very first war after independence was against North African caliphs who considered Christian sailors fair game for taking as slaves under the rules of jihad.
craig | 10.31.07 - 6:00 pm | #