OK, we're done here... no more Mr. Niceguy

[note:  this was intentionally buried here in my archives.]

<rant>

[Warning:  This is not a typical treppenwitz rant.  Not by several orders of magnitude.  I was in a pretty good mood this morning...until I scanned the news.  To say that all my circuit breakers tripped at once would be a gross understatement.]

Truth be told. I sort of gave up trying to be sensitive to Islam a while back... but this is just too much to let pass without comment.

It seems the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem has become just the latest in a long line of Muslim religious and political leaders to sell crazy in an interview... and be taken seriously.  This wouldn't be problematic except for the teensy-weensie little issue of the world's complete and total willingness to believe just about anything from these fanatics... especially if it is repeated often enough.

For those who didn't click over to the JPost article I linked to in the first sentence, let me give you the short version:

The Mufti of Jerusalem has declared (once again) that there was never a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (which he dogmatically insisted the interviewer call 'Al Aksa'), and that the Western wall is simply the remnant of a mosque.

I'll wait for a moment while you absorb all that.  Better?  OK, let's continue.

To be clear, this wasn't some crackpot imam from a backwater mosque in Newark trying to make a name for himself among the young hotheads.  No, this was the Grand Poobah Mufti... the guy in charge of the third holiest shrine in Islam! 

This would be roughly analogous to one of the Cardinals calling a press conference in Rome to declare that Christianity predates Judaism and that the scenes depicted on the Arch of Titus actually show relics from the Vatican being plundered by a bunch of those troublesome, upstart Jew-boys. 

In short, it would require that the listener both believe in time travel, and harbor a fair amount of antipathy for the Jews, in order to let such utter crap pass without comment or reaction.

The only difference is that if one of the top Church officials ever said something that outrageous and offensive, it would provoke an angry outcry around the world.  But because it was a top Muslim official spouting this nonsense, well... we have to understand the colorful hyperbole that is part and parcel of Islam's charming inter-cultural discourse.  You know... boys will be boys.

Well not any more.  Not for me, anyway.

I will no longer sit by and pretend that Islam is an actual religion, deserving of respect, protection and sensitivity.  No, I am calling a spade a spade: 

 

Here's the deal Virginia:  Islam is a made-up, spiteful hoax perpetrated on an ignorant bunch of desert dwellers some 1400 years ago... a hoax for which most of the civilized world has been paying dearly ever since.  Just because they call it a religion does not mean it retains the right to our deference and respect after centuries of codified intolerance, ethnic cleansing and massacres (which continue to this very day!).

Quite simply, the 'prophet' Mohamed was the L. Ron Hubbard of the 7th century.  No, scratch that... L. Ron Hubbard didn't make up Scientology out of hate or spite.  Actually, I don't think anyone really knows what L. Ron had in mind when he set pen to paper, but aside from driving a few Hollywood celebrities batty and influencing a whole lot of other folks to donate most of their worldly possessions, I don't know of too many people who've actually been murdered by Scientologists.

The Mufti's outrageous comments were not of the 'my god is better than your god' variety.  At least that I could forgive since most religions have some sort of exclusivity clause that instructs adherents to quietly - and sometimes not so quietly - wag a finger at everyone else in the world who is going directly to hell for not signing up.

No, what the Mufti is doing is more insidious;  He is trying to rewrite history.  He is trying to sell a global audience on the idea that, all archaeological evidence to the contrary, the Jews never lived in this part of the world, and are simply a modern phenomenon invented/imported to oppress the peace-loving Muslims of the middle east. 

Oh, and sensitive?  Let me tell you!  Despite being completely intolerant of any religion but its own - a character flaw that has allowed mainstream Islam to subjugate and kill any non-Muslim and desecrate/destroy the holy places of any other religion - they have a bit of a hair-trigger when it comes to real or perceived slights to Islam.

Well, I'm finished being Mr. Sensitive and giving this bunch of murdering lunatics the benefit of the doubt. You want to pretend that Islam is the religion of peace?  Go ahead, but don't blame me when it takes you four hours to get through security at the airport.  That's the price you pay for that particular brand of 'peace'.

Me?  I'm going to treat Muslims like any other bunch of raving, storefront snake-handlers.  They are crazy, dangerous people who merit our disdain and fear... not our respect.

</rant>

Whew... I feel so much better now.

Note:  I have no idea how to properly credit the cartoons.  I received them from various people and have looked far and wide for someone - anyone - claiming to have created them.  If you know to whom credit belongs, please let me know so I can do the right thing.