The liberal confusion

Submitted by Denis MacEoin (United Kingdom), Sep 11, 2006 at 14:05

I still think of myself as a liberal (more in a European than American sense), and yet I find myself wholly agreement with the conservative assessment of the the threat to Western civilization by terrorism and Islam. It worries me that so much of the liberal and left-wing side of politics seems to be bent on committing suicde.

I think of feminists who refuse to condemn female genital mutilation because that would be to criticize the culture of those who practise it (and to hell with the girls ands women who suffer); or left-wing Jews who join hands with groups like Hizbullah and Hamas in seeking to destroy a 'fascist' and 'apartheid' state; or liberal intellectuals who are strident in condemnation of Israel and whole-hearted in their support of Muslim 'freedom fighters' and 'resistance' groups, while remaining blissfully ignorant of historical facts or the most basic Islamic texts.

I think of myself as a liberal because I believe in democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of thought, the right to change my religion or esppuse no religion, in women's rights, in gay rights, in human rights in general, in the rule of law based on laws made and unmade by parliaments, in the abolition of capital punishment, and much else. I would have thought that every other liberal out there would support those same ideals.

And yet left-wingers here like Ken Livingstone and George Galloway throw themselves enthusiastically behind every illiberal, mysoginist, homophobic, anti-democratic, anti-freedom preacher and thinker and activist in the book. Surely the moderate right and the moderate left should be joining forces here on the values we share. Yet that isn't happening. Instead, most Western societies are now paving the way for those who despise us and want to destroy everything of good we have built up since the Enlightenment. Maybe I'm really right-wing and just don't know it (though I do feel a lot more right-wing!). But I don't think that's it, to be honest. I think the moderate left and centre of politics have lost their way, have sold out to the very forces that will betray them and send them to the wall if they get the chance.

I think, in particular, of the intense left-liberal hatred for Israel, and I simply can't understand where it comes from, apart from exposure to media distortion, an ignorance of the facts (I have to admit I have an edge as a former academic in Middle East/Islamic Studies and can actually read texts in Arabic and Persian), misplaced sympathy for the seemingly downtrodden without reciprocal sympathy for the victims of terrorist attacks, and so on. Why on earth should someone like myself be so unusual? Apart from my academic knowledge of the field, I'm not exceptional. Why has the left taken leave of its senses and liberal instincts so thoroughly. Why is Israel singled out for vilification when it practises liberal values and is alone in the Middle East for doing so? How do we address such a distorted sense of ethics, morality, and intellectual dishonesty? Answers on one line, please!

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