War of Ideas against Islam A new set of book chapters is almost ready for preliminary distribution. This material was not originally intended to be used for a new, separate book project. However, an obvious problem became obvious for the first time: All the evidence in the world, the strongest possible arguments in criticism of Islam, mean nothing at all to people who believe in what the mainstream media says on the subject, who believe what establishment Democrats and establishment Republicans tell us, or who believe in what many university academics say. That is, it is vital to modify what Margaret Thatcher once said, "first you win the argument, then you win the election." Let's make this: First you win the argument, then you change hearts and minds in the culture." The terribly misguided arguments that counsel caution, that counsel toleration of Islam whatever Muslims do in the real world to injure us, must be demolished so that very different arguments in opposition to Islam and against toleration of Muslim religion can be listened to. Without doing that, you inevitably get the "in-one ear, out-the-other," effect. So that you can better understand what this is all about here is the Table of Contents for the new book, sort of a prequel to the work in progress that you already know about, The Power of Popular Culture. The new book is called: War of Ideas against Islam. Completed chapters are indicated in boldface. Research is nearly completed for each of the remaining chapters. Chapter # 1 The Battlefield of Ideas
Chapter # 2 Man without a conscience Chapter # 3 Why normal people can't stand Islam Chapter # 4 Scholars at war with each other Chapter # 5 Why Leftists love Islam Chapter # 6 Objectivity about Religion: Functionalism Chapter # 7 When a religion doesn't look like a religion Chapter # 8 Leftism as a Religion Chapter # 9 The Story of Subud Chapter # 10 Obama's actual religion: The Hawaii Years Chapter # 11 Year of the Generals Chapter # 12 Schoolboy Obama in Indonesia Chapter # 13 Obama without illusions Chapter # 14 Obama, the Chicago years Chapter # 15 Chicago, Subud, and Obama Chapter # 16 False Messiah Chapter # 17 Obama and Islam Chapter # 18 Obama: False friend to Narendra Modi Chapter # 19 Donald Trump's babe-in-the-woods views of Islam Chapter # 20 Winning the War of Ideas There may be revisions to a few chapter titles before everything is finalized but this should provide a useful overview of the structure of the book. This is far more here than a journalistic study of known facts; this is not a city desk approach to the issue of Islam. The approach is based on philosophy, everything has been re-thought, looked at from a new perspective that is neither Leftist nor Right-wing in character. If my harshest criticisms are directed at the Democratic Party it is because, on this issue, the Democrats far more than Republicans are the worst offenders. If I was writing about economics the situation would be reversed, or if I was discussing the environment. But this is all about Islam. In any case, my point-of-view is guaranteed to upset both Republicans and Democrats. No-one gets a free pass. By and large I detest both major political parties about equally. I can't stand either one. However, this said, special focus must be upon Barack Hussein Obama, someone whom Donald Trump, by virtue of his incompetence, his hopelessly uninformed views, and his crude ways of framing issues, is making Obama relevant again. That is, much popular opinion about Islam in America still reflects Obama's values, and this factor extends around the world to India, where the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is a friend of Obama. The two men met no less than eight times during Obama's time in office. It is little wonder than there is growing criticism of Modi's policies toward Islam from within the BJP. It seems obvious to me that these soft-on-Islam policies have been directly influenced by Barack Obama. It is time to expose the facts for what they are even though, otherwise, my views of Modi are mostly very positive. But I have Hindu friends and one, in particular, has been adamant in telling me that Modi is playing a very dangerous game in appeasement of Muslims and Muslim states. Which is to say that it is essential to discredit Obama's views of Islam, thoroughly, as completely as possible, because of the damages he has already done and might continue to do in the future as a still influential ex-president. I think you will agree, from what you are about to receive, even though there are other things to say, that Obama has now been thoroughly discredited. Hence any argument from authority, where Obama is the source of authority, will become impossible as soon as this new book is available to the public. ----- This is all about a war of ideas. The purpose of this war is to discredit Islam. Wars are all about winning, are about destroying one's enemies even if "destruction" is metaphor for defeat of the arguments of one's opponents. In any case this is about conflict and about prevailing in 'battle.' Some Christian true-believers, and some others, take the view that the best approach to Islam is to use velvet gloves, so to speak, to pull every punch, to bend over backwards being nice to Muslims, to win them over through kindness and sweet reasonableness. There is something to be said for this approach if we were discussing personal relationships, how to relate to a secular Muslim at the workplace for instance, or someone who is a sales clerk at a store where you shop. However, there clearly are other instances where any such approach would be ridiculous on the face of it. It would be absurd to try and win over the fanatics of the Islamic State this way, or members of Boko Haram or Lashkar-e-Taiba. It would be a total waste of time to use this approach with Hamas, with the people in CAIR who support Muslim terrorists in the Mid East, or with Leftist true-believers who blend their pro-Islam views with anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Americanism. As I see it, any kinder and gentler approach to Islam beyond selected one-on-one personal relationships would be ludicrous. And a guarantee of failure. Especially since we all know what that really is all about: Doing nothing. The peace-at-all-costs approach to 'winning over' Muslims to truth and light is simply an evasion, an excuse to not do anything meaningful, to not become well informed, to not take an interest in the morbid realities of Islam. This is about a war of ideas, not about genteel discussions in the drawing rooms of the British nobility. It is about fighting with words and ideas and information. It is about education and re-education. And it is based on the premise, substantiated with an abundance of evidence, that Islam is the sickest religion to ever exist in the history of the world. It is far better to say so, openly and honestly, than to continue with the polite fiction that Islam "really is about peace and tolerance" when it is no such thing and is, instead, a criminal religion with no redeeming virtues. Islam is also the sworn enemy of free speech and what better way to fight against this travesty of a religion than with maximum recourse to free speech? Which, of course, the Left will denounce, just as Leftists these days are also almost unanimous in opposition to free speech and de facto censor everyone they disagree with. A war of ideas against Islam will necessarily expose the Left for what it now is, anti-free-speech, hence anti-American. ----- This new book also discusses in detail the philosophy of religion which is the foundation in its pages for study of Islam -and for study of any religion which one wants to understand objectively, namely, functionalism. There is a scholarly foundation to everything said in War of Ideas, and it is explained as clearly as it is possible for me to do. This has been necessary inasmuch as the popular view of religion, that it is all about devotional practices, is purely subjective, is something handed down by tradition, etc., means almost nothing to me. My interests as a scholar of Comparative Religion (more like History of Religion) is an interest in what religions actually do in people's lives. Sure, truth claims are important, but at least as important are morals and values and behavior. ------------------------------------------------- The completed chapters are ready for proof reading. As soon as that task is completed each of the 15 finished chapters will be sent to people on my private mailing list -which is all in my head, memorized, and not written down any place. It is quite real, nonetheless. Comments and criticisms of any of the chapters would be welcome. Billy R. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
