Ho-gannnn!!! The former Nixon aide and convert to Islam Bob Crane (whose lackluster commitment to truth and accuracy I discussed here and here) reviews Brad Thor’s blockbuster novel The Last Patriot, and finds it (gasp) worse than Spencer’s books!
“BOOK REVIEW: The Last Patriot: Islamophobia Triumphant in an Islamic da Vinci Code,” by Robert D. Crane in The American Muslim, July 6:
A best-selling new book, The Last Patriot, by Brad Thor, perfects a sophisticated art form surpassing Robert Spencer’s books in the emotional demonization of Islam and Muslims. It cites Spencer but goes beyond his accomplishments to the next level by launching a subliminal mimetic crusade to demonize the true scholars of Islam as dangerous “apologist enablers” of terrorism because they insist that traditionalist Islam is not inherently terroristic.
Wow! A crusade, and a “subliminal mimetic” one, no less! Pity poor Bob: the Crusaders were tough enough when they came with swords and clubs, but when they come in a subliminal mimetic way, what’s a garrulous old dissembler like him to do? Why, engage in his usual mudslinging and defamation, of course. In this case, he says that Brad Thor is trying to “demonize the true scholars of Islam as dangerous ‘apologist enablers’ of terrorism because they insist that traditionalist Islam is not inherently terroristic.”
Of course, I don’t think, and have never said, that traditionalist Islam is “inherently terroristic.” I have said, and can prove, that traditional Islam contains violent and supremacist elements, and that its various schools unanimously teach warfare against and the subjugation of unbelievers. Does that involve terrorism? Not necessarily. But anyway, it is noteworthy that Crane doesn’t mention the names of any of those he regards as “true scholars of Islam.” Why not? Could it be because he couldn’t come up with any who reject not just terrorism but jihad violence and Islamic supremacism? Could it be because, as I have shown here, the rejections of terrorism that we have seen from Islamic leaders are so vaguely worded as to allow for contemporary jihad activity?
The latest twist in Islamophobia is to demonize those who counter the Islamophobic demonizers by accusing them of downplaying the growing movement of extremism among Muslims all over the world and for highlighting the gathering movement against it by the awakening Muslim silent majority.
Whew. Bob’s not going to win any awards for clarity of prose for that sentence. But I think he means that it’s “Islamophobic” to point out that Muslims like him are spending more time attacking people like Brad Thor and me than actually countering the influence and spread of the jihad ideology in Muslim communities. But they are, of course: the very existence of this review, and the time it took for Bob Crane to write it instead of spending that time formulating a genuine counterjihad plan for Muslim communities, is an indication of that.
Scholars of Islam are accused of being dupes of Al Qa”ida because they oppose the Islamophobes” perversion of the Qur’an and decry their fear-mongering and political exploitation of the threat, and because Muslims increasingly are calling for foreign policies based on justice, both economic and political, as the best means to counter the threat. The logic of the demonization is irrefutable, but its premises are just as false as its inevitable conclusions. […]
Which scholars again, Bob? Names, please? But anyway, here Bob speaks about “the Islamophobes” perversion of the Qur’an” — as if it weren’t Muslims who were using the Qur’an to justify violence and supremacism. Note also that he says that adjustment of American foreign policies will solve everything — in other words, once we get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and throw Israel overboard, everything will be all right. He doesn’t explain how this will affect the jihads in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Nigeria, etc. I expect some foreign policy adjustments will be required of the infidels there, also.
Bob concludes:
Psychologists might have something to say about the appeal of this book to people who know they are being manipulated by fear mongering but can’t resist it, sort of like acrophobics who can’t resist jumping off a cliff. This book and the movement behind it would seem to provide evidence of the natural law that the primordial cause of civilizational clash and collapse is the denial of one’s own injustices, fear of the consequences, and a drive to stamp out opposition by abandoning the civilization’s founding values.
Psychologists might also have something to say about a man who, confronted with daily evidence of violence and subversion committed by members of his religion in the name of that religion, puts the blame not on the teachings and teachers of that religion, but on those who report on those teachings and teachers. I expect that a good psychologist would have a great deal to say.
Meanwhile, don’t miss The Last Patriot. It’s unique in portraying the jihad threat in its fullness, and wonderfully imaginative and superbly paced as a story. Congratulations to Brad Thor, and thanks for having the guts to write this book.