The Watcher’s Council

Alea iacta est… the Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up. And it was a pretty close race in both categories!

President Barack Obama’s Middle East Foreign policy (if it can even be called that) is falling apart at the seams and yet, the usual suspects blame it on a silly video and what none other than our president called the violence, including the murder of four Americans, ‘natural protests.’ And of course, they make sure to add that the perpetrators are a ‘minority’ who aren’t practicing real Islam, the Religion of Peace.

This week’s winner by a nose, Joshuapundit’s Islam and Not Islam: Fantasy Vs. Reality In The West, takes a look at this topic, one I’ve written about before. Here’s a slice:

Where exactly do you draw the line between fantasy and reality? Or more importantly, where does a society as a whole draw it?

Increasingly, that line in our society is being drawn when it comes to how people perceive Islam.

The recent rise of Islamists and the outbreak of violent attacks on
U.S. embassies in the Muslim World has brought this into focus in almost
a surreal way, as various pundits and talking heads tap dance like
newly reborn Fred Astaires in a minefield trying to avoid stepping on
the real issue -is this sort of violent behavior due to Islam or is it
an aberration due to culture? And what can we do about it?

The way many of them attempt to deal with this without being fired from
their jobs or fear of being targeted for violence themselves is by
talking about a minority of ‘extremists’ who are practicing an
interpretation of Islam that of course, the majority of Muslims do not
follow.

Are they right?

Dutch politician Geert Wilders is someone who has forcefully addressed
that question, and he’s paid a heavy personal price for it. So his
opinion is of some interest.

The above interview with The Daily Caller’s Jamie Weinstein to promote his book, ‘Marked for Death: Islam’s War Against the West and Me’ serves as a useful signpost on where that line exist, where the delusions about Islam collide with adamant reality.

Wilder, being European, has seen first hand how multiculturalism combined with massive Muslim immigration and supine politicians willing to appease and accommodate the situation has changed a continent, literally making what was a free society far less free and much more violent and fearful.As Geert Wilders says during the interview, Europe was ten years ahead of America in that regard and he wrote the book, in part ‘as a warning to my American friends.’

Wilder’s opening point is to explain why Islam “should not be compared so much with other religions like Christianity or Judaism” but rather “to other totalitarian ideologies like Communism and Fascism. If we acknowledge that fact then you don’t have to treat it like a religion and a lot of problems can be solved far more easily..”

At which point, Weinstein interrupts and after a brief mention of Israel, brings the conversation to the far more ‘human interest’ level of Muslims as people…you know, all those ordinary, law abiding peaceful Muslims who aren’t harming anyone.

Wilder’s response is interesting. He says (as he always has all along) that he has nothing against anyone simply because they are Muslim, and that the majority of Muslims in our society are neither violent nor criminals. But he goes on to make an important distinction – that while there are moderate people that call themselves Muslims, there’s no such thing as moderate Islam. “Don’t let anybody fool you who says Islam can be moderated,” Wilders says. “There are not two Islams; there is only the Islam of the Koran, the Islam of the life of Mohammed, and the Islam of sharia law.”

Is Wilders correct?

In our non-Council category, the winner was The Diplomad 2.0 with We Are Not at War… Just Under Attack, submitted by The Glittering Eye. It’s a superb examination of exactly what’s happening in the Middle East and how it was a natural result of President Barack Obama’s policies. Do read it.

Okay, okay… here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 4 1/3 votes! – Joshuapundit – Islam and Not Islam: Fantasy Vs. Reality In The West
• Second place with 4 votes – The Noisy Room – Acts of War
• Third place with 2 votes – Simply Jews – “Innocence of Muslims”, “Sam Bacile”, cheap scoops and Faux News
• Fourth place with 1 vote – VA Right! – EXPOSED: Reuters/IPSOS Poll Over-Samples Dems by 13% – and LIES about Percentage!
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Gay Patriot – Barack Obama: Ill-suited to be nation’s chief executive
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Razor – The Clash Of Civilizations Continues
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bookworm Room – We have always been at peace with Oceania. Emmanuel “the Mitt” Goldstein is the enemy.
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Right Planet – I’m Not an Economist, But I Did Stay at the Jekyll Island Inn Last Night
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – Question of the Day
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi – Lebanese Protesters Protest America While Wearing American Clothes
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Independent Sentinel – Mother Jones, the Other Attack Watch, Demonizes Romney Supporters

Non-Council Winners

• *First place with 3 votes! – The Diplomad 2.0 – We Are Not at War… Just Under Attack submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Second place *t* with 2 1/3 votes – Instapundit – Why Barack Obama Should Resign submitted by Bookworm Room
• Second place *t* with 2 1/3 votes – Victor Davis Hanson – Storming Embassies, Killing Ambassadors, and ‘Smart’ Diplomacy submitted by Joshuapundit
• Third place with 2 votes – The Onion – No One Murdered Because Of This Image submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Mark Steyn – Disgrace in Benghazi submitted by The Noisy Room
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – American Spectator – End Times submitted by The Right Planet
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Ayaan Hirsi Ali – Muslim Rage, The Last Gasp of Islamic Hate submitted by The Watcher
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bob From Brockley – We Are Not All Julian, and Julian is Not Pussy Riot submitted by Simply Jews
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Commentary – Critique of Romney is “Israel Lobby” Rerun submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Kitchen Dispatch – From 9/11: The Emergence of an Honorable Virtue submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Da Tech Guy – Demoralized as Hell, The poll the media isn’t talking about edition submitted by VA Right!
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Natural Born Conservative – Labor Force Stagnation Concealed by Obama submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and weigh in… don’t you dare miss it.

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