Handbook for Infidels

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http://www.handbookforinfidels.com/

Handbook for Infidels
The Candid Progressive's Guide to Islam & its War on the West

Copyright 2012 The Candid Progressive

Welcome to Handbook for Infidels, a candid, unflinching appraisal of the religion that keeps making the news, around the world, day after day. This site attempts to shed some light on just why Islam keeps making the news, and why that news is never pretty.

The Handbook is intended to serve as a wake-up call for some of my dozy (or less scrappy) fellow progressives, who seem unaware that we're now engaged in a global War of Ideas that's much bigger, and more threatening, than the absurdly-named "War on Terror" suggests. HFI is one-stop shopping for the secular progressive who wants to get the skinny on what we're facing in the Muslim world, and what we can do to protect our more enlightened, life-embracing culture from the advancing shadow of grim, aggressive Islamism.


People are just people. Right?
Yes, it will. (If we let it.)
Allah's faithful preparing to stone
a woman to death in Iran.
Family values in Palestine.
A tender-hearted (and stylish) devotee of the Religion of Peace.

There's a lot of confusion in the West regarding Islam -- especially among progressives, because we're only programmed to distrust religious fanatics of the Bible-thumping, evolution-denying, queer-hating American variety. The others, we're told, are really just victims of something or other. But somehow the evidence confronting us from around the world doesn't seem to match up with the bland reassurances of the politically-correct types, or the passionate denials of dissembling Muslims.

Still, maybe you don't trust the harsh assessments offered by some of the more outspoken right-wingers, because, 1) They're right-wingers, and tend to get just about everything else wrong; and 2) Their criticism of Islam is often accompanied by smug praise for their own Iron Age religion, involving the worship of "a dead guy on a stick" * -- so just how objective (or astute) can they be?

That's where the Handbook comes in. An honest, clear-eyed appraisal of Mohammed's desert dogma, from an honest-to-God, tree-hugging, SUV-hating, voted-for-Obama progressive. Sound unlikely? A little surreal, perhaps? Is that the theme from The Twilight Zone you're suddenly hearing? Well, stick around, 'cause it gets weirder!

On this site, Political Correctness and Cultural Sensitivity will not stand in the way of honesty, common sense, or the basic instinct to survive. I'm sure of it. Because my first move was to slip a Mickey into the warm milk and cookies of those annoying, sissy-boy conventions. They've been tumbled into the trunk of a car, driven out into the desert, and dumped in a ditch someplace, shoeless, with their pants around their ankles. We won't be hearing from them anytime soon. That means you'll get the straight dope on Islam, from a perspective that values truthfulness and the well-being of progressive, democratic societies far more than the hypersensitive feelings of religious fanatics.

And you'll get that appraisal without being subjected to any cheerleading for Christianity, or any other hocus-pocus religion based on a magic book. And without any sneering commentary on godless liberals, or the "myth' of climate change, or discussion on whether or not Obama is, in fact, the Dark Lord himself. BTW: he's much too ineffective for that role. Satan gets stuff done. (Or so I'm told.)

At HFI, reason rules. Reason and a 21st Century morality based purely upon empathy, compassion, and a desire to serve the greater good. (Even if serving the greater good requires some straight talk. Or straight shooting.)
Ladies! Nice to (almost) see you! Apparently some Muslims believe it's just impossible to say anything stupid, as long as your heartfelt convictions are inspired by Islam.
You've no doubt noticed that Islamic culture appears totally alien and antithetical to the sort of open, progressive society we Lefties cherish. And, in spite of all the assurances from Muslim apologists (and from such imminent Western thinkers as George W. Bush) that "Islam is a religion of peace", if you're like most people, you're not entirely convinced. You realize that something smells "not quite right" in
the world of burqas and beheadings. But what, exactly, is the source of that funk?

If you get your info regarding Islam from NPR, CNN, the BBC, and other PC venues, you've heard repeatedly since 9/11 that the violence, misogyny, and mayhem are not inherent to the religion itself, but are the results of unrelated "cultural" quirks. (One of those "You say 'tomayto' / I say 'Death to those who insult Islam!'" type of deals.)

We're told that the suicide bombings, the "honor" killings, the stonings, the female genital mutilations, the acid attacks, the forced marriages of underage girls, the slavery in royal households, the judicial amputations, the murderous rioting over cartoons, the virulent anti-Semitism, the hostility towards outsiders, the Sunni/Shiite massacres, the public hangings of homosexuals, the beheadings of blasphemers and apostates, and the murder of outspoken infidels in Western cities are all the results of, well...something else. Maybe it's poverty. A lack of education. "Cultural" hangovers from a barbaric past. "Tribal" traditions. Political oppression. European and American imperialism. The PC types have all sorts of theories. The only thing they seem to agree upon is that it has nothing to do with Islam.

Or, at most, they'll tell us that these horrors are the products of a tragic (and apparently commonplace) misreading of what is actually an enlightened, peace-loving religion. A religion that rejects these nightmarish behaviors in the strongest possible terms...but, regrettably, can't seem to go five minutes without being hijacked by brutal, misogynistic thugs.
* Hat tip to "the Reverend" Ivan Stang.
We're in for a fight, whether we want it or not, and whether it's to be fought with words or bullets. So we might as well get busy trying to neutralize our enemy's perverted program with vocal, determined opposition. With an informed public that values basic freedoms more than platitudes and political correctness. With governments that vigorously defend free speech and freedom of the press against hostile, intolerant, would-be theocrats. With a sensible program of foreign policy, based upon a realistic appraisal of Islam and the threat it poses to progressive societies. With alternative energy sources that allow us to stop funding the enemy. And with total, taqiyya-confronting, myth-deflating candor.

And, who knows? Maybe it'll work.

If not, and you happen to live in France, for instance, then you'd better sharpen your savate skills, mon ami. And oil up grand-père's old Grande Puissance. And get ready to defend Mdme. Liberté once again (this time with a little more enthusiasm, one would hope) against the latest breed of fascist invaders -- the Islamofascist immigrants currently torching cars, raping infidel women, and generally creating havoc in Gay Paree. Otherwise, your grandkids may have to trade in their Capri pants and jaunty berets for burqas and beards, and replace hanging out in cafes smoking Gauloises and reading existential novels with groveling on their knees facing Mecca five times a day.

Sound like crazy-talk? Alarmist rantings? If so, then you haven't been paying attention for the last fourteen hundred years. Because these guys are serious about their religion. And they breed like bunnies.
But in reality, Islam is a nightmare religion. (If it's being done properly, anyway.) In fact, the more you study it, the more horrifying it becomes. And the more obvious it becomes that the "radicals", "extremists", and "fundamentalists" are practising Islam exactly the way the prophet Mohammed intended. The way he himself practised it, only without the aid of modern weaponry or fuel-laden jetliners. And the more you learn about it, the more apparent it becomes that this barbaric, maladaptive religion should no longer be allowed to maintain the air of respectability it currently enjoys in the more PC venues of Western society. It's time for all of us to start being brutally honest regarding this brutal ideology.
Some of our earnest Muslim brothers, promoting Islam the way it's been done
for 1400 years -- through violence and intimidation.
Not the sort of guys I want to see influencing Western politics or culture. (Women's fashion, in particular.)
This is the real danger. (This, and spinelessness on our part.)
These are not equally sane worldviews. (And it's okay to say so.)
7) Political correctness is totally counter to the spirit of free speech, and prevents the discussion of important truths. It might make superficial people feel more comfortable, but it has serious, real-life consequences. Political correctness is an unacceptable hindrance for serious people who want to see the world become a better place.

Ultimately, the problem here is religion in general -- a problem of people accepting “revealed” truths without sufficient evidence, and confidently acting upon those beliefs, regardless of the consequences. Magic-thinking still causes a vast amount of misery around the world, and prevents the development of more enlightened intellects and moral codes. That being said, no other religion in the 21st Century continues to promote medieval barbarism on such an epic scale as Mohammed’s “spiritual” legacy. Islam is religion taken to its most diabolic extreme.

My aim with this project is to shine a bright light on this lethal ideology, so that well-meaning but misinformed progressives can finally see it in all of its bloody, benighted glory. Here you'll find a veritable cornucopia of facts, figures, and commentary on the "Religion of Peace"; its origins and mythology, its founding prophet; its central texts and tenets; its rambunctious fourteen-hundred-year history; the types of societies it tends to create -- and what it has in mind for you, Cupcake!

You'll also find some timely advice on how to wage a war of words, laws, and ideas -- a cultural counter-jihad, designed to halt the spread of light-sucking Islam in its tracks -- along with a few Islam-savvy suggestions on foreign policy and national security, and the occasional plug for energy independence, via clean, renewable alternatives. That sort of thing.


It's time to halt the spread of 7th Century Arab insanity -- even if some Muslim feelings get hurt in the process.
We need to get serious about putting a halt to the Islamization of Western Europe, and other parts of the infidel world. And to do this, we have to abandon political correctness and openly put our ideological foes on notice.

Instead of helping Muslims to feel more comfortable in their hellish religion, by pretending to respect it, we need to hang out a great big sign that reads:

Barbaric Iron Age ideologies are not welcome here!

Again, this has nothing to do with "racism". This is about a hostile ideology -- not skin color, language, or preferences in food or fashion. This is easily proven by the fact that former Muslims are warmly welcomed by anti-Islam activists in the West (including Yours Truly), even though their skin is still brown and they still have the funny accent.

It's not about "bigotry" or "prejudice" or "Islamophobia", either. It's about the survival of the most enlightened cultures the world has ever produced. Cultures that some very clever people went to a lot of trouble to develop and foster over the last few centuries -- braving the fiery wrath of our own native brand of religious zealotry, until Christianity could finally be defanged. It's about defending the progressive ideals we supposedly stand for, against a threat that's very real. Against enemies who are very, very determined. And well-funded. And willing to kill, and die, for the most retrograde ideology on earth.
But, ultimately, we need to laugh this absurd religion right off the face of the earth. We need to tell the True Believers exactly what we think, and why we think it.

This life-sucking ideology has survived for fourteen centuries because it's been sheltered from criticism by the combined forces of violence (on their part) and political correctness (on our part). Because its devotees have been insulated from the ideas of non-believers, who tend to be far more adept at critical thinking.

It's time to change all of that. It's time for all progressives to do what we can to help eradicate this deadly mind virus, by resisting its spread in the West, and by undermining its central truth-claims, via honest conversations in all available venues. We need to create an environment in which myth-based religions such as Islam are constantly being confronted by reason, skepticism, and reality. These religions have bullied, brutalized, and befuddled mankind for centuries. It's time to fight back!

And Islam, the biggest, meanest bully of them all, is just begging to get its ass kicked. So, let's make that happen, on a global scale. Let's show the True Believers that we infidels still have a little grit and determination. And that militant progressives, armed with reason and science, and firmly grounded in reality, can prevail over ignorant zealots motivated by ancient superstition.

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http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/polit ... r-killings


The left cannot remain silent over "honour killings"

We have become complicit in this epidemic of abuse and violence by not doing more to challenge it.
By Sunny Hundal Published 04 August 2012 9:10


A mourner lays flowers at the memorial to Hatun Surucu, was shot in the head and killed by her youngest brother Ayhan Surucu in an "honour killing" in 2005. Photograph: Getty Images.

The murder of the teenager Shafilea Ahmed is likely to stand out in British history as a particularly gruesome example of what we now refer to as "honour killings". Shafilea had warned that her parents were trying to marry her off to Pakistan; others knew she had sustained injuries from beatings by her parents; she had even tried to commit suicide in Pakistan. But right until the end, her own life was fated to be out of her control - she went missing in 2003 and her dismembered body was found a year later.

Shafilea's case wasn't a one-off. It took eight years for the murderers of the Sikh woman Surjit Athwal - her own husband and mother-in-law - to be brought to justice in 2007. It took ten years for Mehmet Goren to be jailed, in 2009, for murdering his daughter Tulay, because she fell in love with an older man of a different Muslim sect. Last year Gurmeet Singh Ubhi was found guilty of murdering his 24 year old daughter Amrit because the Sikh girl was dating a white man. There are others too - Heshu Yones, Banaz Mahmod, Nuziat Khan - the list of women murdered in the UK over their "honour" is depressingly long.

Any decent person would be angry and sad when presented with these names. But it isn't enough to be sad: we have become complicit in this epidemic of abuse and violence by not doing more to challenge it. This should be a left-wing cause célèbre but instead there is an embarrassed silence. Left-wing activists robustly challenge racism and homophobia - so why isn't more being done to stand up to this social evil?

Perhaps it's because forced marriages and honour killings are fundamentally about a lack of cultural integration. They almost always happen when parents want to stop their daughters from mixing with British culture and life, instead of abiding by outdated cultural traditions. To these parents, mixing with other cultures or ethnicities has become synonymous with losing the "family honour".

In the past, most left-wing intellectuals and activists avoided the issue of cultural integration for good reason: it was usually a code-word for assimilation and conjured up images of whites telling others their way of life was inferior. But caught between attacks from the right on multiculturalism, and worries that speaking out would look racist, we have become paralysed. Meanwhile, these problems are set to get worse as more second and third generation children of immigrants come of age.

The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (Ikwro) found last year that 39 out of 52 police forces across the UK had recorded at least 2,823 "honour" attacks over 2010. Some forces showed a jump of nearly 50 per cent in such cases from 2009. Horrifying stories of friends subjected to subjected to verbal abuse by parents for straying past cultural boundaries are far too common. One acquaintance of mine, under pressure to marry before she was ready, was repeatedly told she was being "too fussy" and would end up "left behind on the shelf". Her self-confidence was broken down with every barbed comment until she eventually gave in. Emotional blackmail is one thing, but the Crown Prosection Service estimates that on average one girl is murdered every month in Britain over "family honour" - while the number of forced marriages could be as high as 10,000 a year.

Jagdeesh Athwal, who fought for nearly a decade to get justice for his sister Surjit, told the Independent that Asian community leaders and religious groups "remain deafeningly silent when these killings happen". The author Sufiya Ahmed, whose book, Secrets of the Henna Girl, is about forced marriages, admits there is "a lot of denial" about the problem. "Aside from not wanting to acknowledge that it happens, there are even those who argue that the subject shouldn't even be talked about for fear of branding all Asians with the same brush."

There is a patronising attitude at work here, too: well-meaning liberals have been known to assume forced marriages and such abuse are an inherent part of Asian culture and therefore must be left alone. A few months ago, activist Jasvinder Sanghera's charity Karma Nirvana convinced a teacher in East London to put up posters at the school that said: "Forced Marriage is Abuse Not Cultural". But the posters were taken down and the charity was told the head was concerned they would upset Muslim parents.

A reluctance to offend will only encourage more silence. If self-appointed community leaders won't speak out, then Labour politicians and left-wing activists have a duty to. I'm not calling for a sneering attitude that says, "if you want to be British, you have to integrate into our way of life". Instead, we need an inclusive narrative about integration which is clear that we, as Britons, are equal regardless of religion, ethnicity or background. It has to appeal to both white and non-white Britons. It has to be about what it means to live in this country collectively and what we do tolerate as a society and what we don't. It would give us more confidence to stop the systematic abuse of thousands of women in Britain. Otherwise, we stay complicit in their fate.