In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Michael Mukasey points out an unexpected intersection between present day feminism and the foundations of 20th century Islamist radicalism:
In the 1940s, an Egyptian writer and Education Ministry employee harshly criticized the government under King Farouk as insufficiently Islamic. That writer, Sayyid Qutb, was rewarded with a traveling fellowship, apparently to get him out of the country.
Qutb arrived at Colorado State College of Education in Greeley in 1948. He didn’t much like it. “I stayed there six months and never did I see a person or a family actually enjoying themselves,†he wrote. Even gardening drew his contempt: “There is nothing behind this activity in the way of beauty or artistic taste. It is the machinery of organization and arrangement, devoid of spirituality and aesthetic enjoyment.â€
But contempt curdled into revulsion when Qutb dropped in on a church dance that followed a service—a shocking juxtaposition in itself: “The dance hall convulsed to the tunes on the gramophone and was full of bounding feet and seductive legs. . . . Arms circled waists, lips met lips, chests met chests, and the atmosphere was full of passion.â€
The song that was playing: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.†For Qutb, it epitomized the West’s moral degradation. He condemned the “animal-like mixing of the sexes,†concluded that Americans were “numb to faith in art, faith in religion, and faith in spiritual values altogether,†and determined that Islam would have to be perpetually at war with such a society.
He went back to Egypt, quit the civil service, joined the Muslim Brotherhood, and eventually became the organization’s spiritual leader.
I don’t have a lot to add to that. I mostly just wanted to point it out.
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” began as a novelty number, written by Frank Loesser,creator of the Broadway Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, as something that he and his wife, Lynn Garland, would perform together at parties. It caught on. It bears a resemblance to earlier vaudeville numbers. My grandfather’s vaudeville act included a similar song which I still have committed to memory. The very slightly naughty quality has been popular during all but the most puritanical periods.
I guess we’re entering one of those now although with all of the sex and nudity in popular entertainment that’s hard to believe.
“He went back to Egypt, quit the civil service, joined the Muslim Brotherhood, and eventually became the organization’s spiritual leader.â€
I guess we can safely assume he was shocked by The Lemon Song, burned his Stones LPs and gave up drop G tuning on his guitar.
And we are going to assimilate these folks?Wake up Democrats.
“And we are going to assimilate these folks?”
Yup, all Muslims are just like Qutb.
Steve
No, all Muslims are not like Qutb. However, it’s not unreasonable to believe that his thinking was typical of members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
This is where it gets confusing.
1. Why are the editors of the Washington Post making a hero of Jamal Khashoggi? He was MB. They’re not our friends and they’re not good guys.
2. CAIR is MB. Why did the Obama Administration treat CAIR as though it spoke for all Muslims?
BTW here’s my present take on the JK matter. The editors of the WaPo are embroiling themselves in a Saudi dynastic struggle. I have no idea why. I think they’re kidding themselves.
1) His relationship with MB is actually not all that clear. He probably belonged when he was younger, but I am not seeing evidence he was active with them when he was older. Should we think of Reagan as a Democrat? Regardless, MBS did not kill MB, he killed Kashoggi. As to making him a hero I guess that depends upon your POV. It looks to me like they portray him as a victim. He did work for them after all.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/10/19/on-jamal-khashoggi-the-muslim-brotherhood-and-saudi-arabia/
2) I was honestly unaware that Obama used CAIR as his only outlet for communicating with Muslims. A quick Google search appears to show that he and his admin met with many different groups of Muslims, implying that CAIR represented a specific faction. Are all of those news reports wrong and Obama used CAIR as the sole representatives for all Muslims? Also, the Trump administration, just like the Bush admin, meets with CAIR reps. So my guess would be that CAIR is considered large enough or powerful enough or rich enough (money talks) to get a seat at the table, but as I said I was unaware that they had the only seat.
Steve
Steve, please look up what a strawman argument is and why it’s fallacious, then re-read what I wrote in point #2 above, read what you wrote in response to it, and explain why that is not a strawman argument.