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, 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.