For people too busy to have taken in the entirety of Obama’s Cairo speech, Pundit & Pundette analyze quite a bit of it. I’m not going to judge the speech in its entirety, though, until I read it for myself. And I doubt I will find it the unmitigated disaster they find it to be.
But one excerpt really grates on me (emphasis mine):
As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam – at places like Al-Azhar University – that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.
My God, I am sick of hearing of this crap. Throughout history? Can anyone who praises Islam for advancing civilization cite an example less than, say, 600 years old? I’d like to think that citing thousand-year-old examples is a subtle dig that really asks of Islam “How about coming out of the middle ages?” But I don’t think any speaker really means it that way.
Anyway, I started researching the origins of all these things, finding links to histories of these items, then I ran across someone who has already done all this. Looks like we owe ‘em for the pen.
The other thing that bugs me about this stupid praise for an Islamic world that no longer exists is that the same people who wax poetic about Islam’s 1000-year old contributions to civilization compare it to the Christianity of the same time to support their argument that the West has no right to criticize Islam because of Christianity’s own backwardness and evil. We cite a recent beheading in Buffalo, “honor killings” in the “modern” country of Jordan, stoning of gays in Afghanistan, and what do Islamic apologists offer in response? The Crusades. Oh, and George Bush.
UPDATE: Don Surber is on to this bullshit as well, citing Rush.
