Grand Slam Home Run

My bud Dr. Rusty nailed this with the absolute sweetest spot of his bat. Line drive to deep centerfield and about 10 rows back worth of sweet spot.

On Islamophobia and Right Wing Extremism

Since I am constantly accused of being an 'Islamaphobe' let me, once again and for the record, explain my position on Islam, Islamophobia, and right-wing extremism. I'll start at the latter and work my way to the former.

1) Right-wing extremism is real. A lot of people on the right don't want to admit this. I'm not sure why, but I think it goes something like, "I'm on the right, and if this guy is also on the right then, by association, it makes me look bad." So, they simply redefine "right" in such a way as to exclude whatever nutjob or extremist they don't want to be affiliated with.

It happens on the Left as well ... and with any other grouping, ideology, or movement. It's probably normal for people not to want to be associated with extremists so we find ways to make it seem that we have nothing in common with them.

But, by definition, an extremist has similarities with, say, moderates ... only they are more extreme. Like I said, that's kind of the definition of extremists.

Right wing extremists do exist. I think you'd have to be in a state of denial to claim otherwise.

And, as I've often noted, being a nutjob and being motivated by ideology are not mutual exclusive things. Hence, someone like Abdulhakim Muhammad -- the Little Rock shooter -- might very well be a nutcase, but it doesn't mean he wasn't also motivated by his belief that America is at war with Muslims.

Likewise, it seems rather obvious that Anders Behring Breivik is certifiably crazy. But it also seems obvious that he was motivated by his worldview that Muslims are at war with Europe.

Reading his meandering and incoherent manifesto it is clear that Breivik was on the right, and that he was an extremist.

His extremism doesn't discredit the right any more than an ecoterrorist's extremism discredits those concerned with the environment.

Extremists of all stripes exist, even on the right.

The real problem is that the word is often misused. That is, people with political motives use the word to try and discredit those they disagree with even if the word doesn't truly fit.

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Read the rest at The Jawa Report You won't be disappointed.