I have had the dubious pleasure of hearing you recently on CBC and have read your essay titled “Canada at war for 13 years” – and heartily agree with you on one point only: we certainly should do away with the term “terrorism.” Instead, we should use the term “islamofascism” or the phrase “islamist extremism” in all of the cases where jihadi psychos terrorize civilian populations (such as: 9/11, the Madrid railroad bombings, the slaughter in Mumbai [promoted by Pakistan–and by the way, where is the Western scapegoat for the massacre of civilians in Mumbai?]).
I note that you do not pursue these semantic reservations about this “meaningless” term in relation to the actions of Israel vis-a-vis Hamas and Gaza (your long list of publications bashing Israel amply illustrates this point.) So, when it suits you, the term does mean something. You attack its use when applied to Islamist atrocities but happily apply it to the actions of The Great and Lesser Satans.
You are surprised that people cannot distinguish between the notions of “cause” and “justification” – yet you seem equally obtuse in relation to other matters – most notably the fanciful notion that much, if not all, Muslim suffering can be blamed on the West. You blithely ignore the festering internecine conflict between Sunni and Shia. This split developed and ran red with blood centuries before the USA was a glint in Satan’s eye. Or take the glories of the Syrian civil war – here again the Sunni-Shia hatred finds expression. In Syria it is Iran, the Saudis and Russia who are the principal players. The obscene slaughter of Muslims – and a few Christians – over the last three years, cannot be blamed on the West.
Yet, to read your piece, one would think it is only the West that is responsible for Muslim suffering. This claim is a lie. I assume that you would agree that ISIS is a hellish organization that needs to be destroyed. Yet in your article, you object to the “triumphalist” language used by our military when it sends its brave soldiers off to do battle. Do you have equally disparaging words for the Islamic shock troops when they are urged by their leader El Bagdadi to behead the infidels? I would like to see you take up that theme.
In the final analysis you do not believe that Canadian/Western values are preferable to the values espoused by ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Boko Haram et al. You obtusely denigrate those who (when necessary) forcefully support Western values and are utterly blind to the medieval agendas and parochialism of thuggish religious sects.
David Pariser
(Fine Arts, Concordia U.)