I expect this will be an excellent book. It seems as it will draw Taliban & the American Right Wing parallels that many think of but refuse to articulate. If Markos HuffPo piece is indicative of what the book covers, it should be a bestseller. Does not hurt that it has the word “sex” in it.
For the past nine years, I’ve been told that I want the terrorists to win.
That’s funny. Why would I want the radical jihadists to win? Indeed, on issue after issue, there is no daylight between the views of radical jihadists and the American radical right. Fact is, I loathe jihadists for the exact same reasons I hate the modern conservative movement — because whether it’s their violent outlook, or their views on women and gays, or their hostility to knowledge and science, or their fear of pop culture, they are essentially cut from the same
controlling, ideological cloth.As obvious as this comparison might be, the accusation that liberals and jihadists share common cause has persisted, which is why I wrote my new book, American Taliban: How Sex, Sin and Power Bind Jihadists to the Radical Right.
Conservatives haven’t reacted well to the book. Actually, they haven’t reacted well to the title of the book, because none of them have read it. (Not that they’ve ever let ignorance get in the way of declaring something evil before.) But to the rational among us, the comparison is incontrovertible:
1. Theocracy
Mixing missionary zeal with government is always combustible, threatening freedom of thought, of religion, and of association. Such repression is obvious and deplorable in much of the Islamic world, where centuries-old Buddha statutes get razed by the Taliban because it offends their sensibilities. Yet such intolerance is also a hallmark of the American Taliban, whether it’s their opposition to a Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan, or Glenn Beck asking Rep. Keith Ellison, one of just two Muslims in Congress, "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.
Markos Moulitsas: How Sex, Sin and Power Bind Jihadists to the Radical Right
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