A phrase from my youth, given to those complaining about a problem: "Lump it." Meaning: Get over it, deal with it yourself, it's not worth my time.

The correct reaction to the Muslim street, in their perpetual hysteria?

Lump it.


Don't expect me to take your complaints seriously, or your threats. You have already demonstrated that you have no sense of proportion, no sense of the fitness of things, by the extremity of your reaction. I'm not your therapist. You need one. Put him on "danger money".

More to the point: if you expect me to take Islam seriously, stop working so hard to defame it, to defile it, to drag the name of Mohammed and Allah through the gutter. My reaction to such things is disgust, not engagement, not elevation. Try again.

UPDATE: Christopher Hitchens attempts to make the same point, but within the boundaries of his logical positivism (I suppose you have to do something when Trotsky fails. The good paragraph, courtesy of erudito:

This has to stop, and it has to stop right now. There can be no concession to sharia in the United States. When will we see someone detained, or even cautioned, for advocating the burning of books in the name of God? If the police are honestly interested in this sort of "hate crime," I can help them identify those who spent much of last year uttering physical threats against the republication in this country of some Danish cartoons. In default of impartial prosecution, we have to insist that Muslims take their chance of being upset, just as we who do not subscribe to their arrogant certainties are revolted every day by the hideous behavior of the parties of God.

It is often said that resistance to jihadism only increases the recruitment to it. For all I know, this commonplace observation could be true. But, if so, it must cut both ways. How about reminding the Islamists that, by their mad policy in Kashmir and elsewhere, they have made deadly enemies of a billion Indian Hindus? Is there no danger that the massacre of Iraqi and Lebanese Christians, or the threatened murder of all Jews, will cause an equal and opposite response? Most important of all, what will be said and done by those of us who take no side in filthy religious wars? The enemies of intolerance cannot be tolerant, or neutral, without inviting their own suicide. And the advocates and apologists of bigotry and censorship and suicide-assassination cannot be permitted to take shelter any longer under the umbrella of a pluralism that they openly seek to destroy.

Michael McBride has a point in response to the absurd, if not actively mendacious, posturing of the Organization of the Islamic Conference:

Sorry if I am more afraid of Muslims than I am of, let’s say, your run of the mill yokel who made some anti-Muslim remarks on 9/12. Those serving the Prophet have a much higher kill ratio than the Christians, the secularists, the atheists, the agnostics, the Jews, and the Wiccans combined.

I am at a loss to figure out how being afraid of Muslims, because they happen to be the world’s largest generator of terrorists, is a greater form of terror than the actual terror ... which is being perpetrated by Muslims extremists on the rest of the world’s population nearly every day of our lives. This is like castigating an assault victim for being afraid of their attacker.

In other words, I accuse the Organization of the Islamic Conference of not understanding Islam, just as I do CAIR or the other alphabet organizations set up to promote it.

Dr. Sanity elaborates:

So, let me say for the record that I reject being labeled as "Islamophobic" utterly. Rather, I have a healthy, rational fear of a religion that aggressively seeks my submission or death....

In an ideal world, I shouldn't even have to say it, but Islam has forced me to explicitly and loudly state that I absolutely, thoroughly and unequivocally reject Muslim values. What follows is not an exhaustive list, but let me touch on some of the highlights that form the basis of my rejection:

1. If we are going to talk about oppression, shall I begin with the ubiquitous institutionalized oppression and humiliation of women in Muslim society? Detractors claim that the Quran does not foster this attitude, but witness the devaluation of women; the sexual fear of women; the incarceration of women; the infantilization of women; the social marginalization of women, etc. etc.

2. The overt and institutionalized anti-semitism in Islam, that is frankly paranoid and of psychotic proportions.

3. The assumption of the victim role while actively victimizing other religious groups. This is the entire psychological manipulation involved in the cries of "Islamophobia!"

4. The hypocritical call for tolerance, while promoting intolerance and bigotry among its own adherents.

5. The glorification of death rather than life.

6. The fostering of mindless obedience and punishment of independent thinking.

7. The poverty of ideas and rational thought among its leaders.

8. The inability to condemn unequivocally the barbaric acts done in the name of Islam.

9. The fact that you would force your religion on me, if you could.

As I said, the list is not exhaustive. There are many more reasons why I have come to my intense rejection of this particular religion.

I merely suggest that those who say that those who say that the Koran does not support X, or Y, or Z may not say so to me. They may preach that to other Muslims, in their mosques or talk about it in coffee houses. As someone who is not a Moslem, I get to look at the religion through its followers. That they disagree with these actions but do not rebuke them (as I did, on more than one occasion, to Jerry Falwell and other "public Christians"), indicates to me that they do not believe what they are saying about their own religion.

If this is the level of thought under Islamic Law, let's just bomb the place.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.

Shops, tea houses and other public places in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court. His court is part of a network backed by armed militiamen that has taken control of much of southern Somalia in recent months, bringing a strict interpretation of Islam that is alien to many Somalis.

Islam suffered defeat after its decision, in the tenth century, to "close the gates of ijtihad." Once you stop thinking creatively, new things stop you.

We welcome a new blogger, who, although a bit pretentious, shows promise

We note that someone is pointing out that terror is anti-Muslim, especially when conducted by Moslems. I don't expect the Salafi school to give up its pathetic attempt to hijack Islam, but it's nice to see that thought is occurring elsewhere.

And the only appropriate response is, "So what? Why should I care about people who are so insecure about their religion that any POSSIBLE criticism merits death threats and violence? Their insecurity demonstrates the inferiority of their religion much more decisively than I ever could."

It arose from this speech. Read the whole thing.

The Muslims have reacted as you would expect silly people to. Not that the choice they occasionally offer is any better. Death, conversion to Islam, or payment of a tax demonstrates the incoherent reasoning at the heart of Muslim understanding of their own society.

The only possible response to such a choice by me would be the following:

You offer me a choice. Death is familiar to me, and not something that bothers me. If you would prefer that I choose it, here's your chance. If you mean by the chance to convert to Islam the choice to submit to God, I have already done so. To the extent that you mean will I repudiate my prior beliefs, the answer is no. Payment of a tax as a response means that you are not concerned with God, but your purely local and quite fallible ruler, and I decline absolutely to submit myself to him, or her. I submit my life to the providence of God, where it has always been. If it be His will that I die, I die. If not, not. There is nothing special about that. Do what you wish.

Orianna Fallaci is dead, of cancer.

Long time readers will be familiar with her work. I'd suggest, in light of recent news about the Islamic world's absurd touchiness about being called violent, this essay.

No further comments needed.

Once again, Moslems manage to make themselves look ridiculous to their neighbors.

Latest example: this silly article, in which spokespeople for official-sounding Moslem bodies assert that even implied discrimination against Moslems is "racist." Somehow they haven't figured out much about their own religion yet. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to come up with the most brief refutation of this absurdity. Extra points for Koran citations, since it is obvious that neither of these spokesmen have taken it seriously enough to read.

For those too bored to hit the link, here are the notes:

Javed Khan, president of the Federation of Islamic Associations, told Radio New Zealand the speech made it clear that Brash wanted immigrants to fit his view of a mainstream New Zealander, and therefore excluded people like Muslims.

Pancha Narayanan, president of the Federation of Ethnic Councils, said a comment by Brash that immigrants should have a good command of English, or quickly learn the language, was a sign that he would prefer them to come from English-speaking countries.

He said the speech had an element of racism and an anti-Muslim tone.

Mr. Kahn, Mr. Narayanan: has it occurred to you that your view of Islam is enough to tarnish it in the eyes of your contrymen?

"I am a Muslim American and I am angry with Israel."

So he shoots people in Seattle.

Just like previous attacks by deranged Muslims, this will soon disappear from the news.

Move along. Nothing to see here, folks.

Right.

Ignorant people have stated that Islam definatively prohibits any images of Mohammed. This being the age of the internet, it's easy to disprove. Since I'm calming down now, I'll change my default image back to 9/11, and refrain from blaming Mohammed for the antics of the people who claim to be Islamic, but who actually worship Mohammed. Mohammed is not responsible for the degenerate idiocy of the overwhelming majority of his followers.

Just for variety in my userpics, here's a portrait of the prophet Mohammed.