Islam Round-up

1. "Islamophobia" and the defamation of Islam are the most conspicuous forms of racism and intolerance today, and a global U.N. conference on racism planned for 2009 should come up with practical solutions to deal with them, an Islamic bloc representative told a preparatory meeting in Geneva yesterday.

Of course. What race is Islam, again?

2. This opinion piece rehashes the multiculturalist dogma and disparagingly quotes a few right-wing American shock-merchants such as Ann Coulter to make the case that Muslims are the most hard-done-by people in America, and probably the world. It also makes the baffling claim that the mainstream media ignores cases of discrimination against Muslims. Spare me.

This line caught my eye, though:

"The most deafening silence comes from liberals and conservatives who seek true understanding and espouse American values of human rights, freedom and tolerance for multiculturalism"

Apart from the multiculturalism bit, most critics of Islam DO care about the "American values of human rights, freedom and tolerance" - that is why they are opposed to an ideology which is totally intolerant of all but itself, and denies basic human rights and freedom to women and religious minorities. But if you're a multiculturalist, even such blatant human rights abuses and intolerance by Islam pale in comparison to the cardinal sin of suggesting that our culture may be better than another.