After Octavia Nasr was fired as Middle East News Editor for her Tweet in admiration of Sayyed Hussein Fadlallah, who died in Lebanon on July 4, there have been several articles in liberal Blogs and magazines, like Salon, in support of her actions and against the evil neocons precincts.
Much to the chagrin of many, liberalism is now associated with Islamism and the “forget 9/11” crowd. It has become the edifice for hate speeches (The same Salon article by Glenn Greenwald condemns the firing of Helen Thomas). This has become an issue that we should all be concerned about. If we are responsible writers, editors, and people of influence, we must know the basics of WWII history and no better book to read than William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany written in 1960 but which captures the Nazi regime and the Holocaust quite adequately.
What this new generation of liberals and media apologists does not quite understand is how the Holocaust started. Their education is paramount to good judgment and responsible writing. In addition to knowing our history, we think every person of influence must attend a sensible course at the Simon Wiesenthal Center to fully grasp the importance of not letting one’s liberalism and tendency to “Laissez Faire” lead to human disasters. Liberalism is as important for “discovery” and “forward moving” as conservatism is to reapplying “what works” and “value-based” thoughts, but the liberal ideas should not come at the expense of not knowing one’s history.
Why do we care about this issue as Muslims? Because we have become the driving force behind the “Hate Jews” mentality. We cannot allow ourselves to emerge as the magnet for another failing of mankind the proportions of which it almost eliminated a whole religion. It could also happen to us.
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