'Hatriotism' & Michael Moore: Turkish Muslim says 'Fahrenheit 911' wrong on liberation of Iraq
blackwaterusa.com
By Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner
C 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
He was lauded with a 20-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.
A.O. Scott of the New York Times calls his movie a "passionate expression of
outraged patriotism." At the June showing of "Fahrenheit 911" before the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in Los Angeles, he received a
standing ovation of over a minute.
And Michael Moore's most recent work spits in the face of my dead
countrymen.
As yet another innocent person has their head severed by Islamic
"extremists," Moore apparently glosses over the fact that democracy, in
general - and America, specifically - is under attack. I am innately aware
that Michael Moore is first and foremost a provocateur, and he thrives on
controversy.
I am also sure he will smile gleefully at this op-ed piece, because I
mention his film, which is free advertising. He has gone on record on his
website as saying he hopes we will watch his movie, even if we disagree,
because his facts and analysis are correct. He notes that he has a "dogged
commitment to uncovering the facts."
I am not holding my breath. With the aforementioned facts in mind, I must
still speak. Michael Moore has released the cinematic equivalent of a French
kiss to all who hate America. He is the leading exponent of hatriotism.
"HATE-RIOTISM" describes the new breeze blowing through the American media.
It is now "cool" and "relevant" to mock everything for which our soldiers
are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Criticizing democracy and America has
long been in vogue in continental Europe from those who look with disdain at
American "naivete," while still lamenting the Islamic onslaught.
Now imported to our shores, hatriotism is the simplest way to get the
growing contingent of professional protestors who populate television
audiences to cheer: Mock America. Mock our involvement in Iraq. Mock
President Bush ... and get rousing applause.
The only problem is ... America has freed my kinsmen.
I am a Persian Turkish immigrant raised as a Sunni Muslim, and in the
interest of full disclosure, I must state that I left Islam in 1982, and
became an American citizen. Yet, as I survey the current cultural landscape,
I cannot help but be less than enthused when Michael Moore states that his
film is a call to true patriotism.
The present conflict is not a war against Islam, and neither is it a "war
for oil." In the previous six military endeavors, American troops sided with
Muslims who were under attack, and there are much less extreme methods of
garnering oil. This is a war of ideologies, and with "Fahrenheit 911," Moore
clearly shows his.
His visual narrative of Lila Lipscombe, a Flint, Mich., mother who sent her
sons to the military and "lives to regret it," as Roger Friedman of FOX News
notes, is "unexpectedly poignant."
I wonder - was Moore equally moved when he heard of the honor killings which
daily threatened the lives of Muslim women in Afghanistan? Was he equally as
outraged at the female circumcision practices in my countrymen's lands,
because it lessens the threat of adultery?
In fact, I wonder ... where were all the "hatriots" when our soldiers freed
all the women of Afghanistan from the Taliban? Where were the feminists when
our soldiers liberated the Afghan women to be educated for the first time in
years?
The irony is, for all of their false bravado behind the First Amendment and
their right to "free speech," the hatriots are exercising this right because
American men and women shed their blood to afford them this right against
those who would seek to oppress it. I would invite Michael Moore to my
homeland to make a movie criticizing Turkish oppression and see what
happens. The freedom he enjoys now was purchased with a dear price.
The central fact of the current controversy is the conflict between Islamic
theocracy and American democracy. Islam has not now - nor has it ever -
allowed religious freedom or freedom of expression. The best the Islamic
republics can offer is "religious toleration." Based on the "Pact of Umar,"
religious toleration allows non-Muslims to enter Islamic republics, but they
must pay a tax (jizyat). They can practice their faiths, but they cannot
convert anyone from Islam. To do so means deportation ... or worse.
Further, Islamic prophecy foretells of worldwide conversion to Sharia law
under Islam, and thus, those who are fighting against us are "holy
warriors." In this instance, I would say our president is half right. He
says we are not at war with Islam. I agree. However, a significant portion
of Islam is in fact at war with us.
And Michael Moore is blind to it all.
The clearest definition of religious freedom and freedom of expression I can
make is this - the religious freedom America offers means that I would fight
and die for a Muslim's right to build a mosque in every city in America. It
is precisely this freedom for which our soldiers are fighting.
In recent days, it has become fashionable for those like Moore to say, "I
support the troops, but not the war." This is the equivalent to saying, "I
support doctors but not surgery." The position they hold is ludicrous at
best, and insulting at worst. When my brother - also a professor and my
co-author of five books - and I came out in support of the Iraqi
intervention, we began to be accosted by peace protestors when we spoke. I
found this amusing.
Allow me to say it emphatically: I support the troops - and their mission.
Our soldiers - your sons and daughters - are fighting to preserve Michael
Moore's freedom to produce such works that mock their very existence. I hope
he realizes that. They are allowing my countrymen the right to freely
express themselves without being stoned to death as a consequence. Or have
their heads severed slowly while their executioners are chanting "Allah hu
Akbar."
There is one final irony. There is a film producer who has worked for years,
chasing down Michael Moore in an effort to interview him. The young man,
named Michael Wilson, is making a documentary titled "Michael Moore Hates
America." So far, Moore has dodged him at every turn. Anyone who knows
cinema recognizes that this is the exact tactic Moore took in his film
"Roger and Me," as he chased an automobile executive for an interview.
Do you see the paradox? Because Michael Moore is now in the mainstream of
hatriotism, and now the young conservatives are the radicals, Moore has
become his own worst nightmare. Michael Moore has become that which he
mocked. He has become an aloof elite.
Count me among the radicals.
_____
Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner is co-author of "Christian Jihad" (Kregel, June
2004), and is professor of Theology and Church History at Liberty University
in Lynchburg, Va. The Caner brothers won the 2003 Gold Medallion for their
book "Unveiling Islam" (Kregel). You can contact him at www.erguncaner.com. |
