Blame the Russian Mob

A few weeks back my wife noticed an odd pattern. Three of the weekly crime shows on prime time TV found the criminals to be members of Russian immigrant crime families. Apparently, this is now the fashion; the Mafia is passé. I asked her if the criminals were ever Muslims. “Oh, no, sometimes they start the show with Muslims as suspects only to show how unfair it is to think such things,” she informed me.

In the aftermath of 9/11, in a North Carolina college – a public university – freshmen were given an abridged version of the Koran to read. The selected passages where from Mohammad’s early Meccan period when he was preaching tolerance – a tolerance he needed as an outsider trying to get acceptance. Left out were the harsh Medinan warrior passages showing Mohammed's mature ideology. To the student, Mohammad resembled Jesus. If this was the Bible, the ACLU would be on the case.

Recently, a widely used high school text propagandizes for Islam. “Across the Centuries,” put out by a major textbook publisher, presents a “Sunday School” or perhaps we should say “Friday School” version of Islam. In general, students are taught to be sympathetic to the teachings of Islam.

Why is Islam given such respect? Why are people teaching lies about Islam? Why is there a taboo against being critical of Islam?