View original postView original post... and gave him rather glowing praise while they did it. In the news release from the MCB linked there their own secretary-general said "Yusuf Al Qaradawi enjoys unparalleled respect and influence throughout the Muslim world" and criticized the gov't for being 'pro-Zionist', I'm not really sure how someone can put their name and their whole organization behind defending the guy and not expect to be viewed as two-faced. Had they just said 'He is an influential if controversial speaker convicted of no crime, free speech protects even that which we disagree' it might be different, but you can't give a guy props that way when he's said those things and not have legitimate doubts raised as to just how non-violent and moderate you are. This is their own news release, a crafted document, and nowhere in there was their even a gesture towards criticism like
'although the MCB disagrees with many...' and the thing is still up on their site! They didn't come back afterwards and say 'uh, maybe this needs toned down or qualified or something'.
View original postTo be honest I'm really not surprised about that, it's fairly typical in my experience for the kind of wishy-washy positions generally taken by the Muslim organizations in Western countries, which seek some impossible balance between being sufficiently politically correct to not be branded extremists by the political mainstream, while still satisfying even the more rebellious elements among the people they represent. They often fail in both respects, sometimes even at the same time, but one can see why they keep trying. CAIR is not very different in that sense.
In my experience your average middle-eastern isn't radical, just generally ignorant of virtually everything more than a mile from their home. A lot of these alleged 'voices for moderation' aren't playing to their audience's prejudices, they actively try to instill them. Which isn't very hard, sadly, you really have to spend some time there, out in the sticks, to appreciate what a bizarre blend of modern and medieval there is.
View original postThe sad part is that "Yusuf Al Qaradawi enjoys unparalleled respect and influence throughout the Muslim world" is really close enough to the truth to make it entirely justifiable as a statement by an organization as impossibly placed as the MCB (or CAIR). The man is an idiot, but an influential one. Still, I don't think releasing such statements or sponsoring him for a visum is irreconcileable with taking a pro-peace and anti-violence stance, as such. If you're going to limit your selection of invited speakers or guests to those Arab Muslims who publicly and invariably condemn Hamas and Hizbullah and defend Israel, well, your list is going to be very, very short and you're making yourself largely irrelevant at least among the people you're supposed to represent (even if you become a darling of some other groups in the process). That doesn't have that much to do with religion and all the more with nationalism and politics. If you think political correctness in the west is stifling debate, you've clearly never taken a look at the Arab countries - except that their brand of political correctness has some very different dogmas and truths that must never be spoken than ours.
Like I said, I don't object over the sponsorship so much as the glowing praise in it sans so much as a hat-tip to 'Not someone we always agree with'. There's also limits of how far you can use the free speech umbrella before you're legitimately tainted by association. Big difference between the ACLU backing the KKK's right to march and if they came out praising them. You don't have to criticize them, but you can't praise someone then raise the 'free speech shield', that's not how it works. You can bring Bashir al-Assad on TV for an interview and criticize him, you can bring him on and remain staunchly neutral, you can't bring him on, call him an exceptional leader and be immune to being called a sympathizer for a mass murderer. We can talk abut respecting their beliefs and their own moderate voice's need to walk a fine line but we do need to keep in mind that a lot of those beliefs can be described without a hint of hyperbole and still violate Godwin's Law.