There is an almost endless parade of paranoids who believe that ANY Muslim is a radical Muslim, even if the Muslim himself doesn’t yet realize it. If you accuse them of being bigoted, surely they would be appalled at the very idea, but a comment by an equally paranoid idiot really brought the issue home in a blog by Pamela Geller on biggovernment.com. Geller notes correctly that an over-sensitivity to offending Muslims allowed Nidal Hassan’s rampage and mass murder to take place. But then she goes over the edge, like so many of her ilk do, saying that Islamic radicals have “infiltrated every agency and institution at the highest levels, and they control what is said and how it can be said.”

The specter of an enemy around every corner is exciting stuff, but it’s bullshit. A comment on her blog by someone who is undoubtedly an anti-Semitic Nazi sympathizer made this unwittingly salient point:

What about another group that has done that? Funny how you see no problem with THAT! Perhaps we should turn a rather suspicious eye towards certain tiny minority groups that are vastly over-represented in our government and other institutions like banks and the media, HMMMMMMMM?

I don’t want to leap to any unwarranted conclusions, but I’m guessing that vile comment was referring to Jews. And I think the despicable nature of that comment is mirrored in Ms. Geller’s attitude toward Muslims. She’s no different than that Nazi asshole.

Like her, I despise the ideology of intolerance, violence, misogyny and cultural repression represented by Islamists, and even by many “mainstream” Muslims. Clearly, I’m not mainstream, but an extremist in my rejection of these backward attitudes. But Ms. Geller’s ignorance of what Islam really means, at its core, leads her to ascribe far too much legitimacy to the radicals’ notion of Islam. They’re wrong, and she’s wrong for buying into their storyline.