Is the Right a Tool of the Terrorists

Consider, if you will, two of the things that you can easily read and hear from conservatives:

• We are at war with Muslims.
• And so, we should kill all of them

The second point is easily disposed of: There are 1.6 billion Muslims, or a skosh less than a quarter of the world's population. Anyone who is so lacking in humanity as to propose mass murder for any reason should be, at the very least, ignored, if not called out publicly for being a monster.

The first point, which is, sadly, all too commonly repeated, is identical to what the terrorists themselves have proclaimed for decades. When people and politicians (mostly Christians) babble about a war with Islam, they are validating the talking points of the terrorists.

But they don't care, especially the politicians. They know that fear is a good selling point. Getting people to hide under the table, shivering in abject pants-shitting terror, is good for the politicians who are telling them "elect me, I'll git `er done". The obvious fact that trafficking in fear is also good for the terrorists doesn't bother people like Trump, Christie, Huckabee, or the Cabal of Cowardly Governors one bit.

I'll close with some wise words from the President:

“Isil seeks to exploit the idea that there’s war between Islam and the west, and when you see individuals in positions of responsibility suggesting Christians are more worthy of protection than Muslims are in a war-torn land, that feeds the Isil narrative. It’s counter-productive. And it needs to stop.

“And I would add, these are the same folks who suggested they’re so tough that just ‘talk to Putin’ or staring down Isil [will work] … but they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America as part of our tradition of compassion. At first they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of three-year-old orphans. That doesn’t seem so tough to me.”