The deliberate, stubborn denial that will kill the West.

There are astonishing parallels between the [Cold War] efforts of the [East German] Society for German-Soviet Friendship to idealize the conditions in the Soviet Union to fairy-tale status and the contemporary, widespread practice of trying to see Islam solely as a “religion of peace.” They both use the same trick.

The mismanagement and cronyism in the Soviet Union had nothing to do with socialism. There was no poverty, no unemployment, no corruption and no criminality, apart from dissidents and other “negative elements.” Socialism was a paradise on earth, a guarantee of individual and collective well-being.

The only truly stupid people were those who did not want to participate. The fact is, socialism was a thoroughly tolerant philosophy which co-existed peacefully with other philosophies wherever it was not in power. And everywhere where it was in charge… forget peacefulness and tolerance.

It is pretty much the same with Islam. Al-Qaida, Boko Haram, the Islamic State and the Taliban have nothing to do with Islam. The regime of the ayatollahs has nothing to do with Islam. The bloody battles between Shi’ites and Sunnis have nothing to do with Islam. When blasphemers are flogged and adulterers are stoned in Saudi Arabia, that has nothing to do with Islam.

* * * *

The 9/11 killers had nothing to do with Islam. And what happened in London, Madrid, Bali, Boston, Sydney, Brussels and Toulouse had nothing to do with Islam. You see, Islam means “peace” and “jihad” — as we keep hearing — does not mean “holy war,” but simply “inner struggle,” whatever that is. There are fanatics in every religion, but in no other one is there such a stubborn denial that they have anything to do with the religion they profess.^[1]

Of course, the consuming desire to see communism in practice in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and elsewhere as benign and superior to one's Western home was not limited to the D.D.R. Strictly speaking, communist governments had a vital interest in propagating that lie and their citizens may be forgiven for wishing to appear to cooperate with their enemies in the government, but Westerners living in freedom still embraced that lie by the millions even though they had but to read one book or article – available by the tens of thousands – to learn that communist regimes were all ghastly tyrannies. Tyrannies that were good at two things: killing the spirit and the body, often enough, of their imprisoned citizens.

In the Soviet Union, subject citizens who refused to submit to the regime of lies were simply branded as mentally ill and confined in "insane asylums" and injected with whatever chemicals government officials wished. In the West, citizens who refuse to submit are deprived of their livelihoods; attacked as bigots, racists, and haters; or physically attacked by AntiFa thugs (encouraged and protected by Western governments) or Muslims disgruntled by Western ways, food, dress, and ideas. Of the latter, there is never a short supply.

Disgruntled renegades.

Notes
^[1] "Learning From Islam Means Learning How to Win. There are fanatics in every religion, but in no other one is there such a stubborn denial that they have anything to do with the religion they profess." By Henryk M. Broder, Die Welt, 1/11/15. (Translation at Gates of Vienna, 2/5/15.)