From the WSJ Opinion Archives
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Muslims
in America
The Pew Research Center has a new poll it touts as "the first-ever, nationwide,
random sample survey of Muslim Americans," and it has drawn drastically
different interpretations. The Pew press release says the survey finds Muslims
"to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect
to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world."
Many press reports echo this interpretation, including this one from USA
Today, headlined "Poll: American Muslims Reject Extremes":
The USA's estimated 2.4 million Muslims hold more moderate political views than Muslims elsewhere in the world and are mostly middle class and willing to adopt the American way of life, according to one of the most comprehensive surveys of this segment of the nation's population.
The Pew Research Center study released Tuesday found that "Muslim Americans are very much like the rest of the country," says Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. "They do not see a conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society."
But others see a darker side. The San Francisco Chronicle's report is titled " 'Troubling' Views on Suicide Bombings":
About 1 in 4 young adult American Muslims says suicide bombings against civilian targets "to defend Islam" can be justified rarely, sometimes or often, according to a new Pew Research Center poll--a finding that disturbed American Muslim leaders and thinkers across the country.
"It's something that the Muslim community should be aware of--it's a phenomenon we should be concerned about," said Farid Senzai, a Fremont resident and director of research for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, which helped shape the questions on the survey. "It is very troubling."
We looked over the full results, which you can find here, and our conclusion is that while there is something to be said for both of these interpretations, on the whole there is more truth to the optimistic one. At the very least this survey strongly refutes the claims of some right-wing extremists that Muslims simply cannot adhere to civilized Western values. For although it is true that enough of the Muslims surveyed hold invidious views to give one pause, they are still a small minority.
What is clear is that in some ways American Muslims are political outliers. When asked how they voted in 2004, 71% said for John Kerry, vs. just 14% for George W. Bush. (Comparable figures for the general public in a late 2006 survey were 50% to 44% in Bush's favor, and of course the actual vote total was Bush 51%, Kerry 48%.)
In foreign policy, the views of Muslims especially diverge with those of non-Muslims. Only 12% of American Mulsims say the liberation of Iraq was the right decision; 75% say it was the wrong decision. For the public as a whole in a survey last month, the figures were 45% and 47%. Just 35% of Muslims say the liberation of Afghanistan was right, vs. 48% who say it was wrong; for the general public the numbers are 61% to 29%.
It's not that unusual, of course, for population subgroups to skew heavily in one political direction or the other: Jews, for instance, are almost as heavily Democratic as Muslims are, and blacks even more so. On the other side, Cuban-Americans tend to be strongly Republican.
One very encouraging sign is that American Muslims do not seem to be far from the U.S. mainstream when it comes to their views of Jews and Israel. Much has been made of the finding that 28% of Muslims surveyed don't believe Arabs were responsible for 9/11. But only 1% said they believed "Israel/Jews" were responsible. (Seven percent said "U.S. government conspiracy/President Bush," which we're guessing is par for the course for a group that went more than 70% for Kerry.)
More substantively, 61% of Muslims answered in the affirmative the question: "Can a way be found for Israel and Palestinian rights to coexist?" Only 16% said no. These totals are similar to those of the general public in the U.S. (67% to 15%) and Israel (67% to 29%). Arab-American Muslims were more anti-Israel than others, but even they answered "yes" by 49% to 32%.
By contrast, in 2003 Pew asked people in predominately Muslim countries if they agreed that "the rights and needs of the Palestinian people cannot be taken care of as long as the state of Israel exists." Anywhere from a 49% plurality (in Turkey) to a 90% majority (in Morocco) said they did.
In 2005 our colleagues Bret Stephens and Joseph Rago looked at then-available data on American Muslims and reached this conclusion:
It takes no more than a few men (or women) to carry out a terrorist atrocity, and there can be no guarantee the U.S. is immune from homegrown Islamist terror. But if it can be said that "it takes a village" to make a terrorist, the U.S. enjoys a measure of safety that our European allies do not. It is a blessing we will continue to enjoy as long as we remain an upwardly mobile, assimilating--and watchful--society.
The Pew survey would seem to ratify this view.
No
Briefs for Oil
President Bush is at it again. He's making another unilateral grab for oil,
showing insensitivity to both innocent dictators from oil-producing nations
and the urgent problem of global warming. Darn that Bush!
Oh wait, it isn't Bush, as the Associated Press reports:
Decrying near-record high gasoline prices, the House voted Tuesday to allow the government to sue OPEC over oil production quotas.
The White House objected, saying that might disrupt supplies and lead to even higher costs at the pump. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is the cartel that accounts for 40 percent of the world's oil production.
"We don't have to stand by and watch OPEC dictate the price of gas," Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., the bill's chief sponsor, declared, reflecting the frustration lawmakers have felt over their inability to address people's worries about high summer fuel costs.
This is a bipartisan bit of nonsense. The bill passed 345-72, with 125 Republicans joining 220 Democrats in support.
We're
Speechless
You just have to see this to believe it, so here's a screen shot. It's from
the Web site of Amnesty International USA, a group we thought wanted to be taken
seriously:
It's for real. Click the image above to see the full screen shot, or on the headline atop this item to see the original page (assuming some adult hasn't stepped in and taken it down).
Sauce
for the Goose
What you are about to read is shocking but true. In the 21st century, in America,
there are still institutions of higher education that refuse to admit students
simply because they belong to a minority. And in the pages of the Boston Globe,
the president of one such college, Joanne V. Creighton, has the temerity to
defend this discriminatory policy:
A woman's college . . . is the equivalent of Virginia Woolf's "room of one's own," a college of women's own, free of many of the inhibiting presumptions of the male-dominated world. With its own powerful traditions, norms, and values, and a sense of wholeness sui generis, a women's college helps to develop in students a sense of confidence, competence, and agency. Graduates are more able to see gender-repression when they encounter it and to distinguish between personal and systemic barriers to success.
Women's colleges are not about separating women from the world but about encouraging them to be active agents within it.
Well, gosh, when you put it that way, maybe it's not so bad to have a few female-only colleges. Vive la différence and all that. Knock yourselves out, gals--but how about extending us guys the same courtesy if, say, we want to join a boys-only private club?
She
Does, However, Need a Bicycle
"No Need for Dad: Female Shark Reproduces Without Sex"--headline Agence
France-Presse, May 23
The
Decider
This is probably unsporting, but we just can't resist. The Oakland Tribune carries
a puff piece on a high school pep rally where Jesse Jackson spoke. Headline:
"Rev. Jackson Enlightens Oakland Students." The conclusion is one
of the silliest bits of journalism we have ever read:
Jackson might not be running for office in 2008, but he did his best to bring the West Oakland students into the political process.
"If you're 18 and older and you're not a registered voter, come on down," he said at the end of the assembly.
And just like that, dozens of Oakland youth signed up to select the nation's next president and other political leaders who will decide what their education--and their children's education--is worth.
We checked Article II of the Constitution, which enumerates the powers of the president: He gets to act as commander in chief, to pardon criminals, to make treaties, and to appoint ambassadors, judges and other officers of the United States.
There's nothing in there about deciding what anyone's education is worth. Where does the Oakland Tribune get off endorsing such a vast and unprecedented expansion of presidential power--and in a news story no less?
World's
Prettiest Ostrich
"Democrat John Edwards Wednesday repudiated the notion that there is a
'global war on terror,' calling it an ideological doctrine advanced by the Bush
administration that has strained American military resources and emboldened
terrorists," the Associated Press reports from New York:
In a defense policy speech he planned to deliver at the Council on Foreign Relations, Edwards called the war on terror a "bumper sticker" slogan Bush had used to justify everything from abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison to the invasion of Iraq.
Go figure. Guy spends $400 on a haircut just so he can bury his head in the sand.
For
Once, Homer Doesn't Nod
For some reason, we have been inundated with emails "correcting" the
arithmetic in our item yesterday about the lovely and talented John Edwards,
who rakes in big bucks denouncing poverty. We noted that Edwards charged the
University of California, Davis, $55,000 for an antipoverty speech, and we extended
an offer to other institutions of higher learning to give our own speech for
10% off--that is, $49,500 ($55,000 less $5,500).
Apparently readers were determined to see $50,000 where the actual figure was $55,000. And we're wondering if this accounts for the strange failure of any American college or university thus far to take us up on our generous offer. So we're going to slash our price again in a special Memorial Days sale.
From now through Monday, book us for a speech on poverty, and pay just $40,000! That's more than 27% off the regular retail price. Act now and we'll throw in a haircut--a $400 value--absolutely free!
We
Thought His Name Was Harry
"House leaders tentatively scheduled a late Tuesday vote on a Republican
move to reprimand Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and close ally of
House Speaker Hancy Pelosi, D-Calif."--Associated Press, May 23
Talk
About Your Invidious Stereotypes!
"Firm's Employee Says Jew Offered to Help--for a Fee"--headline, San
Francisco Chronicle, May 23
Chair
Bites Dog
"Dog Stuffed in Folding Chair During Domestic Fight"--headline, Des
Moines Register, May 23
Did
He Bring Enough for All of Us?
"Police: Drunken Driver Served Booze on Flight"--headline, KOB-TV
Web site (Albuquerque, N.M.), May 22
He
Shouldn't Have Been Drinking
"Wild Turkey Injures School Bus Driver"--headline, Associated Press,
May 22
News You Can Use
- "Forecasters: Hurricane Season Won't Be Easy"--headline, USA
Today, May 23
- "Howling at the Wind Won't Stop Gunshots"--headline, Philadelphia Daily News, May 23
Bottom Stories of the Day
- "Husband of Missing Illinois Mom Lisa Stebic Not Granted Sole Custody
of Children"--headline, FoxNews.com,
May 23
- "Hugo Chavez to Finance Danny Glover Movies"--headline, FoxNews.com,
May 22
- "Amnesty Accuses Israel of 'Serious Rights Abuses' "--headline, Agence France-Presse, May 23
'I'm
Not That Kind of Person'
On Oct. 13, 2005, 40-year-old Peggy Jo Conner attacked a neighbor, Valerie
Oskin, "knocking her unconscious with a baseball bat and cutting open her
stomach in an effort to remove Oskin's unborn baby," the Associated Press
reports. Oskin and her baby both survived.
We know what you're thinking: We're going to note the word "fetus" in the headline and puzzle over just what the creature was that Conner tried to extract from Oskin's body. But no. We've decided we're not going to solve that conundrum today. Instead, what caught our attention was this quote from Conner at her sentencing:
"I'm sorry for what happened to Valerie and for what part I had in it," Conner said. "I'm not that kind of person. I was on drugs then."
OK, so maybe she's the kind of person who gets high on drugs and attacks a pregnant woman with a baseball bat and a knife. But at least she's not that kind of person.
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Steve Prestegard, Ray Burnham, Adam Phillips, John Williamson, Jack Barnett, Monty Krieger, Jim Orheim, Russ Koehl, Ed Lasky, Kevin Kaufman, M. Fuller, Darryl May, Thomas Dillon, Tom Elia, Danny Tesvich, Dagny Billings, Kathleen Sullivan, Michael Segal, Joe Perez, Dan Tracy, Thomas Brueckner, Frank Russo, Derrick Most, Errol Phillips, Albert Cortez, Daniel Goldstein, Shawn Pavlik, Trevor Rigler, Paul Martin, Steve Karass, John Nernoff, Todd Edmunds, David Hyman, Tom Briody, Joel Goldberg, Paul Gross and Sully Moore. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Wendy Kaminer: The ACLU is becoming very selective about what it considers "free" speech.
- Jeff Emanuel (from The American Spectator): Embedded journalists in Iraq are having their minds changed left and right by U.S. soldiers.
- Jody Williams and Mia Farrow: Chinese oil companies fuel genocide in Darfur. It's time for Americans to divest.
