Comments on: Where the Far-Left Joins the Far-Right http://nickcohen.net/2010/03/02/where-the-far-left-joins-the-far-right/ Journalism from London. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:30:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Glenn http://nickcohen.net/2010/03/02/where-the-far-left-joins-the-far-right/#comment-1968 Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:26:05 +0000 http://nickcohen.net/?p=938#comment-1968 The problem, I think, is that part of the Left retains an affection for revolutionary rhetoric and Islam gives them a chance to hero-worship bomb makers and the “men of action” ideal. It’s a sort of nostalgia for the good old days insurrection and balaclavas. Moderate Islam doesn’t really appeal to that kind of mentality and ,frankly, isn’t that moderate anyway. The only answer is to constantly challenge these alleged Leftist orthodoxes and reiterate that actual Left-wing thought is about social progression, not pandering to extremist because it makes you feel like a revolutionary. Boring, I know,

]]> By: Daniel http://nickcohen.net/2010/03/02/where-the-far-left-joins-the-far-right/#comment-1958 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:15:57 +0000 http://nickcohen.net/?p=938#comment-1958 Still, for that progressive enlightened left that you want to see, the problem remains:

How are non-muslim citizens supposed to engage with muslims, given that all of them -except a sofisticated and educated few- seem to have a confusion over the allegiance they owe to Islam and the allegiance they owe to the very British institutions that protect their religious freedom?

I might be wrong, but my suspicion –as an immigrant to this country myself– is that neither conservatives nor leftists have traditionally expected immigrants to know, cherish, and help improve those institutions because these are thought of almost as a British “folkloric” peculiarity instead of somehow related to universal human aspirations. The same healthy political skepticism, which is the hallmark of British politics and the source of those institutions, sometimes degenerates into its extreme, naked cinicism and apathy. And well, the combination of those, political cinicism and islamization of muslim’s citizenship, seems gloomy indeed.

I don’t know, maybe a written constitution would help clarify things related to allegiance in this country, which is fuzzy and appears to be deliberately confusing…

]]> By: The Left is Now the Right, but they haven’t Noticed « Tony Blair http://nickcohen.net/2010/03/02/where-the-far-left-joins-the-far-right/#comment-1956 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:11:06 +0000 http://nickcohen.net/?p=938#comment-1956 [...] Update, 2nd March 2010 Nick Cohen – “Where the Far Left joins the Far Right” [...]

]]>