Calling Things What They Are: If ISIS Is Islamic, Then Giuliani Is A Racist

As ISIS rampages across the Middle East- beheading, raping, killing and burning alive their enemies- America engages in a never-ending debate over what to call them.

Republicans explode with rage every time President Obama refuses to refer to ISIS as "Islamic" or "Muslim." They argue that Obama must call ISIS, and groups like them, what they are. His refusal to call a spade a spade, they say, is the fundamental reason why Obama's strategy (or lack thereof) to defeat ISIS will fail.

In turn, Obama argues, smartly, that labeling ISIS as "Islamic" or "Muslim" is a terrible idea because it undermines the US's standing with Muslims worldwide and hands a propaganda gift directly to ISIS.

Labeling noxious beliefs and mass murder as "Islamic" would play right into the hands of terrorists who claim that the United States is as war with Islam itself. The last thing the president should do... is imply that the United States lumps the world's 1.5 billion Muslims with vicious terrorist groups.

It seems unlikely that both viewpoints will be reconciled. Obama appears dug in on his decision not to call ISIS "Islamic." Meanwhile, Republicans continue to skewer him for refusing to do so.

The back and forth debate is important because it brings to light two competing perspectives: the one that sees everything in black and white, and the other that sees the complexity of things, the nuance, the uninhabited gray area.

Republicans embrace the black and white. ISIS is Islamic. They are Muslim extremists waging a war against the West. The United States is at war with Radical Islam. There is no nuance. No cost-benefit analysis of how calling them "Islamic" could backfire and play into ISIS's hands.

Obama, and most Democrats, see the complexity of the situation. Calling ISIS "Islamic" doesn't solve anything. It just perpetuates the dangerous narrative that the US is at war with Islam. It frays relations with moderate Muslims by making them seem guilty by association.

But, for the sake of argument, let's humor the Republicans. Let's ignore Obama's sound logic and start referring to ISIS as "Islamic terrorists."

But while we're at it, let's start calling other things for what they are, also.


RUDY'S RAGE

Rudy Giuliani, the famous former Major of New York City who was in office during 9/11, caused an uproar earlier this week when he made bizarre, disparaging comments about President Obama.

I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the President loves America. He doesn't love you. He doesn't love me. He wasn't brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.

First off, setting aside the racist innuendo about Obama being the "other," Giuliani's statement is laughable because, just on a base level, how can he possibly claim to know what's going through Barack Obama's head? He has no idea what Obama really thinks or believes.

The image Giuliani paints of Obama- as an un-American foreigner- didn't just fall out of the sky. It has been finely crafted by Fox News and birthers like Donald Trump, over years and years.

It ignores the fact that Obama is a legal American citizen, born in Hawaii. It ignores the fact that Obama epitomizes the American dream- a biracial son of a single mom, raised by his grandparents, who went on to become the first black to lead the Harvard Law Review, then the first African American ever elected President of the United States.

Instead, he is the other. He is a radical tyrant hell-bent on destroying America. He wasn't born here. He isn't like us. He's a Kenyan socialist. Where is his birth certificate?

Giuliani's comments are just the latest chapter in the same Obama-hating book, written by Republicans since 2009.

But Rudy didn't stop there. In defending his initial comments, Giuliani dug himself an even deeper hole.

Some people thought it was racist - I thought that was a joke, since he was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people... This isn't racism. This is socialism or possibly anti-colonialism.

In what bigoted, alternate reality does having a white mother disqualify racism? Somehow if you make racist comments toward someone, if that person has a white mother it magically exonerates the racism? Like white mothers are racist kryptonite?

Giuliani's bizarre logic proves just how bigoted and out of touch he really is.


CALLING THINGS FOR WHAT THEY ARE

If Republicans are right, and things must be called for what they are, then the same logic that requires ISIS to be labeled "Islamic" must also be extended to other things.

Surely, calling a spade a spade isn't only applied to terrorists. It a guiding philosophy that must be applied everywhere, to everything. It cannot be subjective.

ISIS calls themselves the Islamic State. They are deeply devout, religious fanatics that pray 5 times a day and know every verse of the Koran. They shout Allahu Akbar when they kill someone. They worship the Prophet Muhammad and kill those who disrespect him.

Forget that ISIS perverts Islam. Or that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and denounce ISIS. Or that by calling ISIS "Islamic terrorists" we feed the narrative that the West is engaged in a war of civilizations, that the West hates Islam.

To Republicans, it's simple. Forget all that nuance and complexity. ISIS is Islamic. And America is at war with Islam.

But by that same token, if we are now in the business of calling things what they truly are, then it must apply to everything across the board.

Giuliani accuses Obama of not loving America even though he has no idea or proof of what Obama really thinks or believes. He paints him as the other, an un-American foreigner, even though Obama was born in America and is just as American as you or me.

Then, when he is called out for being racist, Giuliani claims innocence because, duh, Obama's mom was white! As if that is some sort of trump card. Everything is seen through the prism of race and color, even Giuliani's explanation for why he's not a racist.

So, sure, let's follow the Republican lead and start calling things by their real name.

But If ISIS is "Islamic," then Giuliani is a racist.

It's only fair.

Everyone Keeps Asking "When Will Muslims Stand Up To ISIS?" Well, Guess What? In Jordan, They Just Did

In late August of last year, the gruesome execution of American journalist James Foley by ISIS shocked the world. It wasn't just that Foley was beheaded, it was the fact that it was on camera, finely produced, thrown in our faces in spectacular fashion. It terrorized us in a way we never thought possible, instilling a sense of visceral, gut-wrenching fear not felt since 9/11.

At the time, it was hard to imagine that ISIS could exceed the level of evil and barbarity displayed in the Foley video. But nearly six months later, they have.

This time, the victim was not a journalist or an American. It was a 27-year-old Jordanian fighter pilot named Moath al-Kasasbeh, who was captured by ISIS in late December when his plane crashed in Syria.

ISIS didn't behead him. Instead, they drenched him in gasoline and burned him alive in a cage.

The reaction to al-Kasabeh's murder in Jordan has been severe. King Abdullah has vowed a "earth-shaking" response. There are demonstrations all across the country. Jordanians are marching in the streets, burning pictures of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. They are demanding justice and revenge.

For all those who have been calling on Muslims to denounce radical Islam and stand up to ISIS, guess what? Jordan just did.


A MOVE THAT WILL BACKFIRE

The decision to execute al-Kasasbeh in such brutal fashion was a calculated one by ISIS.

First off, it terrorizes civilians under its control into obeying its rules, a twisted Machiavellian-type move intended to consolidate power through fear. It also serves as compelling propaganda to recruit thousands of new, inspired jihadists into its ranks.

However, aside from the immediate, short-term victories that the execution provides ISIS, it's looking more and more like it will backfire on them long term.

For years, a growing narrative has emerged that there is a civil war going on in the Muslim world, with a vast majority of peaceful moderates battling a sadistic few that pervert the religion of Islam.

Political pundits and cable news hosts have demanded time and time again that moderate Muslims stand up to the extremists and reclaim their religion.

In many ways, the request is absurd because it places an undo burden on the vast majority of Muslims who do nothing wrong. After all, no one asks Christians to denounce the KKK or neo-Nazis.

Nevertheless, there is a kernel of truth to the argument.

But now that argument is over.

The death of al-Kasasbeh has awoken Jordan. There is no more standing on the sidelines.

Before, it was Western hostages being executed by ISIS, drawing them into the fight. But now ISIS has executed a fellow Muslim, one of their own: a revered lieutenant from a predominant Jordan tribe who prayed 5 times a day and carried a Quran in his pocket.

In the streets, the people of Jordan are standing up to ISIS. They are denouncing them left and right, performing a joint, public excommunication of ISIS from Islam.

The Jordanian Air Force is literally writing "you are not Muslim" in chalk on bombs bound for ISIS targets.

A Jordanian pilot hammered the point home with a sign that read "Do not think Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do."

WINNING THE WAR OVER IDEOLOGY

In recent weeks and months, the mainstream Western media has claimed that ISIS is on the run and getting desperate. They are being pounded by coalition airstrikes, losing thousands of fighters and pieces of military equipment each month. In addition, ISIS just lost the the battle of Kobane, a city they spent nearly five months trying to topple.

However, despite more than 1000 airstrikes, ISIS is actually gaining territory in Syria. And while it's true they are losing thousands of fighters in battle, they are recruiting thousands of new foreign fighters each month to replace them.

Which makes Jordan's decision to take on ISIS so important.

It's the first loud, proud, unabashed example of a powerful Muslim country standing up to ISIS and denouncing them in 100% unison as "un-Islamic."

It's the first clear, dramatic example of a Muslim country taking on ISIS to re-claim Islam.

It may not change the calculus on the ground. But it's a ray of hope in an otherwise dark sea of despair.