Liberals love to speak in absolutes, except when they don't. Take the so-called "rape culture" discussion that the left has indulged over the last five months or so. In that discussion, all men are assumed rapists whether they've committed such a crime -- or even dreamed of it -- or not. Yet now, after two Muslim terrorists have killed a dozen newspaper staffers in France, these same liberals are warning against anyone saying that "all Muslims" are terrorists.
For the better part of the last year the left has been all weweed up about the supposed "epidemic" of rape on the campuses of our colleges and universities. The left's desire to make this false charge a "fact" grew to such a fever pitch that they swooned when music magazine Rolling Stone told the blockbuster story of a female student who was brutally raped by members of a fraternity.
Of course, like much of the left's claims about rape on campus, the Rolling Stone story turned out to be a complete fabrication, false from start to finish. There was no rape. On top of that, the claims that women are more likely to be raped at colleges than outside them is also false.
And yet, we get this base assumption from the left that all men are rapists. In fact, the meme has become so entrenched that liberals and feminists have been fighting back hard against the backlash narrative that "men are rapists, but not all men are rapists." They want people to stop saying "not all men."
Liberals want people to stop saying "not all men" because it limits the power of their central thesis that, yes, all men are rapists. Liberals claim that using the "not all men" argument only tends to offer a sort of absolution for men to cover themselves with so that they might individually feel they are not part of the "problem" of our "misogynistic culture." These liberals want men in constant shame so that they will bow to the left's base assumptions that manhood is evil.
So, while many left-wingers will begrudgingly admit to the flat out logic that "not all men are rapists" -- because statistically that is simply a fact -- they still stick with the narrative that all men are rapists because it is a better emotional weapon to use against men, their object of hate. Truth doesn't matter. Only the end goal matters.
But let's compare that sentiment to the discussion about Islam and terrorism. In this discussion, liberals are adamant that the "all" argument is suddenly off the table, quite despite that the "all" argument is far more apropos to the claim that "all Muslims are terrorists" than the argument that "all men are rapists."
Now, this ideological fighting aside, it's certainly true that not all men are rapists just as it's true that not all Muslims are terrorists. but the left treats the two logical statements quite differently.
When assessing the two points, the facts become clear. A hugely significant number of Muslims are terrorists. They are flocking to armies of terrorists in hopes of becoming terrorists and are doing so using Islam as their justification. By contrast there aren't millions of men streaming to rape gangs with the expressed purpose of becoming rapists.
Along with those millions of Muslims attempting to actually become terrorists, an even greater number of Muslims agree with and accept the goals of the terrorists in their midst. And billions of Muslims around the world think that what the terrorists are doing is wholly in keeping with Islam. On the other hand, few men (at least in the west) have any tendency at all to justify rape under any circumstances. It is fully accepted as wrong by the largest number of men.
At any rate, the two discussions are a perfect example of the hypocrisy of the left. On one hand the left is coddling the radical feminists who wish to talk in absolutes and to the left that predilection is juuuust fine. Yet, in the case of Islam when faced with a case where an absolute almost makes sense, the left vehemently fights against the tendency.
So,what gives here? Why the rank hypocrisy? Well, when viewed as a revelation of leftist ideology, there isn't really any hypocrisy at all. You see, the end goal always trumps truth, logic, and consistency.
It isn't talking in absolutes that liberals oppose. They aren't standing up for Muslims as much as they are standing shoulder to shoulder with Muslims in opposition to the west. The reason liberals fight against applying absolutes to Muslims is because Muslims oppose western civilization.
Similarly, the reason liberals are perfectly fine with feminists speaking in absolutes to advance their agenda is because feminists oppose western civilization.
The left's goal isn't truth and consistency, its goal is its fight against the west. Any ally in that fight is given a pass for its lies.
Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as Breitbart.com, among many, many others. He has also written for several history magazines, has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows.
