Robert Spencer and the Muslim “Borg”

by Sheila Musaji

Robert Spencer re-posted an article Most Pakistanis grieve for Osama bin Laden with this lead in by Spencer:

Yet in America media report after media report showed Muslim spokesmen expressing joy and relief that Osama was dead. Can someone explain, please, how Islam in America differs from Islam in Pakistan, such that the reaction to Osama’s death among Muslims in both places is so different? Do they have a different Qur’an? A different Muhammad? Or could it be that the two groups of Muslims actually agree on this question more than they might wish to admit to pollsters or journalists?

For those of you who aren’t Star Trek afficianados - the Borg were a dangerous alien enemy of Starfleet and the Federation.  The Borg were interconnected and shared a single “hive mind”.  Individuals were absorbed or assimilated into this collective being, and thereafter lost their individuality and became simply part of the whole organism.  If one member of the collective Borg knew or experienced something, then all of the Borg in the existing universe knew and experienced as well.

If Robert Spencer cannot understand how Americans who happen to be Muslim, and Pakistanis who happen to be Muslim can have different reactions to any particular political event, then obviously he must believe that Muslims are a “Borg-like” collective entity.

This really is far-fetched science fiction. 

There were Italian Fascists, who happened to be Catholic, who thought Benito Mussolini was a great hero.  There were Americans, including Italian-Americans, who also happened to be Catholic who were ready to give their lives in the fight against Fascism.  There were Muslims who fought on the side of the Axis powers in WWII, and many more Muslims who fought against them with the Allies.  And, there are Muslims for and against just about every issue you can imagine.

If all Muslims, or all Christians, or all Americans, or all Black people, or all Arabs, or all Europeans, or all of any other division of human beings you can think of were actually so Borg-like, then Spencer’s conclusions might make some sense.  However, for that to be true, we would have to overlook the many wars between European Christian countries, or Arab Muslim countries, etc.

Muslims, just like other human beings, belong to many different groups.  We are different nationalities.  We have different cultures.  We speak different languages.  We have different political views.  We have different educational levels. 

This is the sort of simplistic, deeply racist, Islamophobic thought process that defines and underlies Spencer’s world view and his interpretations and understanding of anything connected with Islam or Muslims.  It is a worldview that makes it impossible for him to see Muslims as human beings.  Beginning with this naked prejudice makes it impossible for individuals like Spencer (and his partner, Pamela Geller) to be taken seriously.

SEE ALSO: 

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Robert Spencer, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_politically_incorrect_guide_to_robert_spencer/