Did you hear what our king here said? He said that we should no longer ride high because doing so makes us feel superior to those who didn’t have high horses 1000 years ago and furthermore it makes the rest of the world hate us. The above sentence makes as much sense as what the king actually said. And it is as good a spin on what the king actually said as what his loyal defenders have been blabbing since his recent ISIS-crusades moral equivalency remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast. How I wish Dr. Ben Carson were there.
Loosely paraphrasing the king’s remarks: He said that we should not get on our high horse (in the face of Islamic-driven terrorism) because Christians engaged in the Crusades and have committed other atrocities in the name of Christ. He added that the Bible was used to justify the slave trade and Jim Crow laws (which legalised segregation by race in the U.S). Dear readers, it is best you hear from the horse’s mouth, so google/YouTube the speech.
Sadly, many of our king’s fanatical supporters are Christians and whatever he says to impugn Christianity will in no wise cause them to re-evaluate their loyalty. They will defend the Breakfast speech and worse, agree with him, either because they don’t know the history of Christianity or because they consider defending the king’s a higher calling than defending their faith. Some of his supporters who have a little more discernment will remain loyal to him but will at least distance themselves from the offensive Breakfast remarks. How can I defend this? Raged Bob Beckel of the Five on Fox News Channel the other day. He is a Democrat and of course helped the king ascend to the throne.
The king’s speech begs some questions. If I were one of the reporters at the king’s press conference I would ask a question in Nigerian parlance: So therefore?
Can you imagine a Nigerian president drawing a moral equivalence between the Crusades and Boko Haram atrocities. Nigerians will go, “Crusa what?”
To gauge the reaction of an ordinary Nigerian, I told my mother the latest insult to Christianity from the king’s lips. Obviously amused, she said: So what does he want us to do? Next, she said, “The Crusades, didn’t that happen many years ago? “ She said of the slave trade: Didn’t people everywhere engage in the slave trade? I added that it was the White Christians who led the push to end the Slave trade. She said they were taught about the Crusades in high school but nobody paid much attention to it.
Liberal ideology-driven statements like the one made by the king would be derided by all in Nigeria but here it passes as intelligent discourse in many top colleges. I keep telling them here that people don’t think like that where I come from.
Sadly, many Nigerians come here and become seduced by such thinking; believing they are becoming enlightened by the White man. They forsake the superior (to Liberalism) African wisdom they came with to the U.S.
Some of the extreme Liberal natives here are so driven by self-hatred or guilt that they will go to great lengths to find a moral equivalency between something Western (e.g Christianity) and any other outrageous ideology or custom rooted in other parts of the world.
Following our king’s remarks, ISIS may have concluded that they have 800 years to reach the moral high ground of the civilised world therefore they can continue with their reign of terror. And just in case, the king’s speech was not enough comfort to the terrorists, his right hand woman, Susan Rice piped up with words that should assure us that ISIS does not pose an existential threat to us. Really? Let her say that to the families of the 2000 (mostly Moslems) who were recently killed in Nigeria by Boko Haram. I shudder to think that she does not understand that no country is immune to the destabilizing force of Islam-driven terrorism. Is one 9-11 not enough proof of that? How many Pearl Harbours did the U.S need to realise that such attacks posed an existential threat to her? And just how does she define “existential”?
Many outraged by the king’s remarks have been quick to point out he was wrong on the history of the Crusades. Even I know that the Crusades were a response to Moslem aggression. Second, it happened about 800 years ago. The Spanish Inquisition occurred about 400 years ago.
Even if our king, President Barack Obama, can use the Crusades to justify his tepid response to the ISIS threat, the people who now occupy Nigeria had nothing to do with it. So I suppose Nigerians of all faiths who are horrified by ISIS and Boko Haram’s atrocities are justified to jump on their high horse.
King Abdullah of Jordan is emerging as the world leader who can take on ISIS. He seems to be providing the moral clarity the world needs to defeat ISIS. And he is not invoking the Crusades even though he is Moslem.
