The Dead Tree Edition that comes with our local paper read simply, "Ultraconservatives advance in Egypt".
There are two things that can in my view most significantly impact the quality of news reporting – ignorance and bias. This headline shows both.
“Conservative,” of course, is a relative term in the generic. In order to understand it, you have to ask just what is it that one is attempting to “conserve.”
If Egypt had historical and cultural roots in what we now recognize as “radical Islam” in any Egyptian’s living memory, then this headline might make sense. But that simply is not the case. The popularization and globalization of the more radical, fundamentalist Islam is a much more recent phenomenon.
But the real problem is that the headline was written for an American audience, and to most Americans, the word “conservative” has come to mean a political philosophy which generally advocates limited government and emphasizes individual liberty, autonomy, and property rights.
Let me be clear, to borrow a phrase. There is nothing “conservative” (as Americans generally understand that phrase) about radical Islam. In radical Islam there is no individual liberty, there are no property rights, and the government is as all encompassing and unlimited as Allah Himself.
Many on the left are happy to conflate religious American Conservatives with radical theocracy in the hopes that people will view it as the ultimate result of conservative/Republican dominance. These people simply aren’t telling the truth, nor do they understand conservatives at all.
Indeed, given the desire of the Muslim Brotherhood to control every aspect of the lives of their citizens, perhaps this is a better headline:
“Egypt’s ultraProgressive Islamists make gains”
Funny, but neither accurate nor particularly fair. (But no less fair than the actual headline.)
Next time, USA Today, please just call them what they are – Radical Islamists. Leave the attempted comparisons to American politics out of it. It’s not doing a thing for your credibility.
