‘Islamophobia’ is a red herring, the Oct. 7 litmus test and other commentary

Conservative: ‘Islamophobia’ = Red Herring

While the UK’s “spineless, clueless” Labour government hammered out its “new definition of ‘anti-Muslim hostility,’ ” thunders Spiked’s Brendan O’Neill, “supporters” of the “brutish” “death cult that rules Iran” have been “polluting our nation with the anti-Semitic” chants and rhetoric of Tehran’s rulers. While “Islamism continues to ail our nation, Downing Street proposes the protection of Islam’s followers from scurrilous commentary.” They deploy “one of the slipperiest terms of modern times,” Islamophobia, “to ringfence one religion’s followers from mockery.” Fretting over “some muppet on the internet making a joke about the burqa” while Islamists openly “pray for the defeat of America and destruction of Israel” leaves Britain “incapable of standing up for its own values.”

Culture critic: The Oct. 7 Litmus Test

“How should we act” asks Commentary’s Seth Mandel, when people don’t suffer publicly for cheering for the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023? Simply put: “Use October 7 as a barometer for political, ideological and moral hypocrisy. Not because we’re looking for ‘gotcha’ moments, but because it is impractical to remain unaware of who can be trusted in public life.” E.g., “The war began with Hamas carrying out the largest massacre at a music festival in recorded history. Musicians and artists who ignore this and instead parrot the propaganda of those who carried out the massacre do not believe in artistic expression; they only believe in dogmatic political expression. Indeed, they support regimes that would abolish the arts entirely.” In all: “People on the wrong side of October 7 are expecting to benefit from some sort of statute of limitations — or the limitations of human memory. Instead, let’s help them remember.”

Libertarian: Health-Care Fraud Is Everywhere

“Fraud,” notes Reason’s Peter Suderman, “is an all-too-common feature of the U.S. health care system.” For all the role of “Somali immigrants” in Minnesota, a key prosecutor warned the problem “is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering, industrial-scale fraud.” Indeed, Suderman points to GAO reports dating back decades exposing “loose, bordering on nonexistent, spending controls on federal health care programs” that result in tens of billions of dollars a year in “improper” and “erroneous” payments. Systemic fraud stems from “poorly designed, poorly run, bloated government health care programs,” not immigration.

Opera veteran: Chalamet’s Obviously Right

Actor Timothée Chalamet sparked “outrage” and a “transatlantic opera chorus of indignation” for observing that opera and ballet are “kept alive” even though “no one cares” about it anymore; former singer Billy Binion observes at The Free Press that Chalamet’s claim that opera “has plummeted in mass appeal” is “intuitive and unimpeachable.” Less than 1% of US adults “attended a live performance of an opera in 2022”; the art form “is kept on life support by wealthy — and often very old — donors.” By all means, save the opera, but everyone “furious at Chalamet’s comments” should spend less time “criticizing an actor” and more time trying to “figure out why he’s right.”

From the right: Dems’ Oil-Reserve Deceptions

The Wall Street Journal’s editors call out the cynical deceptions of “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and others” who are now “criticizing President Trump for not tapping the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to tamp down rising gasoline prices.” This overlooks “that Joe Biden’s enormous drawdown from the reserve” to ease “backlash over inflation has made this harder to do.” Over decades, “the reserve had been tapped during three oil shocks” for a total of 58 million barrels; Biden’s “unprecedented,” rapid release of 284 million barrels actually damaged the “geologic sites around the Gulf Coast where the oil is stored”; they now need “extensive repairs” and “another rapid drawdown risks more damage.” Plus, by the time oil from the reserve can “enter the US market,” “traffic that has ground to a halt in the Strait of Hormuz — the cause of surging oil prices —” should be restored.

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board