Leave it to a conservative Republican to make me miss the Cold War.

I made the mistake of answering the phone at a friend’s tonight. It was her 73-year-old grandmother who proceeded to give me a 10-minute rant on the Muslims who “are taking over Europe,” “already own all the media outlets” and have their sights set on U.S. domination through Barack Obama. She finished her tirade by bemoaning my generation’s naivete. Of course, she sighed, she won’t have to worry about the consequences of our short-sightedness because she’ll be dead soon. It’s we younger people who will reap the devastation for having failed to eradicate the evil that is Islam. (Oh, and the pro-choicers and the homosexuals.)

I handed off the phone as quickly as possible, but I couldn’t help being shaken. Not because I was worried about the terrible danger my children are facing from the Muslims. Not because I was concerned about the gays and abortionists. No, I felt dizzy. As if I’d just been sucked through that phone line into 1935 Germany and then shot back again in an instant. Just replace the word “Muslim” in her rant above with the word “Jew.” I got a serious chill.

Don’t get me wrong. This woman is not a Fascist. She’s not a Nazi. But then, neither were most of the good German Volk who put Hitler into power. She believes that what she’s saying is true. She believes that she is talking about a fight between good and evil, and she wants good to win. Sadly, that can also be said of the Germans of the 1930’s, the residents of Salem during the witch trials and the European Catholics during the Inquisition.

What makes me believe that she’s wrong? It’s the labels. It’s the focus on “otherness.” It’s the us versus them mentality that characterizes most oppressive regimes. It’s the overly simplistic, fear-mongering view of the world that is being put forward. We cannot say, “All Muslims are evil.” Nor can we say, “All Christians are good.” Unfortunately, it’s just not that easy. The world would certainly be a simpler place if we could identify the good by what church they attended, for whom they voted or with whom they have sex. We can’t.

So what makes me miss the Cold War?

Well, religion was not much of an issue in those days. The Soviet Union was an atheist regime. The Cold War was a conflict of political ideologies. Scary, yes, but much easier to debate than religious faith. How can I argue with a woman who’s sure that Muslims are brainwashing Americans into electing Barack Obama through all the media outlets they own? Argh.