talkpolitics | Worse Than Silence

Daisy Kahn, American Society for Muslim Advancement, being quoted on Fox News:

We are deeply concerned because this is like a metastasized anti-Semitism. That’s what we feel right now. It’s not even Islamophobia. It’s beyond Islamophobia. It’s hate of Muslims. And we are deeply concerned, yesterday had a council with all religious, Muslim religious leaders from around the country and everybody is deeply concerned about what’s going on around the nation.

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The fruits of irresponsible and bigoted language are ripening in this country. Some have graduated from rhetoric to action. In addition to the stabbing of a Muslim cabbie in New York, there have been a series of crimes committed against mosques and Islamic centers. These include:

The defacing of a Nashville Islamic Center last February with the words “Muslims Go Home.” A threatening note was left on the site that included “Every Moslem nation needs to be eradicated that surrounds the Holy Land.:

The explosion of a pipe bomb at a Florida Islamic Center in Florida in May. At the time, 60 people were in the building, praying. Though the bomb shook the building and blackened a wall, nobody was hurt.

Obscene graffiti spray-painted in the parking lot of an Arlington Texas mosque in June. That same weekend, a fire destroyed playground equipment at the site, and some copper tubing was cut, possibly because the vandal thought it was a natural gas line. (Fortunately it was not.)

The threatening signs set up last week at a Madera California mosque, reading “"Wake up America, the enemy is here,” and “No temple for god of terrorism at Ground Zero.”

And there’s the recent case in Murfreesboro Tennessee, on the site of a future Islamic Center and mosque. Federal agents were called in after someone doused construction equipment with flammable liquid and tossed a match.

It's hardly surprising then, that Muslims like Daisy Kahn are concerned.

How to respond to that concern?

Well, that depends on whether you want to address it or brush it aside. Consider, for a moment, the Fox News panel’s response to the above quote from Daisy Kahn, and Time Magazine’s cover story entitled “Is America Islamophobic?”

The Fox reporter instantly kicks things off by jerking his thumb back at the Muslims.

So much of this, Ellis, I guess revolves around questions that aren’t being answered about this mosque in New York, people want to know where the money’s coming from, who’s paying for it, are there foreign governments involved – is anyone in the media trying to get to the bottom of that?

See, it’s all those Muslims’ fault that their places of worship are being firebombed and vandalized and their personal safety threatened. What else can people do if that “mosque in New York” refuses to tell us where its money is coming from?

Ellis Henican of Newsday deserves credit for at least attempting to bring the conversation back to the actual reality of why Daisy Kahn and others are so concerned about American Islamophobia.

Well, yeah, there’s real reporting on it, and I’ve got to tell you John, I’m a little slow to make these sweeping answers like ‘Yes, America is Islamophobic,’ but I covered that hardhat rally down there, and let me tell you, there were some views expressed that I think everyone at this table would find a little troubling.

Note that Henican makes a point of saying he’s not comfortable with that badly worded Time Magazine headline, something that Judy Miller carefully ignores in her response.

But is that America? That’s not America, that’s some people who turned out to protest…Where is there any indication that America as a country is beating up on Muslims or denying them their rights?

The addition of “as a country” is important here. Miller is too smart to deny that Muslims are being attacked and harassed in this country. But so long as we’re not doing this as a country i.e, so long as these things are not being legally sanctioned (as Kristallnacht was in Germany) then no concern is warranted.

Fox’s token atheist, S.E. Cupp, chimes in. As is usual with Cupp, all this concern aimed at Islamophobia is really just a way for liberals to be mean to conservatives:

For all of their interest in tolerance and freedom of speech and freedom of religion, the liberal thought police are out in full force to tell you that you cannot have certain opinions. that there’s a line you can cross in a debate, that there’s not…you can’t have one belief, or you’re Islamophobic or racist or nativist. I mean, it’s absolutely, it’s intimidating, it’s akin to censorship!

The sheer narcissism of this statement is a bit staggering. Apparently to Cupp, vandalizing, firebombing and physically threatening Muslim centers, mosques, and people is not cause for concern – but upsetting right-wingers by arguing with them is a form of “intimidation.” Especially striking is her indignation over the notion that certain lines can be crossed in a debate. In the mind of Cupp and Fox viewers, conservatives can cross no lines in debate, while liberals do so merely by debating. Implying or even stating outright that all Muslims are terrorists and disloyal is acceptable. Calling someone a bigot for saying so is not and in fact qualifies as a form of censorship.

Once again, Henican tries to inject a little sanity into the discussion by pointing out that bigotry does exist, an uncomfortable brush with reality which prompts Jim Pinkerton of the New American Foundation to ask rather plaintively why everyone’s not talking about the funding for the Cordoba house. Judy Miller says that’s a really good question, an Fox news deserves credit for asking it, while the reporter chimes in again with the damning observation that the developer of the property used to be a waiter.

Following the discussion here provides a beautiful little nutshell of classic rationalizations for dangerous levels of intolerance.

1. It’s the Muslims fault, rather than the fault of the people planting bombs, vandalizing Islamic sites, and threatening Muslims. Let’s talk about what the Muslims are doing!

2. We’re not as bad as Nazi Germany was when it came to the Jews, so people shouldn’t be complaining!

3. Calling certain opinions racist or bigoted hurts the feelings of people expressing those opinions and is an obvious attempt at intimidation and censorship.

4. Why aren’t we talking about what the Muslims are doing?...

As for that Time headline, “Is America Islamophobic,” it’s either stunningly stupid, or a deliberate attempt at hyperbolizing the discussion to ensure a soothing response. No, America is not, as a country, “islamophobic” in that we have not criminalized Islam or instituted laws penalizing Muslims. The proper question is “How much of a problem is Islamaphobia in this country?”

The answer is unlikely to be as reassuring or as simple as many would like it to be.

(partially) crossposted from Thoughtcrimes

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

underlankers.livejournal.com

I found highly telling the bit in one of the articles where a decorated Afghan War vet introduced himself as such to a crowd. He asked the guys wanting to build the community center if they'd go along with it. They said yes. He asked the crowd of greybeards if they would. They screamed Boos and NO.

Funny how the civility these people want so badly applies only to them.

From:

devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com

Bad economy, joblessness, war, etc. It all screams for scapegoats. Take your pick: Muslims, Jews, Socialists, immigrants... take your pick.

Not like it hasn't happened before.

From:

underlankers.livejournal.com

Indeed. I seem to remember there was once a young man from Branau-am-Inn who happened to use scapegoating to do very well for himself for a time.

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