Pastor Jones, the REAL Sideshow
The general opinion of Terry Jones, the putative Qur'an burner, is that he has been given outsized attention due to some odd predilection of the media to cover the bizarre. That may be true to some extent, but to me, there is a deeper story respecting the pastor and the reasons for the obsession with him that have nothing to do with his predilection to act weirdly. Offensively of course, and weirdly.
The fact is that nobody really wants to be thought of as a bigot, and I submit that Pastor Jones gives them the opportunity to comfortably deny bigotry even as it does precisely nothing to stem the rising tide of Islamophobia sweeping our shores. If I might turn to race as an example, a suitable analogy might well be found in the case of Michael Richards. If a reasonably intelligent person thinks about the matter for two seconds, one could ask why it is that a fellow who used to be a minor television character on a sitcom (specifically, Kramer on Seinfeld for the uninitiated) managed to command the airwaves, and the news channels, for over a week because of a standup routine. The reason, of course, is well known, and it is that he screamed racial epithets at black members of his audience (specifically, repeatedly calling an audience member a n+++++). Now this, everyone can comfortably condemn, and we can then smugly tell ourselves that we are the good guys, we aren't the racists. WE, unlike Michael Richards, don't use that term. WE, unlike Michael Richards, believe in mutual respect. Never mind the shockingly high numbers of black children born out of wedlock, or in poverty. Never mind the astounding numbers of black males in prison in the United States. None of this matters, the actual problems faced by actual black people aren't important, the real thing is that this dude said the N word and we'll prove we're on the right side of race relations by denouncing that, and ignoring everything else. It lets us sleep comfortably at night, certain that if there is a problem out there, it isn't because of US.
(Shockingly, even the previous consensus described above on the casual use of the use of the word "nigger" to degrade has come under fire. Laura Schleslinger thinks it's okay to tell a black woman married to a white man that she shouldn't have married the man if she was going to get all upset about the fact that his friends call her that. And Sarah Palin defends her. Amazing. Really, totally amazing. Does this party realize that 2010 results, or 2012 results, or 2014 results, aside, they're going to HAVE to face demographic realities and develop a following among a nonwhite base if they are going to survive? Apparently not. But let's leave this amazement aside, where a major figure of one of our two main political parties has the temerity, and is shameless enough, to defend someone for saying it's okay for white friends of a guy to call his black wife a nigger, and the problem is oversensitivity on the part of the wife. We'll leave that aside, other than to say Jack Kemp they need you now God rest your soul.)
Anyway, the point is, the Qur'an burner helps to prove that we're the good guys. We aren't like this nut with his 30 followers or however many, we're good conscentious citizens and we can all, Democrat and Republican, take comfort in this fact. Mike Murphy said it last Sunday, as a Republican consultant, we're better than the people we're fighting, we're the good guys.
But as a Muslim and an American I ask, what the hell kind of standard is that? Look, compared to the Taliban or to Saddam, OF COURSE we're the good guys. Is that even an issue? I have a serious problem with American Muslims who would even think to doubt something as obvious as that, and I am not doubting that there are some small number who do doubt it. I don't know how that view can be ascribed to me (though commenters I don't post describe me often as pro-Saddam, which I find ironic. Read my book, I've had more dead relatives from that guy than 99.99 percent of Americans, I despise him, and his two sons with him.)
Anyway, to the point, we were also the good guys in World War II. We didn't commit a genocide, we didn't kill millions of people in Manchuria, there is no doubt about this to my mind. But could that be a basis for our refusal to accept Jews fleeing Germany, as we did? Could it be a reason to intern Japanese Americans, as we did? Have we sunk so low as to consider it satisfactory merely to indicate we're clearly better than the Taliban, which again, to reinforce the point, of course we are.
The problem today for Muslims in America in fact is not a random Qur'an burner, the problem is a broad intolerance toward Islam and Muslims that has only grown over time. It was limited at first because of President George W. Bush, who deserves more credit than he receives for this. The man went out of his way and risked a political price to protect us Muslims and for this I am forever grateful. But he's gone now, and I don't agree it's his responsibility to speak as retired President, but I do think it's time for others to speak out. We can't open a mosque anywhere in America (is Murfreesboro, TN Sacred Ground too?) without someone wanting to know if there is going to be weapons training, or someone blathering in all seriousness about secret camps somewhere in the US nobody knows about but these conspiratists. American Muslim women are subject to harassment when they wear a headscarf. An American Muslim man is stabbed for driving a cab. A mosque is set on fire. Another is urinated upon. It is becoming quite acceptable to suggest something as silly as that Imam Feisal is some sort of Salafist zealot from accepting money from the largest shareholder in Fox News in Prince AlWaleed. Every Muslim is deemed to be a terrorist until proven otherwise. And we are told by Newt Gingrich, among others, that we can't have a community center two blocks from Ground Zero if Jews cannot have a synagogue in Mecca. Just think about this position for just a second, this very demonstration of Islamophobia casually uttered as entirely normal on Fox these days, a hatred and intolerance masked by more bizarre hatred and intolerance advocated by Pastor Jones. But back to the point, think about the irony. You deny painting Muslims with a broad brush, you deny you ascribe any and all suspicious views to Muslims irrespective of what they've said, you deny that you play guilt by association with Muslims in a manner you would never think to do with any other group, and yet you can actually with a straight face punish AMERICAN Muslims for SAUDI zoning policy? Fine, Iraqi Christians you can have a church in Kerrada to replace the one the terrorists bombed when we can have our mosque in Murfreesboro Tennessee. Didn't you know? It's your fault they won't allow one.
So, please, if you want to know why we want a community center two blocks from Ground Zero when no synagogue is allowed in Mecca, we American Muslims have an answer for you. We aren't in control of Saudi Arabian policy on synagogues in Mecca. We've never been in control of that. We didn't choose to live in Saudi. We don't vote in Saudi, we don't pay taxes in Saudi. We chose to live in the United States of America. We, or our parents, LEFT lands that created an establishment of religion, OUR religion, because we chose something else. We chose a land committed and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal. You should not be satisfied that you are better than the places Muslims left to emigrate here. Nor should we. None of us should be satisfied by anything less than an America who lives by the lofty ideals she has set for herself.
HAH
The fact is that nobody really wants to be thought of as a bigot, and I submit that Pastor Jones gives them the opportunity to comfortably deny bigotry even as it does precisely nothing to stem the rising tide of Islamophobia sweeping our shores. If I might turn to race as an example, a suitable analogy might well be found in the case of Michael Richards. If a reasonably intelligent person thinks about the matter for two seconds, one could ask why it is that a fellow who used to be a minor television character on a sitcom (specifically, Kramer on Seinfeld for the uninitiated) managed to command the airwaves, and the news channels, for over a week because of a standup routine. The reason, of course, is well known, and it is that he screamed racial epithets at black members of his audience (specifically, repeatedly calling an audience member a n+++++). Now this, everyone can comfortably condemn, and we can then smugly tell ourselves that we are the good guys, we aren't the racists. WE, unlike Michael Richards, don't use that term. WE, unlike Michael Richards, believe in mutual respect. Never mind the shockingly high numbers of black children born out of wedlock, or in poverty. Never mind the astounding numbers of black males in prison in the United States. None of this matters, the actual problems faced by actual black people aren't important, the real thing is that this dude said the N word and we'll prove we're on the right side of race relations by denouncing that, and ignoring everything else. It lets us sleep comfortably at night, certain that if there is a problem out there, it isn't because of US.
(Shockingly, even the previous consensus described above on the casual use of the use of the word "nigger" to degrade has come under fire. Laura Schleslinger thinks it's okay to tell a black woman married to a white man that she shouldn't have married the man if she was going to get all upset about the fact that his friends call her that. And Sarah Palin defends her. Amazing. Really, totally amazing. Does this party realize that 2010 results, or 2012 results, or 2014 results, aside, they're going to HAVE to face demographic realities and develop a following among a nonwhite base if they are going to survive? Apparently not. But let's leave this amazement aside, where a major figure of one of our two main political parties has the temerity, and is shameless enough, to defend someone for saying it's okay for white friends of a guy to call his black wife a nigger, and the problem is oversensitivity on the part of the wife. We'll leave that aside, other than to say Jack Kemp they need you now God rest your soul.)
Anyway, the point is, the Qur'an burner helps to prove that we're the good guys. We aren't like this nut with his 30 followers or however many, we're good conscentious citizens and we can all, Democrat and Republican, take comfort in this fact. Mike Murphy said it last Sunday, as a Republican consultant, we're better than the people we're fighting, we're the good guys.
But as a Muslim and an American I ask, what the hell kind of standard is that? Look, compared to the Taliban or to Saddam, OF COURSE we're the good guys. Is that even an issue? I have a serious problem with American Muslims who would even think to doubt something as obvious as that, and I am not doubting that there are some small number who do doubt it. I don't know how that view can be ascribed to me (though commenters I don't post describe me often as pro-Saddam, which I find ironic. Read my book, I've had more dead relatives from that guy than 99.99 percent of Americans, I despise him, and his two sons with him.)
Anyway, to the point, we were also the good guys in World War II. We didn't commit a genocide, we didn't kill millions of people in Manchuria, there is no doubt about this to my mind. But could that be a basis for our refusal to accept Jews fleeing Germany, as we did? Could it be a reason to intern Japanese Americans, as we did? Have we sunk so low as to consider it satisfactory merely to indicate we're clearly better than the Taliban, which again, to reinforce the point, of course we are.
The problem today for Muslims in America in fact is not a random Qur'an burner, the problem is a broad intolerance toward Islam and Muslims that has only grown over time. It was limited at first because of President George W. Bush, who deserves more credit than he receives for this. The man went out of his way and risked a political price to protect us Muslims and for this I am forever grateful. But he's gone now, and I don't agree it's his responsibility to speak as retired President, but I do think it's time for others to speak out. We can't open a mosque anywhere in America (is Murfreesboro, TN Sacred Ground too?) without someone wanting to know if there is going to be weapons training, or someone blathering in all seriousness about secret camps somewhere in the US nobody knows about but these conspiratists. American Muslim women are subject to harassment when they wear a headscarf. An American Muslim man is stabbed for driving a cab. A mosque is set on fire. Another is urinated upon. It is becoming quite acceptable to suggest something as silly as that Imam Feisal is some sort of Salafist zealot from accepting money from the largest shareholder in Fox News in Prince AlWaleed. Every Muslim is deemed to be a terrorist until proven otherwise. And we are told by Newt Gingrich, among others, that we can't have a community center two blocks from Ground Zero if Jews cannot have a synagogue in Mecca. Just think about this position for just a second, this very demonstration of Islamophobia casually uttered as entirely normal on Fox these days, a hatred and intolerance masked by more bizarre hatred and intolerance advocated by Pastor Jones. But back to the point, think about the irony. You deny painting Muslims with a broad brush, you deny you ascribe any and all suspicious views to Muslims irrespective of what they've said, you deny that you play guilt by association with Muslims in a manner you would never think to do with any other group, and yet you can actually with a straight face punish AMERICAN Muslims for SAUDI zoning policy? Fine, Iraqi Christians you can have a church in Kerrada to replace the one the terrorists bombed when we can have our mosque in Murfreesboro Tennessee. Didn't you know? It's your fault they won't allow one.
So, please, if you want to know why we want a community center two blocks from Ground Zero when no synagogue is allowed in Mecca, we American Muslims have an answer for you. We aren't in control of Saudi Arabian policy on synagogues in Mecca. We've never been in control of that. We didn't choose to live in Saudi. We don't vote in Saudi, we don't pay taxes in Saudi. We chose to live in the United States of America. We, or our parents, LEFT lands that created an establishment of religion, OUR religion, because we chose something else. We chose a land committed and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal. You should not be satisfied that you are better than the places Muslims left to emigrate here. Nor should we. None of us should be satisfied by anything less than an America who lives by the lofty ideals she has set for herself.
HAH
Hear, hear!
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