Scott St. Clair: At a Bare Minimum Islam Has a PR Problem

April 23, 2013

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In the wake of the Boston Marathon Bombing, Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson wrote a useful column on what he sees are the failures of the left and the right to come to terms with radical Islamic terrorism. He was correct in calling out the left for refusing to acknowledge the “Islamic” part of terrorism, a fact dating back at least two decades in the United States that destroys their beloved notions of multiculturalism and relativism.

But in fairly criticizing the right for seeing all of Islam as a giant terrorist plot he missed one point: Islam’s public relations problem that stems from its silence.

Blaming the left and the right in this context is like blaming a mom and dad for the behavior of their adult child who long ago left the nest and now screws up on his own. Mom rationalizes and dad sees no redemption, but junior did it all on his own.

Where is the effort on the part of Muslims both in the United States and in Islamic countries to condemn the radicalism and the terrorist attacks that spring from their religion? The silence is deafening, while the rationalization and excuse-making of their apologists is palpable.

A gag-muffin-nobody named Amanda Palmer even wrote an erstwhile love poem to one of the two slime balls responsible for the terrorism in Boston that immediately went to the top of the hit parade’s list of all-time-worst-ever verses.

 scott post 1Meanwhile, there isn’t a Christian in America who isn’t outraged at the base, vile and hateful anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. Even if they don’t support gay marriage, they are offended and speak out against the grotesque views of Fred Phelps and his gang of thugs at Westboro, who announced plans to picket at funerals of bombing victims.

We saw Bostonians cheer the capture of Suspect No. 2 Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, spontaneously sing the Star Spangled Banner at a hockey game, watch Red Sox future hall-of-famer David “Big Papi” Ortiz — himself an immigrant — give a loud rhetorical finger to terrorists saying “This is our f****** city!” and more outpourings of traditional American verve, gusto and patriotism.  


Where was the Muslim community? Anyone see a large crowd outside a mosque waving an American flag and shouting, “USA! USA! USA!”? Or hear a condemnation of terrorism and what it’s grounded in from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Jihad, the Iranian mullahs or the Palestinian Authority? Or are they too busy killing Jews in Israel and planning future mass slaughter?

Lest we forget the orgy of celebration that took place in much of the Middle East over the Boston attack and how a good time was had by all.

Then there’s the Canadian angle. Barely a day after Boston, Canadian authorities announce the breakup of an al Qaeda-affiliated plot managed out of Iran by a couple of religiously-strict men with Middle Eastern names, Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian, and Raed Jaser, a Palestinian carrying a United Arab Emirates passport, to blow up a train. Add it to Boston and the miles-long list of other terrorist plots with Islamic ties (Nidal Hasan and Fort Hood where 13 people died being one of the worst — calling it “workplace violence” is total hubris) and a pattern develops.

At best, Islam has a growing PR problem in America. At worst, maybe it’s time to follow longtime Democratic Party strategist and Jimmy Carter campaign manager Bob Beckel’s advice  (4:04 in the video, but watch the whole thing) and cut off all student visas for anyone from an Islamic country. Given the intensity with which he articulated that view, I’m guessing he had more politically incorrect ideas in mind too.

 

Among Democrats, however, Bob appears to be a lone wolf since no others are yet willing to speak the obvious, especially after they initially jumped the gun to pin the blame for Boston on tax protestors, the Tea Party, right-wing whites or anyone in the history of the universe other than Muslims.

Muslims in America have the same constitutional rights as the rest of us, which is absolutely as it should be with arguments to the contrary getting a smack down from me. But with rights come responsibilities including honoring what it means to be a citizen and an American.

Boston marathon 8 little boyBe a part of the solution including stepping up to what it means to be a citizen, or increasingly be seen as not merely a part of the problem, but the whole problem-ball of wax. That’s the message Islam in America must heed.

Hair-pulling progressives will decry this as hateful, but there’s a recently buried eight-year-old Boston boy who’ll never see nine who might beg to differ on what it means to be the victim of hate, Islamic-inspired hate.

 Scott St. Clair is a journalist, rhetorical pugilist, agent provocateur, aider and abbetor of James O’Keefe and a former competitive Highland piper. He says what he thinks, means what he says and doesn’t suffer fools. He’s also a member of the Victoria Taft Blogforce. His opinions are entirely his own, and you shouldn’t expect them to mirror yours.