The question and answer session at Assad Akhter’s CMSA panel on “discussing” the present situation for Muslim Americans as well as the “Park51 controversy” got off to a wonderful start with the moderator Suhail Khan lobbing a straw man gently underhand for Zogby to pretend to answer.
It seems Suhail can’t understand why, in the ten years since 9/11, the mood of the average American toward Islam and Muslims has changed; fear not Dr. Zogby has the answer:
“there is a general mood afoot in the country, it is part and parcel of the broader social, unraveling I think, that is taking place. umm, we had, we saw it begin last summer, um, I think some of it has to do with the fact that we have elected an African American president and some folks just can’t ingest it. There is No Question I think, that the economic distress, and the social dislocation that has occurred is part of it. Umm, and, I think at the same time that, that 8 or 9 years of, umm, disinformation has taken the toll. But if the social conditions weren’t there, if the unraveling weren’t there, I don’t think we’d see it. Uh, in exactly the same way. It is classic, uh, xenophobic nativism; we’ve seen it in our history before…”
The multiple attacks and attempted attacks in the US by America Muslims had nothing to do with it at all Zog-man? Okaaay, moving on, Salam puts in his two scheckles worth on the subject of why Americans are less trusting of Islam in 2010…
After a sycophantic salute to Dr. Zogby, Salam veers off the question to a specific and divisive attack…
“…think we are at a crossroads in our society, in terms of what, how we define America. Is America an exclusive club? Or are we going to live up to the stand, our values of pluralism. And when people start questioning the Christianity of our president, I think that is a form of religious nationalism. I think they’re using religion to say even religion now, in America, is part of an exclusive club.”
And here I thought that pretty much all religions except, Unitarianism, were in one way or another exclusive clubs! Or am I misunderstanding Salam; maybe I can declare myself Muslim without changing a single belief and he will say, “Welcome to Islam Brother”; but, somehow I doubt it.
“And so this exploitation of the truth that is used also for political purposes, since this is now an election year coming up to the November elections. And the fact is, Muslim Americas, they are an easy punching bag for this because we… “
I have to stop and tell you to hold on to your lunch, this is the baldest lie you have ever heard on The Hill…
“…don’t have the reach, we don’t have a lobby, we don’t have a PR infrastructure.”
Got that? Maj. Hasan went his merry Jihadist way in the Army because his colleagues were afraid to be labeled by the PC police as racists; but American Muslims have no reach.
The CMSA itself is openly a lobby; Then we have Salam’s own organization MPAC, and a couple dozen other active, influential lobby groups specifically for Muslim Americans, and Muslim Americans of various ethnic extractions and national origins; but American Muslims are a punching bag because they have no lobby!
And the last, biggest lie; American Muslims have no PR infrastructure; Check out Daniel Pipe’s web site for all the refutation of that Big Lie you could ever desire; but do not forget today’s Pravda: American Muslims have no PR Network.
Tell the Big Lie with a sincere look on your face, then repeat it as though it were gospel, over and over and over again until the sheep buy it; this seems to me to be the gospel according to Salam.
“and so, while we are responding to the, to everything, the other side obviously has the microphone. It’s really the other side of extremists.”
Wow, he actually mentioned Islamic extremists, obscurely and in passing but, he mentioned them! He must be an Islamophobe!
Other than Salam telling an obscure but rather bigoted anecdote this ended the “let us lob around a softball, while ignoring the woman, and pretend it is part of the and A” part of the program.
I will continue with the REAL Q and A, assuming they allow any real questions, in the next post.
