Thursday, December 29, 2011

A Bridge Too Far: CAIR Versus Bare Naked Islam


I note with interest a PR wire sent out by the The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) boasting that they had taken down an 'anti-Islam hate site'. The site in question is Bare Naked Islam. ( h/t memeorandum)

CAIR's PR wire is entitled "CAIR Asks FBI to Probe Internet Threats to Mosques" and they cite their successful attempt to have Wordpress shut the site down.

Predictably, a collective shriek went through the blogosphere, starting with Jim Hoft over at Gateway Pundit and there were a multitude of calls to 'boycott sharia compliant Wordpress.'

I doubt this will make me any friends, but I don't support that action at all, and I think it's worth the time to explain why.

I don't need to tell my regular readers what I think of CAIR. The information that came out in the Holy Land Federation trial on CAIR and other Muslim Brotherhood fronts should have been enough to shut them down permanently and provide jail sentences for a number of their members, and that's exactly what would have happened if the Obama Department of Justice hadn't filed Disinclination to Prosecute briefs in what were likely open and shut cases, letting the Islamists walk free.

But in this case, I took an actual look at the content CAIR was protesting before joining the hue and cry.

It's a screen shot of what appears to be an actual page from Bare Naked Islam's site, and if that was what was actually running there, CAIR was entirely within their rights to voice their concern and bring to to WordPress's attention.

The page in question celebrates a graffiti attack on a French mosque with the text "Whoo Hoo! Will the Muslims ever get a clue they aren't welcome in France?"

The comments are even worse, with many of them calling for the burning of mosques 'with the asslifters inside of them.' Others call for violent attacks on Muslims. You can find the page and the comments at the above link.

If that was truly what BNI was allowing on their site, ( and I wouldn't put it past CAIR to manufacture something like this) the site owner definitely crossed the line. The Supreme Court has made it quite clear on a number of occasions that free speech ends when it comes to bodily harm and mayhem. That's exactly how neo-Nazi Tom Metzger's conviction was upheld - because of messages on his answering machine urging violence on various ethnic groups he didn't care for. When you provide a forum for this kind of violent hatred, you are past protected speech and yelling fire in a crowded theater.

I would also add that as far as I'm concerned, the site owner had a responsibility to monitor the comments. The fact that the owner didn't gives credence to the appearance that the owner not only didn't disagree, but supported and approved using the site as a forum for those kind of sentiments.

There is plenty to be said about Islamist infiltration in America, about jihad, about creeping sharia, about the threat of Islamists and Salafists to our civilization, and I've said it here more than once. But to call for the butchering of innocent people praying in a mosque is simply evil. In fact, it's exactly how jihadis treat churches in places like Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia.

And speaking just for myself,I consider that not only irresponsible but morally reprehensible.

It's also stupid, because it plays right into the Islamist's hands.

It's not well known, but a fair number of domestic jihad terrorist attacks here in America have been thwarted because an American Muslim saw or heard something in a mosque, overheard a conversation, saw something that didn't look or feel right and reported it to the authorities, often at risk to themselves.

They did it out of simple decency, which is the frame where the majority of people operate ordinarily. But they also did it because they realized that every jihad attack here in America reflected on them as Muslims and threatened their continued existence as free citizens in a free country.

It works exactly the same way for the kind of material I saw on that Bare Naked Islam page. It allows Islamists like CAIR to use it to shut down legitimate criticism of Islamism and jihad, it gives credence to the constant whining about Islamophobia and most importantly, it allows them to go to Muslims who may not support CAIR's agenda and raise money and support from them, saying: 'You see why you need us? You see now how we were right all along?'

A friend asks 'do you really think it's worth losing their site over?' That's not my decision to make. But if what CAIR linked to was what was actually appearing on Bare Naked Islam and not manufactured, then as far as I'm concerned, Wordpress was well within their rights to decide that they didn't want to be associated with that kind of material, and to invite the owners of Bare Naked Islam to take their content elsewhere.

It's a decision I would have made myself, CAIR or no CAIR. There's real danger in getting so blinded by hatred that you become what you despise without realizing it.

The devil of our lesser nature inside all of us laughs out loud at that kind of self-inflicted wound.

7 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Right on all counts.

Anonymous said...

I definitely do think bloggers have an obligation to oversee their blogs and weed out all nastiness. It's why I even have the comment caveat on my blog, however, I think my question would be has wordpress taken down every blog that calls for genocide against Israel, denies the Holocaust and calls Jews apes and pigs or praises the slaughter of Christians in the Moslem world? If not then this is definitely singling out one particular form of hate for castigation while allowing others legitimacy.

Rob said...

Hi IP,
Here's a question...if Wordpress was hosting a Muslim site that said what Bare Naked Islam was saying about Jews and synagogues, would you have any compunction about reporting it to them? And would you expect them to shut it down?

Of course you would, and so would I.

There might very well be jihadist sites operating under the Wordpress aegis. I have no evidence that any that have similar content to Bare Naked Islam ( by which I mean specifically celebrating things like the vandalizing of a church or synagogue or advocating violence like burning them with people inside) have been reported that are still up.

That's a hypothetical, and this is concrete. If it becomes concrete, I'd be the first person to criticize Wordpress for their hypocrisy and urge a boycott.

All The Best In The New Year,
Rob

Ali said...

Well Robert,
I have to say you never disappoint me.I hope your words get a lot of publicity.

You're right, this is exactly the sort of crap CAIR and the rest of them uses to try and get donations and get support for their agenda.I get their solicitations all the time.

There are lots of Muslims like me who hate and distrust them, but give money just to feel like they're protected. That's the way these jihadi racketeers play the game.

Salaam Aleikum, Happy Hanukkah and have a great New Year.

Semper Fi,
Major Ali

Anonymous said...

Rob-
Just to be clear...i do not think wordpress was wrong to take down BNI. I do not support any form of hate and i have no problem in taking down these sites. My question was based on the growing level of antisemitism on the web and if blog hosts pay attention to it or are they selective in their outrage?

Rob said...

I know you better than that IP, No worries.

All The Best For You and Yours In The New Year,

Rob

Rob said...

Aleikum Salaam, Major Ali.

I see I finally got you to break with your long time policy of not commenting on websites! Hopefully, this won't be the last time.

Americans need to hear more from Muslims like you and Zuhdi Jasser, who love our country as much as I do and who have served it with such honor. That's really the heart of the problem...we only get to hear from Muslim Brotherhood shills like CAIR an the MPAC, whom I know you despise even more than I do.

M'ashallah, it will happen Major. Thank you for your friendship, and for the kind words.

Blessings For The New Year To You And Yours,
Rob