Vilifying Muslims in America

Vilifying Muslims in America - by Stephen Lendman

Judge nations by how they treat all people, whether equally, or advantaging some over others. Judge them harshly if they persecute some for political advantage.

In America, people of color and Muslims are fair game. It's longstanding policy based on prejudicial attitudes, stereotypes, deep-seated racism, and notions of corrupted Western values, high-mindedness, and moral superiority.

Post-9/11, in fact, Muslims are perceived as barbaric, violent, uncivilized, gun-toting terrorists, easily targeted, accused, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned - not for wrongdoing, for their faith in American at the wrong time. As a result, it's no surprise that when suspects are named, media reports automatically convict them in the court of public opinion. .. (READ FULL ARTICLE)


People For the American Way (PFAW) Takes Aim at Anti-Muslim Extremism

Its new report focuses on "The Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism," saying:

"Under the guise of defending freedom and American values, right-wing anti-Muslim activists....prevent Muslim-Americans from freely worshiping and practicing their religion, curtail their political rights," urge deportations for some and prosecutions of others.

Connected to overall racial and religious hatred, Muslims became a favored target of choice. As a result, politicians argue for close monitoring, investigating, and curtailing their freedoms to stop them, destroying core democratic values in the process.

Post-9/11, manufactured paranoia claims Muslim are a fifth column threat to US security, "working to bring about America's downfall." Vicious rhetoric and accusations vilify them, calling them a dangerous internal threat to be stopped.

According to David Yerushalmi, a leading anti-Muslim propagandist/general counsel for the far-right Center for Security Policy:

"Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization....The Muslim peoples, those committed to Islam as we know it today, are our enemies." The way to defeat them is to criminalize Islam, he believes, proposing:

-- 20 years imprisonment for knowingly supporting the furtherance of or adherence to Islam;

-- congressionally declaring war on Muslim nations;

-- declaring all non-US citizen Muslims alien enemies under Chapter 3, Title 50 of the US Code, subjecting them to immediate deportation; and

-- assuring no Muslims get entry visas to America.

Accordingly, Muslims are perceived to be violent. No moderate ones exist. According to University of North Carolina Professor Omid Safi:

"A common ploy by Islamophobes is to go to a predictable list of verses in the Koran and the words of Muhammad and to argue that (they) - with no context, no interpretation, and no alternative (ones) - represent the essence of Islam for all eternity, no matter what Muslims may say or why they may protest."

Notorious Islamophobe David Horowitz claims that "between 150 million and 750 million Muslims support a holy war against Christians, Jews and other Muslims," based solely on his racist anti-Islamic hate.

In addition, right-wing religious extremist Pat Robertson compares Muslims to Hitler, urging Americans to fight them the same way, and the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer calls Muslims "parasites" and a "toxic cancer....out to eliminate and destroy western civilization."

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain says he won't have Muslims in his administration if elected. Newt Gingrich defended his position in a Republican candidate debate, comparing them to Nazis. Rep. Renee Ellmers (R. NC) calls them terrorists responsible for 9/11 (an exposed lie), and Allen West (R. FL) claims Muslims are naturally "wild" because God cursed Ishmael and his Muslim descendants.

The Pat Robertson/Jay Sekulow-founded American Center for Law and Justice claims Islam compels its adherents to fight America and other countries, saying:

"Because Islam grew out of the belief in complete world domination, every Muslim is obligated to labor in his own way toward achieving that goal, no matter where he lives or what sovereign claims his allegiance."

Distorting Truth to Spread Lies

Fake research is used to attack the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). As a result, Republican senators and congresspersons want the group investigated.

Not for wrongdoing. For encouraging young Muslim-Americans to become congressional interns to learn more about politics. Nonetheless, CAIR and other Islamic groups are vilified. During Rep. Peter King's first hearings, Rep. Chip Cravaack (R. MN) called CAIR a "terrorist organization." ... (READ FULL ARTICLE)