Talking Point Memo (TPM) has some Islamophobic "highlights" from a speech Saturday by a man they describe as a US "Conservative shock jock" (i.e. controversial talk radio host): Bryan Fischer.
At the 2011 Values Voter Summit in Washington DC, Fischer rattled off such statements as "The greatest long-term threat to our security and liberty is not radical Islam, but Islam itself" and was frequently interrupted by applause and loud audience cheers.
Other memorable observations included his assessment that:
Every single Mosque in America is a potential recruiting or training cell for Islamic terror.
This sounds just a tad exaggerated, until you realize why he believes that this is so:
I believe it's important that we have a president who understands that Islam is not a religion of peace, but a religion of war and violence and death.
What does one say? If this is not hate- and fear mongering, what is? Here is a man who has been given a podium and pulpit at the center of US politics, who essentially tells Americans to fear all Muslims, especially those who are pious. This is crossing the line. Unfortunately, it is also quite revealing.
Some might dismiss this and say: who cares what some crazy joe schmoe says at some random event? But Fischer is not only a popular radio host, but also (according to Wikipedia) the Director of Issues Analysis for an organization called the American Family Association (AFA). And the Values Voter Summit is far from a minor event. The scheduled speaker list is a veritable who's who of Conservative (Republican) politics: Rick Perry, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Rick Santorum etc.
The speaker who went immediately before Fischer? Only the GOP Presidential front-runner, Mitt Romney.
From that Wikipedia link: "Fischer has been sharply criticized for his written and verbal attacks on Native Americans, African Americans, Muslims, gays and Hispanics.[3] Fischer's divisive comments were cited by Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in explaining the hate group designation they gave to the AFA in November 2010.[4]"
ReplyDeleteCurrent Republican Party leadership is absolutely horrible. Words can't describe it.
I saw that, too. He seems to be a well-rounded scoundrel. The question is why the GOP leadership puts a man like him on the podium, next to the man they want to see as the next US President no less.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately there are lots of people like Mr. Fischer around. I'm pretty sure that we all heard someone saying "Americans are stupid/fat/they always eat burgers!". We just laugh at this kind of statements and move on not caring much. But none of them gets on the podium. Where is liberty?
ReplyDeletehttp://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201110080003
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, Anonymous. "The War on Terror is a religious war" according to Glenn Beck.
ReplyDelete@Sevket. You're right. We should all be better at standing up to such bigoted remarks - whomever they are pointed at - in our daily lives. I'm afraid that Fischer's remarks are an illustration of liberty's dark side. In free societies, we're all free to say what we wish, even to be jerks and to be offensive, and this is important. And I am exercising my right to criticize Fischer, the organizers, and other prominent speakers in the same panel, as I hope more people will do.
Though I have to say that he seems to be hovering very close to what is legally punishable as hate speech with those remarks, but I'm not a lawyer so I can't tell.