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Friday, March 11, 2011

The 2011 McCarthy hearings begin

It is not just Europe that is experiencing a wave of Islamophobia. Far-right conservative activists in the United States have become increasingly ardent in recent years and months. The NYT has a good profile of one of them, Brigitte Gabriel, the founder of the anti-Islamic ACT!, who according to the NYT warns that
America has been infiltrated on all levels by radicals who wish to harm America ... They have infiltrated us at the C.I.A., at the F.B.I., at the Pentagon, at the State Department.
And, one should add, apparently also the Conservative Political Action Committee itself, where - the horror - a Muslim is actually a member of the board! And where another famous Reagan-era conservative icon and CPAC board member - Grover Nordquist - has gone and married a (dare I say it?) Muslim. It's almost as if the United States Constitution allowed members of different faiths to be politically active. Surely something must be done about this situation.

Other prominent anti-Islam activists who are doing their best to remedy this dreadful state of affairs - in which individuals are not persecuted and prohibited from a public role due to their faith - include Pamela Geller, who has been leading the charge against the proposed Cordoba Center on Manhattan, and Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy.

And yesterday was the opening day of Rep. Peter King's "Congressional Hearings on the Radicalization of American Muslims." King, himself a long- time supporter of the terrorist organization known as the IRA - has been concerned that mainstream Muslim organizations do not cooperate with authorities in defeating terrorists. Perhaps the best response in the face of such impressive lack of self-reflection or concern about internal logical consistency is satire, so I am attaching a Daily Show clip below that does that better than I can.

UPDATE: Just saw yesterday's even better Daily Show clips on the Peter King hearings, so I'm attaching those instead. (You can see the old clip here.)

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Radical Muslim Hearings
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook

And the brilliant commentary by John Oliver:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Radical Muslim Hearings - IRA Terrorism
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook
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