It’s the Stupid
Over at the Washington Monthly, there was a lively discussion on Newt Gingrich’s response to a story that I initially found too predictable to bother looking into; the story of the “Flying Imams”. Long story short, six Muslims arouse suspicion from a passenger by praying in public. He follows them around the gate, eavesdrops in on their conversations, and takes note of what he believes to be suspicious activity. He sends a note to the pilot, the Imams are escorted off the plane, arrested, and released shortly thereafter. Yawn, right? But listen to the Newtster’s takeaway:
“If you give me any signal in the age of terrorism that you’re a terrorist, I’d say the burden of proof was on you,” Gingrich said.
Over in the comment section at WM, the typical rightwing response was to point to the police report of the incident in an effort to prove that the actions of the passenger, flight crew, and airline were not just prudent, but patriotic and totally understandable. I won’t go into the specifics of the report, but for the sake of argument, let’s stipulate that everything the Imams did after coming under scrutiny was, shall we say, a little “weird”. But how did they come under scrutiny in the first place?
Grewenow and I boarded the aircraft and met the reporting party, who identified himself with his photo California driver’s license as [redacted], date of birth [redacted] told me the following: He witnessed six Middle Eastern males in the gate area praying and chanting in an Arabic dialect. They chanted the words Allah, Allah, Allah. He then eavesdropped into their conversation and overheard them mention Sadam and heard them curse about the U.S. involvement.
Praying in public is now considered suspicious terrorist activity in America 2.0. Forget the fact that Muslims are encouraged to pray in groups, “out loud”, using words in “Arabic”. Forget the fact the Muslims are required to pray at certain times of the day, and can’t always keep their “suspicious” activities out of earshot of anyone that might find it threatening. Forget the fact that real terrorists don’t fucking pray in public before getting on a fucking plane. That’s for the liberal elite in their ivory towers to debate. Real Americans don’t let things like reality and information get in the way when stupidity beckons us to spring into action.
Most Muslims in this country have learned to live with this stupidity. It comes with the territory. But it’s worth noting that this mentality, and its abuse by people like Newt Gingrich and the Bush administration, is the real reason we are languishing in Iraq today. The blurring of the lines between Muslims and terrorists, Saddam and Al-Qaeda, the absence of proof versus the proof of absence. These lies, cultivated and propagated by people who really do know better, are the reason that Joe Six-pack supported, and now scratches his head over, the war in Iraq.
The truly dangerous people in this country are those that seek a nation where the average American is kept in the dark, chasing shadows. Whatever it takes to convince the public to support the “right” course. Secure in the knowledge that an ignorant foot soldier is just as good, if not better, than an informed one. These people are truly enemies of this country.