Islamophobia for Dummies
Bill O'Reilly " Muslims Killed Us on 9/11 "
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Today we'll be examining some of the prejudiced comments made by Bill O'Reilly
and some of his friends on Fox News. We'll be exposing the prejudiced comments
against Muslims, which Fox News considers to be free speech, with the help of
our own fake news channel called Fox Fatwas, where prejudice against Americans
is surely to be considered hate speech. This story, to give you a bit of background about the first clip, in December 2009 there was a project called the Cordoba House, which is a Muslim Community Center in lower Manhattan, and it got a lot of support from the New York communities, religious leaders, even Fox News' Laura Ingraham thought it was a great idea before she changed her mind many months later and thought it was a terrible idea. So it didn't take long for the Islamophobes, namely Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, to misname the project (the Cordoba House), and they decided to call it the "Ground Zero Mosque" to associate it with something bad and drum up hatred of Muslims. Now, Fox News loved this idea of associating a Muslim Mosque with the events of 9/11, and here's Fox News' Bill O'Reilly being interviewed on The View: Oct 2010 Bill O'Reilly - The mosque... the mosque down here on 9/11. That's inappropriate. It's, it's, sure... they have a right to do it, in the constitution, but it's inappropriate. What's really inappropriate is two things: 1. Bill O'Reilly is misleading people about the actual location of this project, when he says it's "on 9/11". It isn't, it's two full city blocks away from the WTC complex. 2. He's complaining about the building of this Community Center, without even realizing that the site was already in use as a Mosque. The Pentagon has a mosque in it, and we never had a problem there either. So then Whoopi Goldberg tries to explain to Bill O'Reilly that there were also Muslim victims of the 9/11 attacks: Oct 2010 Whoopi Goldberg - ...and there were 70 families who are Muslim who also died in that building Not only that, Muslims were also among the 1st responders. And putting that aside, even if there were a few wacko Muslims were involved in 9/11, most importantly, you still can't blame Islam, because both the Quran and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself explicitly forbid harming any civilians. But Bill O'Reilly still wants to link the terrorist acts of 9/11 with the Muslim Mosque: Oct 2010 Bill O'Reilly - It's inappropriate. Whoppi Goldberg - Why is it inappropriate? Bill O'Reilly - Muslims killed us on 9/11, that's why. Whoppi Goldberg - Oh my God, that is such bull****. Bill O'Reilly - Muslims didn't kill us on 9/11, is that what you're saying? OK, so he's objecting to the building of any Mosque anywhere near the WTC because he thinks that Muslims were responsible. But as Whoopi Goldberg tried to explain to him, Muslims were also killed on 9/11. Alright, now let's turn to our own fake news channel, Fox Fatwas, to see what "Ayatollah" O'Reilly would think if there was a church being built in Baghdad or Kabul, which of course, are the "Ground Zero" for Afghanis and Iraqis: Ayatollah O'Reilly - It's inappropriate. Whoopi Goldberg - Why is it inappropriate? Ayatollah O'Reilly - Americans killed us in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ayatollah O'Reilly - Americans didn't kill us in Afghanistan and Iraq, is that what you're saying? So Americans didn't kill hundreds of thousands of Muslim civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq? Sure they did, but if some TV station said something like that as an objection to a church being built there, they'd be calling them Christianophobic, Americophobic, terrorist sympathizers. Now, if someone were to wrongly blame ALL Americans for these hundreds of thousands of Muslim CIVILIAN casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, that would still make more sense than blaming Islam for 9/11, because the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan had the support of the U.S. Congress and U.S. public opinion, whereas the 9/11 attacks and all terrorist acts are unequivocally condemned by Islamic scholars before and after 9/11. So you can't blame Muslims for 9/11, in the same way you can't blame Christians for the thousands of pedophile priests, and in the same way you can't blame Christians for the crusades even though they were endorsed by 6 Catholic Popes. In all these cases, the violations in question are in contradiction with the religious doctrine. So back to the prejudiced comment and double standards of Bill O'Reilly, Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg were rightly outraged and walked out of the interview. And the next day, Bill O'Reilly's friend on Fox News, Brian Kilmeade, decides to come to defend Bill O'Reilly and actually just makes things even worse: Oct 2010 Brian Kilmeade - That was our debate, like, seven weeks ago. And they can’t handle the give and take of a debate. They were outraged that someone was saying that there was a reason, there was a certain group of people that attacked us on 9/11. It wasn’t just one person, it was one religion. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. And here he is again on a radio show that same day: Oct 2010 Brian Kilmeade - Not every Muslim is an extremist, a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim. You can't avoid that fact. And that is ridiculous that we gotta keep defining this. Now, what's ridiculous to me, is that when he says ALL terrorists are Muslim, he is of course excluding a few groups, like the Hindu & Christian Tamil Tigers (invented the suicide belt), the (Catholic) Irish Republican Army, the Christian Abortion Clinic bombers, (Christian) Timothy McVeigh, the atheist Unabomber, and the list of terrorist organizations is quite long. It's also interesting how America only considers people to be terrorists when the atrocities are against them. Israel commits atrocities every day against Palestinians, they're not considered a terrorist organization, the crusaders, those were against Muslims, so that's OK, that's not terrorism. And of course, the U.S. "shock and awe" invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, which terrorized the entire Iraqi and Afghani populations. So let's see what our own Fox Fatwas "Brother" Kilmeade would say about this: Bother Kilmeade - Not all Americans are terrorists, but all terrorists are American. See that, these are 2 equally untrue statements. And not all invading armies are American either, and not all occupying forces in modern history are American either, most of them, sure, but not all of them, there must be a couple of exceptions. Now let's look at a few true statements: Not all Christians are abortion clinic bombers, but all abortion clinic bombers are Christians. Not all Christians are pedophile priests, but all pedophile priests are Christian. And let's not forget our friends the atheists, who are not all communists, but by definition, all communists are Atheists. Then, Juan Williams was being interviewed on Bill O'Reilly's show, and also tried to defend Bill O'Reilly: Oct 2010 Bill O'Reilly - So where am I going wrong here, Juan? Juan Williams - Well actually, I hate to say this to you, because I don't want to get your ego going, but I think you're right. I think, look, political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don't address reality. I mean, look Bill, I'm not a bigot, you know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country, but when I get on a plane, I gotta tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb, and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried, I get nervous. Yeah, he's not a bigot, he just gets nervous when he sees anyone wearing Muslim clothing on a plane... just like I get nervous whenever I see someone wearing a Yamaka ... he could be in the Jewish Defense League, which the FBI considers to be a terrorist organization. And just like I get nervous every time I see somebody wearing a cross ... he could in the KKK for all I know. If Juan Williams is right, to get nervous every time he sees a Muslim who, quote "identifies himself first and foremost as a Muslim", then everyone is also right to get nervous every time we see someone "identifying themselves first and foremost" as a Jew, a Christian, or an Atheist, because they are just as likely to be a terrorist. And that reminds me of something else that Brian Kilmeade said: Oct 2010 Brian Kilmeade - Americans have a right to look at moderate Muslims and say "Show me you're not one of them". Yes, and everyone has a right to go up to moderate white people and say "show me you're not a white supremacist", or go up to moderate Christians and say "show me you're not a pedophile priest, show me you're not a crusader". How do I know you're not going to invade my country next. Now back to the interview with Juan Williams and Bill O'Reilly: Oct 2010 Juan Williams - and when you said in the "Talking Points" memo, a moment ago, that "there are good Muslims", I think that's the point, you know... Bill O'Reilly - But everybody knows that Juan. I mean, what are we, in 3rd grade here, or what? Juan Williams - No, but you've gotta be careful, this is what Barbara Walters was saying... Bill O'Reilly - "I've gotta be careful" you just said it, I've gotta be careful. I have to qualify everything 50 times, you know what Juan, I'm not doing that any more. See that, Bill O'Reilly's not prejudiced. He even said that there are good Muslims, they exist, imagine, they actually exist, wow, I didn't know that, but he doesn't want to have to keep saying it over and over again. Just like I'm sure, there must be some good Americans out there, there might even be some good Christians out there. How many? I don't know. How do you find them? I don't know, but they (surely) exist. Now the funny thing to me is how Juan Williams was fired from National Public Radio for his bigoted comments, and guess who gives him a 3 year, $2 million contract that same week? Fox News. I guess there's a lot of good money to be made out there with Fox News if you have a certain way with words. Anyway, this same issue pops up again recently in April 2001 when Donald Trump was being interviewed by Bill O'Reilly: Apr 2011 Bill O'Reilly - You saw me on "The View" with the ladies walking out? Donald Trump - Yes I did. Bill O'Reilly - But they didn't walk out on you, when you brought up the birth certificate, when they should have. That was worse than what I did. Is there a "Muslim problem" in the world? Donald Trump - Absolutely, absolutely. Now Bill, the way 1.5 billion Muslims see it, is that we really have an "American problem" in the world. And the way that most countries on earth, excluding Israel and America of course, would see it, is that there's really an "American foreign policy problem" in the world. And as for Donald Trump, we're not going to answer his bigoted comments today, because that would really need an entire episode. And this last clip we're going to look at today is from Bill O'Reilly back in November 2009: Nov 2009 Bill O'Reilly - let me play devil's advocate here. Barack Obama wants to win hearts and minds in the Middle East, in the Muslim world, which is a good thing, and you know that. As a soldier, we can't kill all the Muslims. So we wanna win as many hearts and minds of good moderate Muslims as we can. You know, it's not that he doesn't want to kill all the Muslims, he'd like to, he'd like to try, but "all" of them... killing all the Muslims, it's just impractical, so we have to be nice to some of them. How does a guy like this still have a job on a news channel, I do not understand. Can you imagine if our Fox Fatwas "Ayotallah" O'Reilly said something like that: Ayatollah O'Reilly - As a soldier, we can't kill all the Americans. So we wanna win as many hearts and minds of good moderate Americans as we can. If any Muslim had said something like that, that we can't kill all the Americans, he'd be on the 10 most wanted list, the terrorist watch list, the no-fly list, and everyone would be pointing the finger at "Islam, look at Islam", bla, bla, bla. But because he's an American Christian, it's free speech, it's not hate speech. Both the Quran and the Bible teach tolerance. The Quran says "Do not let hatred of any people make you deviate and deal unjustly", and the Bible tells Christians to love their enemies. Now, are there cases of bigoted Muslims out there? Sure, they are violating Islam. Are there cases of bigoted Christians out there? Sure, they are violating the teachings of the Messiah Jesus. And I'm definitely not feeling any "love" from Bill O'Reilly or Fox News. But the difference is that Muslims don't give our bigots their own 24 hour TV news channels. |
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