On my way to Penn Station on Friday afternoon, (on West 29th St. to be precise), there seemed to be some kind of demonstration going on. When we got closer we saw that it was a large Islamic prayer service which had spilled out onto the sidewalk and into the gutter. It was mainly a mass of prostrated men but women in hijab walked nearby. The driver, a silver-haired man of Greek and Bulgarian background, launched into a non-stop monologue.
“I wouldn’t mind it if they came here to become Americans like I did. But no, they hate America. They want to stay the way they are but they want to take over America. You ought to see it in Astoria, Queens! Far bigger than this. You know why they’re on the sidewalk and in the street? Because they are really protesting not having larger and larger mosques.”
Well, their prayer service, (and it was that), did somehow seem like a protest. There was an aggressive rather than a humbled feeling in the air, more anger than love, a separatism but one right in-your-face.
Upon my return, several brave members of the LiberalHawks listserv group, including Pamela Hall, Tom Dolan, (of Gathering Eagles), Pamela Gellar of Atlas Shrugs, and others from the United American Committee were discussing the Muslim Day Parade. I watched a very disturbing Video and read personal accounts of what happened at yesterday’s parade. Unlike the Hispanic Day Parade, which also took place yesterday, the Muslim Day parade was aggressive, angry, confrontational, and did not seem very happy or joyful. No one was celebrating Islam’s many cultures and ethnicities. One sign read “Home of the Free Shari’a Movement.”
A number of super-angry bearded men tried to charge a small group of women who were holding signs which read “We Will Not Submit.” The men called one woman: “A fu–ing bitch,” “You whore,” “Your Talmud says you can rape a three year old,” “You baby murderer,” “The Jews kill little children,” “Rothschild was a Zionist,” (!). The background was a continuous roar of “Allahu-Akbar.”
One woman, (who prefers to remain anonymous), a member of the LiberalHawks listserv group, was threatened by a Muslim man. He threatened to “rape her fifty times.” He, and several other men, walked right through the barrier that had been erected to separate the two groups. Muslim parade marchers also photographed the protesters–a method of intimidation, a threat that they are being watched and might be stalked or worse. The police ended up having to protect the small band of protesters. In my time, it was the police who photographed the demonstrators, the demonstrators and counter-demonstrators did not photograph each other (unless they were FBI or CIA agents disguised as demonstrators or protesters).
Perhaps perfectly peaceful Muslims are paranoid about not being allowed to pray in the public square and are therefore aggressive about it. Perhaps their leaders want to claim public, secular space as Islamist religious space–just as they’ve enjoyed it in the Old Country. Perhaps Muslims who really want to pray have only seen Muslims marching in anger or even rioting in public and believe that this is what Muslims “do.”
This is an ill wind and it’s blowin’ right here in Manhattan and Brooklyn and Queens. The March for McCain on Manhattan’s upper west side elicited a solid, ugly wall of hoots, jeers, boos and rage. (Kudos to Pamela Hall who took the footage). When I asked some liberal friends of mine to view it, they were non-plussed. Indeed, they said that the hoots and jeers were proof of a flourishing First Amendment. “The marchers can march and we can express our views of their views.”
When I and others had to be protected by police officers when we spoke on campus about Islamic gender and religious apartheid and about Islamic imperialism and pro-slavery views, many of the students looked and acted a lot like the upper westsiders–but that too was defended as the First Amendment in action. I have been a radical feminist for most of my life and have always voted Democratic. I voted for Bush once and reaped the whirlwind. However, I have not seen conservative students boo, jeer, and move menacingly against speakers who opposed the military, the War, etc. Have you? They just seem to wear their bow-ties and behave in civilized ways. Why? (Needless to say, I do not agree with many items on the conservative and Republican agenda but I do appreciate their civility in these times).
The Muslim Day parade in Manhattan seems to be another example of the First Amendment and freedom of religion being used to censor other views in an ugly and threatening way.
I am afraid for our country. There seems to be an escalation, an acceleration of Islamist aggression in many of our cities, and not just via prayer-protest but also via lawsuit. Even now, the United Nations is preparing a truly racist document against the Jews, (Durban II), and yet it’s being promoted as an “anti-racist’ document. Why is the mainstream media so silent about all this? Why are the intelligentsia silent, why do they once again make common cause with totalitarians and fascists? What will it take to connect the dots?
There is no logical explanation for why the mainstream media and the intelligentsia are so silent about anti-Israel racism. It’s a miracle—a negative miracle. Sometimes I even think that God is simply an embittered anti-Semite.
“I am afraid for our country.”
Really? If that’s indeed the case—you should be strongly supporting the McCain/Palin ticket. The post modernist candidate Barack Obama is going to be a godsend to the anti-Western establishment. He believes that America is guilty of crapping on the people of the Third World. It is presumably our fault that they are so angry. Obama main focus will be to apologize to our enemies.
It seems like the same people harping that it is the end of the American era are those most determined to make that prophecy self-fulfilling….. Very frightening.
The chasm and acrimony grow wider and ever more vicious each day.
Please keep up your courageous work, Phyllis. Good health to you.
I am afraid for our country. There seems to be an escalation, an acceleration of Islamist aggression in many of our cities, and not just via prayer-protest but also via lawsuit. Even now, the United Nations is preparing a truly racist document against the Jews, (Durban II), and yet it’s being promoted as an “anti-racist’ document. Why is the mainstream media so silent about all this? Why are the intelligentsia silent, why do they once again make common cause with totalitarians and fascists? What will it take to connect the dots?
Phyllis, when it becomes more important to be seen on the “chic” side of an issue, rathter than on the principled side of an issue, we have lost our way.
When it becomes more important to care about how we look to our friends, than how we stand by our ideals, we have lost our way.
When it becomes more “hip” to slander our country than to protect it from slander, then we have lost our way.
When we become convinced that being erudite means that we are narrow-minded and reactionary against any opinions but those acceptable to “academia”, we have lost our way.
When we become peer pressured into silence against rabid Jew hating, and it is more important that we are liked because we hold the “correct” opinions …than it is to say “Never Again”, we have lost our way.
When it is more important to ignore the hatred of Jewish existence, culture and statehood, than it is to embrace them, then we have lost our way.
When it is more important to be accepted by our liberal friends, than it is to be honorable about our country, our countrymen and our alliance with Israel, then we have lost our way.
When leftist ideology goes bad, when it leaves the path upon which we first so fervently believed in it…our choice is put before us. Is it more important to remain on a bad path so that people we know won’t condemn us, or is it more important to blaze a new path, so that years from now, looking back, …we will not condemn ourselves.
This is most interesting:
“Jesse Jackson: American Zionists Will Lose Clout Under Obama
More hope and change and anti-Zionism for America…
Considering all of Obama’s mentors and spiritual guides including Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Father Pfleger, Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, and most of the socialists in his background are virulent anti-Semites, this news today really comes as no surprise.”
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/10/jesse-jackson-american-zionists-will.html
Cfbleachers:
Your feelings and thoughts are shared by plenty of Leftists, but unfortunately, only a few gather courage to express them.
I would like to try and answer some questions posed here even if they are rhetorical.
“There is no logical explanation for why the mainstream media and the intelligentsia are so silent about anti-Israel racism.”
Actually there are several. As another poster beautifully stated, there is always a danger of fashion over content. Fashion is indeed a very powerful force.
But there are more reasons as well. For decades various groups have sought to create special status for themselves often for excellent reasons. But it really was a slippery slope. We moved from equal rights to special rights for groups based on race or even, as in the case of the Jews, on perception of race. This was still rational as Jews where widely discriminated against as if they where a race. So protection as such seemed necessary.
Two important shifts occurred, one which I already mentioned, from equal rights before the law to preferred status and rights at the expense of others. Affirmative action for example.
The second, the one which concerns me the most was the shift from defining a group based on a genetic tie that binds, one to which there is no choice and more importantly no other predictive quality other than gender or color to groups based on a tie that binds which is based on beliefs. In essence this means that a group can form, which is bent on the most abhorrent ideologies and get a pass from criticism or rightful prosecution and even persecution merely because it defines itself as a group, in the case of Islam, a religion. Somehow it became tantamount to racism to question or criticize it.
Typically I ask people where would Europe be now if Galileo had not ridiculed and published excellent works mocking the Medieval Catholic Church and its stance on scientific explanations of celestial mechanics? The irrational left is usually able to grasp that one.
In essence we created this problem by attempting to correct real and perceived historical injustices by sacrificing the most sacred core of liberal ideals. Free speech and true equality before the law and confusing the right to attack irrational authority be it religious or political with racial slander.
To attack Israel as a nation did not used to be the same as attacking Jews. But that distinction was blurred by the enemies of the jews looking for a rhetorical device to bring the question of the right of jews to exist in a manner that was acceptable to secular leftists. This worked extremely well.
It will not be an easy road back to reason. One could argue the Greeks never recovered from barbarian invasion.
Ms. Chester,
The answers to your closing questions are simple:
1. The media rely upon access. Publish unflattering stories about the sources, and voila, no access!
2. Surely you are acquainted with Threepenny Opera? The elites have always made excuses for people who should be hounded out of civil society.
The media and “intelligentsia” make common cause w/ totalitarians because the intelligentsia believe there is no Right or Wrong… only the pursuit and retention of Power. And, many of them are totalitarians in their desires, too. I should also note that they don’t want to upset the violent ones.
3. All that is required to connect the dots is a desire to do so.
A closing thought… be happy that many of the civil Republicans you encounter also are proficient at firearm usage. The effete snobs on the Upper West Side are not… though they may employ some folks who are.
We’re watching the slow take-over of American democracy and ideals by Islamic theology. By first taking over the Middle East studies departments in our universities, and promoting anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda, the Muslims, aided by ultra-liberal Americans, have invaded our country and are now openly and blatantly beginning to make their presence felt. The success of Barak Obama in his presidential pursuit has emboldened these anti-Americans. Should he win the election, and the Islamic take-over of America becomes more overt, people will ask, “How did it happen?” This is how it happened – by people ignoring obvious truths, and voices,like yours, Phyllis Chesler, being the voice of the prophet in the wilderness – usually maligned and ignored. History does repeat itself.
The intelligentsia are silent Phyllis because they are ignorant. Intelligentsia is an inaccurate description of these pundits, writers and media folk. You need to read Bernard Harrison’s “The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism” to get the answer to your question. Bernard is not a Jew but a philosopher who analyses the rhetoric of the so called intelligentsia who are members of the anti war alliance whilst at the same time supporters of the Palestinians – odd collection of left and right you might think. So don’t be amazed at the outcome of the Durban meeting or the pending UN resolution. The Intelligentsia are party to these stupidities. Vote McCain/Palin to ensure that Obama, another member of the “intelligentsia” you speak of, does not get to be President of the USA. If this happens there won’t only be jeering in the streets at protestors, protesting will be banned.
Tone it down a bit. People were threatened? Did they report these threats to the NYPD, who were all around? Did the wingnuts on your listserv notice the arts booths, the kids? Yes, let’s talk about the reality of Islam and the unnamed, secretive column of people within the community who have really bad intentions towards Americans and backwards ideas about their own people. But there’s no need to make stuff up and come off like you left your wide hood in the laundromat. It sounds like a hysterical screed, ala old timey writings against “Negroes.” I mean seriously — the word of a taxi driver? Give me a break. This is why people like me — truth seekers who are concerned about the impact of Islam on the United States and the West and who actually have real experience living in and traveling through Muslim countries — have a hard time getting behind people like you.
Mahattan Muslim Pride Day?
Is that Muslims asserting their Humility, then?
“Until our mosques dominate this place
We’ll demonstrate in the public space
No prayers in private – too sincere -
We’ll pray in public – it spreads more fear.
You Westerners must move aside
We’ll pray in the street and show Muslim pride
So you see us, and show the proper respect
Due to the petro-dollar-funded-elect.
Our public displays of pious unity
And demands for tolerance and ecumenity
Do not mean that we must tolerate you
Or the un-Islamic things that you do.
After you submit, we’ll tell you what’s right,
And who’s your friend and who you must fight
And how to keep honor – just lie and cover up
Until then, don’t make jokes about belts that blow up!”