Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Monday, November 29, 2010

FEARING FEAR ITSELF AND HOW IT MAKES SOME PEOPLE PROPOSE UNHINGED SOLUTIONS




UPDATE I BELOW

UPDATE II BELOW

As most of us know, undercover FBI agents arrested a naturalized Somali teen who believed he was involved with like-minded terrorists to set off a bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. In fact, the FBI set the teen up and arrested him for his complicit actions in what he thought was a terrorist plot. He's been taken care of; no one was ever in danger, since the FBI set this up to ensnare those whom they believe would eagerly plot to do damage to America. Well done.



However, there are always those who, instead of congratulating FBI on their work in catching this potential killer, want law enforcement to break the laws, defile our Constitution, and act like outlaws themselves. How else to understand what was posted on a blog in reaction to the arrest of Mohamed Osman Mohamud.

"The parents of that little Somali bastard need to be deported. He needs to be put up against a wall and shot. The parents of Little Johnnie Jihad and Adam Gadahn should be banished as well. It makes me sick to my stomach that we call these people Americans. They are not Americans, they are a scabrous plague on the civilized world.


We put up with way too much in this country and it's time we stop before there is no more United States of America. Jihad against this country is treason and should be punished by death of the perp and deportation of the family.


We also need to stop all Muslim immigration. I know, the vast majority are good people, and it's a religion of peace, bla bla bla. President Bush told us so. The problem is, we're obviously incapable of sorting out the good from the bad. For the sake of our nation, we need to stop all Muslims at the border. All other civilized countries should do the same. There's trouble in Umma-Land, and only the followers of Muhammad can sort it out. Until then, we need to pull up the drawbridges and leave them to stew in their own fetid toilet."



Here's what really happened:

(CBS/AP) Last Updated 2:17 p.m. ET


"An Oregon student accused of attempting to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland was acting on his own initiative and not at the direction of any foreign terrorist organization, a law enforcement official said Saturday.


Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, hatched the plan on his own to use a cell phone to detonate what he believed was an explosive-filled van at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony Friday, according to the official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on a condition of anonymity.


The official said Mohamud was very committed to the plot and alone planned the details, including where to park the van for the maximum number of casualties.


Authorities say Mohamud sent bomb components to undercover FBI agents who he believed were assembling the explosive device, but the agents supplied a fake that Mohamud tried to detonate twice via his phone.

The public was never in danger, authorities said."

(For more details of this arrest and more information on how it impacted the Muslim community, go here for the NYTimes report.)


The blogger quoted above asserts that the only way to handle this crime is for the United States to take the teen out and shoot him--you know, like communist countries and dictatorships mete out punishment--and then throw his parents out of the country. (Funny, I don't remember any similar drastic punishment being suggested for Timothy McVeigh's parents after McVeigh's terrorist bombings, or even any such punishment suggested for the parents or relatives of recent individual terrorist actions by other natural born or naturalized American citizens.)

Of course the reaction of the blogger is knee-jerk and outrageous, an insult to people who value due process and other protections provided by the US Constitution--provided even to naturalized citizens.  How quickly the blogger leaped from wanting to shoot the arrested teen without affording him his rights under the Constitution to stopping all Muslims from immigrating to this country because some radical Muslims plot against us.  This blogger apparently has no faith in the intelligence and ability of America to deal with terrorist threats, and so the first reaction the blogger suggests is for America to become an outlaw nation when dealing with these threats, real or imagined.  And worse, to bar every Muslim, guilty or not, from ever entering this country--until when?  When there are no more terrorist threats?

Seriously.  The blogger expects the United States of America to punish all Muslims by refusing them entry into this country because a small percentage of them want to hurt us.

The ultimate irony is that the blogger who posted the above-mentioned item has, just below that post, one titled "Liberty."  I've read that this type of thinking is called cognitive dissonance, and I think that is what is in play with this particular blogger, since I think he believes in the US Constitution, and he actually wrote a blog post titled "Spying on Terrorists Works, Spying on American Citizens Doesn't."

In this case, spying on this particular American did work.  And I believe this country, although facing difficult and dangerous problems, will handle those problems by being true to that document so beloved by conservatives and libertarians--when it suits their purposes.

UPDATE:

I very often read on certain blogs that the Muslim community never speaks out on terrorist plots and attacks.  Of course, that is not true, certain people repeat that lie so as to feel comfortable in their prejudices against all Muslims.  Mohamud Osam Mohamud's family has this to say about the teen:


"Mohamud's mother and father and his two sisters have remained silent since his arrest. (The Oregonian identified the parents as Mariam and Osman Barre; they reportedly split up a few years ago.) However, a prominent member of the Somali community in Portland (estimated to number 8,000) says a relative played some role in helping to put the FBI on the young man's trail — though that relative was almost certainly unaware of the scale it would assume. "Before this happened, the father informed Homeland Security and the FBI that something was going on with his son," claims Isgow Mohamed, executive director of the Northwest Somali Community Organization, who says he knows Mohamud's family well and had been in touch with them. "This a good family. The father is an engineer at Intel. This is not somebody who is on public assistance. He is a family man, a businessman, a religious man, a soccer player."



Mohamed said emphatically that Mohamud's alleged plot should not be seen as representative of Somali Americans. "First of all, we're really sorry, we do not support terror," he tells TIME. "We came to live here and not bother anyone. We left a civil war." Mohamed says he believes that Mohamud was influenced by things on the Internet and that the Somali community in Portland will continue to do its part: "We are not going to hide them. We are also Americans."


This is the family that the hysterical, knee-jerk blogger quoted above wants to deport.  Apparently he believe the US government  should deport first and gather the facts about an innocent family later.  After all, these are just brown-skinned folks--why should they enjoy the same rights as "real" Americans--y'know the kind of Americans who would throw the Constitution out the window at the first sign of danger.

I believe the term is "pant-wetter"

THE ENTIRE STORY IS HERE.

UPDATE II:

"Following his [Mohamud Osman Mohamud] arrest, the mosque he attended — the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center — released a statement saying it was “outraged” by news of the alleged plot and condemned the Mohamud’s plans. “Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center and the entire Muslim Community of Corvallis are outraged by the news of a teenage individual being involved in a plot to bomb the tree lighting event in Portland, Oregon,” the statement said. “Such conduct does not in any way represent Islam or Muslims, rather it goes against it.”



Nevertheless, the day after the mosque released the statement unequivocally condemning terrorism, it fell victim to terrorism itself. On Sunday, an apparent arsonist set fire to the mosque, burning 80 percent of the Islamic center’s office before it was put out.


As Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) said at an event earlier this year sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, “about a third of all foiled al-Qaida-related plots in the U.S. relied on support or information provided by members of the Muslim community.” A recent MPAC report details numerous plots stopped thanks to the help of Muslim Americans, including the recent attempted car bombing of Times Square, which was foiled in part by the help of Senegalese Muslim immigrant Alioune Niass."


SOURCE

19 comments:

SPN Headlines said...

Hi Shaw!

Sarah Palin clarifies her position on Korea, telling SPN Headlines, "Did you know that Korea leads the world in people named Kim? And most of them are men! WTF!"

REVEALING story at:

http://spnheadlines.blogspot.com/2010/01/north-korea-threatens-war_30.html

Peace! :-)

Charlene said...

I like that video telling Sarah to go home.

The utter idiocy of people who want security and want liberty is amazing. I think it's American exceptionalism on rot gut whiskey.

Shaw Kenawe said...

IMHO, what is going on in that blogger's post is racism. I can't imagine that he would have proposed deportation and instant death say, to the mainly Scotch-Irish who terrorized African-Americans in the south for over a hundred years as a way of stopping those terrorist acts, which, incidentally stopped a mere 50 years ago.

That was "jihad" against this country by Americans on Americans.

Arthurstone said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arthurstone said...

Look on the bright side.

When the FBI creates the plot, recruits some unfortunate loser to execute it and then goes to the extra trouble of actually supplying the explosives then we no longer need worry about the ticking bomb and the damage to our prestige and honor that situation has created.

Rather than having to torture some alleged mastermind to spill the details of a conspiracy to murder countless thousands of Americans any involved FBI agent merely needs to check his/her Blackberry for details of the 'plot' needing foiling.

Voila!

A real win/win. The suspect avoids torture and our national image is improved as we can afford to be benevolent (if not particularly forgiving) to the suspect(s) and the rest of the world can see we're 'tough but fair'.

There are decided advantages to hatching our own plots.

dmarks said...

"I very often read on certain blogs that the Muslim community never speaks out on terrorist plots and attacks."

They do speak out. Unfortunately, the media tends to turn to CAIR, a terrorist front organization, for opinions on such things, instead of turning to the many real moderate Muslim organizations.

Shaw Kenawe said...

dmarks,

See UPDATE II, where it is stated that 1/3 of all foiled terrorist plots have been due to the cooperation of Muslim Americans.

I think we have to be fair and make sure this fact is out there.

The Muslims I know are horrified at the jihadists' hatred of America.

It is a lie that all Muslims want to destroy America. A filthy lie.

TAO said...

Tonight, three miles from my sister's home a high school student is holding 23 fellow classmates and one teacher hostage....

Had my sister bought a home on the other side of the road my nephew would have been in that school today...

If tomorrow we find out that this child is a muslim then of course we will call him/her a terrorist....

Chances are real slim in Northern Wisconsin of this happening....

If tomorrow we find out that this child is some troubled white youth then what will we call him/her?

Dave Miller said...

TAO, confused...

Shaw Kenawe said...

All students are safe. I just read a report on the internet. Thank goodness. I haven't read anything about who the stundent is.

Arthurstone said...

So what about the guy in Escondido?

http://m.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_0de39c05-5ddd-5eab-9221-824a3b3216a1.html

TAO said...

I think the kid in Portland is "confused..."

Starts college and then drops out the first semester and starts trying to contact terrorists...

Arthur, the guy in Escondido is a nutcase and a terrorist.

The kid in Marinette did end up shooting himself but he let everyone else go unharmed...

Pamela Zydel said...

Aren't these people, who are willing to "kill", at the minimum "disturbed"? I mean think about it...to actually think through, and then carry out, an entire "plan" to blow up people, or shoot multiple people, or cut them up and store them in a freezer, etc., way too many cases to list...yet we want to export MUSLIMS, because THEY are the ONLY BAD people in the WHOLE wide world!

Murder and mayhem has been going on since time began, but yeah, let's just take away the rights of CITIZENS and deport their butts because it will make us oh so much safer. Yep, and pat me up and down and all around because that'll make me safer at 35,000 feet, too.

I am an advocate of legal immigration, as many of you know, and I do think we should finish the fence on our border, but that isn’t going to fetter out the NON-Muslims who have been born and raised here who are just plain EVIL. Terrorism comes in different forms, not just bombs. There are serial killers, rapists and even those teens at Columbine. Had they not killed themselves, should we have deported them—and where to, they were born HERE! What about Jeffrey Dahmer? Wasn’t he a terrorist? Terrorism creates FEAR. Weren’t people AFRAID of being Dahmer’s next victim? We didn’t take away Dahmer’s citizenship or deport him; we put him on trial, convicted him and put him behind bars.

Fear is a huge motivator. It has many people willing to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Like giving up freedoms and liberties and it makes people forget our founding documents. I think we would all do well to remember “For Liberty and Justice for all”…not just some, not just when it strikes our fancy, and not just when we feel safe—but for ALL and at ALL times.

Leslie Parsley said...

This blogger sounds like a member of a patriot group, which - as we know - are made up of domestic terrorists. But I think he's a sick coward and the only way he can flex his muscles is by spewing hate. Hopefully he's on a government watch list.

Leslie Parsley said...

btw, thanks for the h/t. I think the more SP talks the more she shoots herself in the foot and begs for redicule, the final result being - hopefully - that even the dumbest amongst her fans will realie what a fool she is.

Murr Brewster said...

Hmmm. Yet a certain amount of selective deportation does have an appeal. I, of course, shall be the arbiter. You'll like it.

A good example of the Muslims who do speak out on terrorism is the group proposing the mosque in NYC. Being the good guys doesn't seem to be getting them anywhere.

We're not the home of the brave.

Shaw Kenawe said...

I neglected to welcome a new visitor, SPN Headlines, the other day. Thanks for stopping by and introducing us to the very clever website. I'll be visiting it often, as I will the one hosted by Murr Brewster.

MB, I just had to refudiate a blogger who posted on the Portland incident but who believes only two Muslims spoke out against it, therefore, he concludes that a majority of Muslims support terrorism.

dmarks said...

"A good example of the Muslims who do speak out on terrorism is the group proposing the mosque in NYC. Being the good guys doesn't seem to be getting them anywhere."

They aren't that good when they proposed the name "Cordoba" for it, symbolic of a period of the worst Muslim aggression and brutal occupation of the non-Muslim world.

Still, that's no reason to ban the mosque.

Anonymous said...

Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!.