When I first heard about President Obama’s remarks made in a mosque in Baltimore, I was mildly irritated that the president was giving the issue more weight than it deserved and that he’d been listening to CAIR too much. The reality, as reflected in the statistics on hate crimes compiled by the FBI, is that, although Islamophobia is a real problem, it’s not a particularly dire one and, indeed, hatred of Jews is a much more serious problem, an order of magnitude more serious problem. The Council on Islamic Relations seems to view every criticism of Muslims as Islamophobia. If the Jewish Anti Defamation League reacted the way CAIR does, there would be nothing on our news other than complaints about the way Jews are treated in the U. S.
However, on reflection I realized that President Obama’s remarks were benign if anodyne and they really did serve a valuable purpose. There is an actual problem. It’s not fear of Muslims as CAIR would have it but fear by Muslims and I thought the president’s remarks did a pretty good job of assuaging those. That won’t last long but what does?
Here’s another objective measurement demonstrating that Islamophobia isn’t much of a problem. Tally up the number of Muslims coming to the United States rather than leaving it. The balance sheet is enormously in our favor.
I suppose. I thought his effort was gratuitous, if benign. But to what end, and who had the tin ear to the history of surveillance? That’s ham fisted.
Rhetoric, absent action, can only do so much.
An interesting liberal Muslim critique: http://thefederalist.com/2016/02/04/no-obama-muslim-heroism-means-reforming-a-decrepit-faith/
I agree this is not primarily about defending American Muslims from attacks, which, on balance look rather pitiful and exaggerated. It’s about keeping American Muslims inside the tent pissing out, rather than the reverse. We’re straining to keep Muslims inside because they are the best source of intel on potential domestic terrorism. The amusing thing is that the event is a tacit admission that we have something to fear from the Muslim community, and that’s why the liberal Muslim critique linked above misses the mark a bit: we know we’re all fine with liberal Muslims. Obama went to the mosque to deliver the message that Muslims are welcome. . . so long as they keep the FBI on speed dial. And that’s not a message for liberal or moderate congregations, it’s a message for CAIR.
As Yogi Berra put it in theory there’s no difference between theory and practice but in practice there is. Theoretically, you’re right. I’ve read any number of (mostly anonymous) interviews with U. S. intelligence and law enforcement folks who say that we get next to no information from U. S. Muslims.
Are there any? I thought the only liberal Muslims were non-Muslims.