I hate to besmirch ignorance

A really long response to a hateful email about Obama and Muslims

By Irene, Sunday, July 8, 2012

So, I got this email from my uncle. It’s one of those hateful chain mails that you usually just glance at and delete. Normally, I don’t respond to this sort of bullshit, but I just felt the need this time. I couldn’t ignore the mass amounts of misinformation and ignorance in it and just had to respond.

It started out with a bunch of moronic questions that just screams, “I don’t know anything about Muslims, but I’m going to hate them anyway.”  I’m going to answer each one of them.

Have you ever been to a Muslim hospital ?

Yes, I have.  Unlike Catholic hospitals that I have been to, they did not require me to adhere to any stupid religious crap in order to get treatment.  Not all Catholic hospitals are like this, just the ones I have been in.

Have you heard a Muslim orchestra?

Yes, I have.  The Muslim Symphony Orchestra from Saudi Arabia is quite good.  There is also the Palestinian National Orchestra, Tehran Symphony Orchestra, and Sri Lanka has one too, but I forgot what it’s called.

Have you seen a Muslim band march in a parade?

No, but every Christian band I’ve seen march in a parade is usually attached to some white power hate group.  I have, however, personally marched in bands with Muslims, Jews, and Hindus.

Have you witnessed a Muslim charity?

Yes, they give out the same sorts of things that other charities give out.

Have you seen Muslims, shaken hands with a Muslim Girl Scouts?

I have seen many Muslims.  I don’t know what rock you live under, but not only do I see them, *gasp* I’m friends with them too.  Yes, I have shaken hands with Muslim Girl Scouts.  I bought some from one this past year, which reminds me, I’ve got a few boxes still in the freezer.  Your problem seems to be that Muslims do not somehow have a little badge that says they’re Muslim so you assume that neither I, nor yourself, have seen one.

Have you  seen a Muslim Candy Striper?

When is the last time you saw a candy striper?  Seriously.  No one has seen a candy striper of any kind in at least 35 years.  If you mean a hospital volunteer, then yes, I’ve seen Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist, etc. versions of volunteers at hospitals often.

Have your seen a Muslim do anything that contributes positively to the American way of life ????

Yes, again.  I have.  Do you know who Keith Ellison is?  He’s a Congressman.  Maybe you should pay attention a little better to politics and you might know who’s actually in Congress.  I’m sure that now you know that Rep. Ellison is Muslim you’re going to freak out and start screaming the sky is falling.  Don’t forget he’s Black too.  You don’t want no uppity Black man showing you up do you?

You will also find millions of Muslims in all fields of America from politics to art to history to science to education.  Take your bigoted glasses off for a second and do some actual research on your own and you’ll find many examples.  Here are a few:

The Sears Tower and The Hancock Tower’s structural designer was Fazlur Rahman Khan.  He is considered to be the Einstein of Structural Engineering, regarded as the father of tubular design for high-rises, and changed the fundamental design of skyscrapers in the second half of the 20th century.

Ayub Ommaya invented the Ommaya reservoir.  This was the first subcutaneous reservoir that allowed for repeated intrathecal injections.  He pioneered spinal angiography.  He has made several other significant contributions to the field of traumatic brain injuries.  He helped form the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.  He also invented the first spinal fluid driven artificial organ.  He’s done so much for modern medicine that I can’t really sum it all up here.  It would fill a book.

Farah Pandith is the first ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the United States.  It is her job to teach Muslims in America and other countries that not all Americans hate Muslims.  Thanks to idiotic emails such as these, her job is that much harder.

Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad is an American counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  He was the US Ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush.  He’s been involved with various policy makers at the White House, State Department, and the Pentagon for the last 25 years.  He was also the highest ranking Muslim American in Bush’s administration.

Elias A. Zerhouni is a world renowned leader in radiology and medical research.  He was appointed in 2002 by Bush to be the director of the National Institutes of Health.  Go read for yourself the things he did just at that post.  You can start with “The Roadmap for Medical Research.”

There are so many examples that it’s commonplace for a Muslim to have contributed for the betterment of America.  Although your question suggests otherwise, it merely displays your own ignorance on the topic.

After this series of questions, a quote from President Obama was pasted under it. It came on a red background that was so bright red, you automatically think you need to pay attention to it.  It was centered with a few words on each line.  I’ve tightened up the lines for easier reading.  It has been making the rounds for some time now. It’s tiresome, tedious, and mostly just wrong. Here’s my breakdown of the email. You can see another response at Media Matters as well.

Barack Obama, during his Cairo speech, said: “I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America’s history.”

AN AMERICAN CITIZEN’S RESPONSE:

Dear Mr. Obama:

Were those Muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed? Funny, I thought they were Native American Indians.

Actually, Muslims were here before the Pilgrims. Estevanico arrived in America in 1527. The Pilgrims didn’t arrive until 1620. Unfortunately, he was forced to convert to Catholicism because he was a slave and would have been killed otherwise.

Were those Muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving day? Sorry again, those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.

There were no Jews, Catholics, Mormons, Hindus, or Buddhists at the first Thanksgiving. I guess none of them have been part of American History either.

Can you show me one Muslim signature on the United States Constitution? Declaration of Independence? Bill of  Rights? Didn’t think so.

Can you show me a Native American, Jew, Catholic, Mormon, Hindu, or Buddhist who signed it? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Maybe it’s because most of the Muslims at that time who were in America were slaves. Are these people not considered part of the American story because they didn’t sign a piece of paper?

Also, the Bill of Rights is part of the Constitution. It’s not a separate document. My 8th grade students learn this; why haven’t you?

Did Muslims fight for this country’s freedom from England ? No.

Salem Poor, Yusuf Ben Ali, Bampett Muhamed, Francis Saba, and Joseph Saba fought in the Revolutionary War. You also didn’t ask, but Bilali (Ben Ali) Muhammad was an Imam for a slave community. He fought with eighty other Muslim slaves to save his owner’s plantation on Sapelo Island, Georgia during the War of 1812.

Did Muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America ? No, they did not.

Yes, they did too. Many of these Muslims were slaves. One example is Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori. He was eventually freed after the Sultan of Morocco pleaded for his release.

If you want to learn more about Muslim history in the United States, this Wikipedia entry is a great jumping off point.

In fact, Muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery.. Your own half-brother, a devout Muslim, still advocates slavery himself, even though Muslims of Arabic descent refer to black Muslims as “pug nosed slaves.” Says a lot of what the Muslim world really thinks of your family’s “rich Islamic heritage,” doesn’t it Mr. Obama?

Why, just this week, that great republican, Ted Nugent, proclaimed that it would have been better if the South had won the Civil War. I’m sure all the Black Muslims and African Americans were happy to hear about this. Human trafficking in slaves continued in White America until the Civil War. After that, the South made sure to make up bullshit laws to put Blacks in prison and force them to do slave labor while in prison. Even Teddy Roosevelt didn’t stop it. Go watch the excellent documentary, Slavery by Another Name, on PBS. Whites continue to advocate slavery even today. Just ask Pat Robertson.  You can’t just say that only Muslims participate in slavery when Whites are doing it too.

While you claim that Muslims are the largest traffickers in human slavery, you provide no facts to back up your statement, nor any validation for your statement. Some scholars criticize human trafficking data because it is hard to measure and quantify.

The criticism touches upon three main themes: 1) statistics and data on human trafficking; 2) the concept itself; 3) the anti-trafficking measures.

In 2010, Hawaii became home to the largest human trafficking case in US History. The business owner behind the human trafficking is also a major GOP donator.

Several countries rank high as source countries for human trafficking, including Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, China, Thailand, and Nigeria.

Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey, and the U.S. are ranked very high as destination countries of trafficked victims.

Most human trafficking in the United States occurs in New York, California, and Florida.

These countries are not high on the list of Muslim countries, yet they rank near the top.

The fact is, human trafficking is a complex problem for the entire world. It crosses borders, ethnicities, and religions. Relegating blame to one religion denies the fact that there are millions of people being trafficked that have nothing to do with religion. Stopping disgusting, horrible, human traders is what needs to be done, not singling out one group for all the blame.

Where were Muslims during the Civil Rights era of this country? Not present.

Really? You really want to go down this road?

There are no pictures or media accounts of Muslims walking side by side with Martin Luther King, Jr. or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights.

Have you not heard of Muhammad Ali? He was more than a boxer, you know?

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.

Oh, who’s this guy?

Yeah, that’s right. It’s Malcolm X. Yeah, if you don’t read his autobiography or study his life, you don’t know that, even though he was a controversial figure, he was for Civil Rights.

I could ask you, where were all the White folks during the Civil Rights Movement? You’d reply, “But, But…” That’s because it’s not an easy answer. Given the fact that many in the South still hated Blacks after the Civil War and fought with various Jim Crow laws and trumped up charges with long prison terms of forced slavery, no one really started to look at Blacks as equals until the Civil Rights Movement.

Where were Muslims during this country’s Woman’s Suffrage era? Again, not present.

Again, do you people not do any of your own fact-checking? A quick google search will answer most of your questions.

In fact, devout Muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the Islamic culture.

If you actually read and follow your Christian bible, it says the same thing. I see it happen all the time. It just doesn’t make the news in the United States unless you’re a psychopath like Warren Jeffs or a crackpot like Pat Robertson. If you’re a run of the mill Christian and you actually follow your religion, then you think this way as well. Think I’m lying? I invite you to come visit me and head to some of the churches in town.  They all love to talk about how women are subservient to men.

So much so, that often they are beaten for not wearing the ‘hajib’ or for talking to a man who is not a direct family member or their husband. Yep, the Muslims are all for women’s rights, aren’t they?

Same goes for Christian men. There are entire sects of Christianity that force women to dress a certain way. There are evangelical Christians in my town that force women to wear dresses only and shirts that have long sleeves. The only thing missing is a head covering, or hijab. Many Christian women are also afraid to do anything when they are beaten for whatever stupid ass reason their men give them. It could be because they don’t dress right, talk right, or just didn’t make dinner right. Abusers come in all shapes, sizes, and religions. Their religious texts justify their behavior, making women inferior and as near property. Saying it’s just Muslims is ignorance of the world around you.

Where were Muslims during World War II?

Right there fighting with the rest of them.

The majority of Allied troops that landed on the beaches of Provence in August, 1944 were “Free French” Muslims from North and West Africa. Thousands of Moroccan and Indian Muslim troops voluntarily served in the liberation of Italy. They risked and gave their lives along with Polish freedom fighters and American GIs at Monte Cassino. Tens of thousands more Soviet Muslim troops bravely served at hellish Stalingrad and Leningrad. All of us should honor and be thankful for their sacrifice in helping end the scourge of Nazism.

Trust me. It’s not that hard to do a little bit of fact checking.

They were aligned with Adolf Hitler. The Muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed the troops and accepted support from the Nazi’s in killing Jews.

Oh, we’re going down that road, are we? The Pope aligned himself with Hitler too. There’s a reason why he’s called Hitler’s Pope. Many Christians were Nazis. There were scumbags all over the world who supported Hitler and eliminating the Jews. The Americans also put Japanese Americans in camps. See? We were assholes too.

Finally, Mr. Obama, where were Muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001?

Several of them were dying in the World Trade Center.

among the many victims of 9/11 were several dozen innocent Muslims, ranging in age from their late 60s to a couple’s unborn child. Six of these victims were Muslim women, including one who was 7 months pregnant. Many were stockbrokers or restaurant workers, earning a living to care for their families. There were converts and immigrants, hailing from over a dozen different countries and the U.S. There were heroes: a NYPD cadet and a Marriott hotel worker, who sacrificed their lives attempting to rescue others. The Muslim victims were parents to over 30 children, who were left orphaned without one or both of their parents.

Fuck you for trying to cheapen their deaths.

If they weren’t flying planes into the World Trade Center , the Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people on our own soil, they were rejoicing in the Middle East . No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the Muslim world celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other cable news networks that day.

Yes, there were some who rejoiced. How many of you rejoiced when Saddam Hussein was executed or Osama bin Laden was murdered? Hatred and ignorance runs deep and knows no religious or political boundary.

Strangely, the very “moderate” Muslims who’s asses you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo , Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post 9-11. To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day.

You mean this silence?

On September 12 2001–one day after the attacks on New York and Washington–Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appeared on Egypt’s state television with his cabinet to condemn the attacks on America and all forms of terrorism. Mubarak also conveyed his condolences to President George W. Bush and the American people.

Two days later, Mohammed Sayyed al-Tantawi, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Islam’s most important seat of learning, also publicly denounced the attack. Tantawi said, “attacking innocent people is not courageous … and will be punished on the day of judgment.”

A few days later, on September 17, high-ranking government officials, including Prime Minister Atef Obeid and a number of other ministers, as well as the President’s son Gamal Mubarak, visited the American Embassy in Cairo personally, paying their condolences to the US Ambassador and signing the official book of condolences. Official Cairo unequivocally denounced the attacks on America. The reaction from the Egyptian public, however, was much more complex.

If that’s stone cold silence, I’ll take it.

And THAT, Mr. Obama, is the “rich heritage” Muslims have here in America ..

Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention the Barbary Pirates. They were Muslims.

Yes, because the Barbary Pirates were so much worse than those nice Christian folk who were living in the South with their slaves. Yeah, not pot calling any kettle black here. Fuck, you people infuriate me.

And now we can add November 5, 2009 – the slaughter of American soldiers at Fort Hood by a Muslim major who is a doctor and a psychiatrist who was supposed to be counseling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan ..

Oh, goodie. Can we add Tim McVeigh to this list too? That nice Christian boy who blew up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City? How about all those nice Americans who supported the IRA? Can we add them to this list as well. What about those troubled young men from Columbine?  Surely, they represent all teenagers.  How about Eric Rudolph or Ted Kaczynski? See, I can cherry pick with the best of them.

That, Mr. Obama is the “Muslim heritage” in America

EVERY AMERICAN MUST READ THIS !!

Yes, every American should read this version. The one I just made. That way people might actually stop and think before they start spewing forth hatred.

Be sure to SEND IT TO ALL .

Yeah, I’m not sending it to anyone because it’s full of such bullshit and lies.

Muslim Heritage, my ass. And if you don’t share you this message, you are part of the problem!

No, you are part of the problem for claiming this ignorant rant is anywhere near the truth.

Now, please, take your hateful, bigoted, uninformed, chain mails elsewhere.  If you can’t bother to check facts before you spread your hate, then don’t bother sending it to me.  I have more important things to do with my life than read the constant barrage of hate towards Muslims on a daily basis.

For those of you who took the time to read this, thanks.  Remember, it’s important to fact check and understand everything you read.  Don’t take my word for it. Even I can be wrong. This planet has more than its share of problems and hating on entire groups of people for what a few do is one of the most idiotic ways to spend your time.  Use that time instead to make the world a better place instead of hating on everyone.

http://www.rantingnewyorker.com/index.php/2012/07/08/a-really-long-response-to-a-hateful-email-about-obama-and-muslims/ or http://bit.ly/1vcIFTn