Stupid Meets Stupid

The new year is barely 2 days old I am already indulging in name-calling. Sadly, I don't think I can do justice to my thoughts without stooping low, so please be advised: the word s-t-u-p-i-d features frequently in this post so it's not for the faint-hearted and reader discretion is advised.

On no less than the MAIN page of CNN.com this morning, its top news reports that a family of 9 Muslims was not allowed to fly because some passengers grew concerned over the subject of their conversation as they boarded the flight. There are a lot of little details to the story and you can read it on your favorite news site but I can't help but wonder: you are a muslim, (here I am assuming) an outwardly visible muslim, and in a post-911 America you have just boarded a plane and you are talking so loud that other passengers can hear you (mommy never taught you to keep it down?), and your conversation is about which seat on the plane ("whether the one near the wing") is the safest? Is there a word other than STUPID to describe you?

People around the world joke that the American public is stupid. Well, I don't know that the average American is any more stupid than the average human anywhere else in the world. So when Americans are alarmed by such conversations and report it to flight attendants who call the FBI, it sounds like a case of definitely-stupid meets possibly-stupid? Better stupid calling authorities than sorry - we've been burned before!

I was once traveling in a Muslim country where an official asked me for a petty bribe. When I (in my young, naive and idealistic phase) protested stating he should be ashamed for asking me for a bribe, he smiled and whispered "you self-righteous ba*****, I will lock you up in a jail somewhere and no one will ever know where you are."

In the case of our Muslim family, they had a cordial interview with the FBI which quickly determined that this was all a misunderstanding, and the airline issued full refunds and asked them to go home or take another flight. Will you please show appreciation for a civilized society and tip your kufi/hat/scarf to the US of A? This family is still upset that the airline declined to let them fly on that very flight. Can you be stupid twice in the same week? And then draw attention to your stupidity by going to the national media? And can you be thankless and stupid both at once? You can tell I am annoyed!

Earlier this week I was at Gravely Point, a park north of Washington DC's Reagan National airport from where you can witness breathtaking airplane landings from an amazingly close proximity to the runway. I was alarmed when I saw a Muslim family - hijab, arabic conversations - whose three children were playing with plastic toy guns. I have been there a dozen times, people bring their children to play there...I had never before seen kids playing with toy guns. Let me repeat a line from this blog: you are a muslim, an outwardly visible muslim at that, in a post-911 America near an airport viewing plane landings, and your children are running around pointing toy guns at those planes? Is there a word other than STUPID to describe you? One may ask what is wrong with children playing with toy guns, it's our right...true, but do we have to be so obtuse in the way we seek our rights ignoring the context of the world we live in? If someone gave me a dollar for every time I saw outwardly visible Muslims whose children-in-tow were playing with guns, I would be rich.

Do we have to so overwhelmingly embrace our right in America to be stupid?

I am afraid CAIR and other muslim civil rights organizations might take this case and demand "justice." I urge them not to do so. If we cry wolf at the world's reaction to every stupidity by a Muslim, I am afraid the effectiveness and reputations of our civil rights organizations will be compromised and the numerous cases involving genuine civil rights concerns and abuses will suffer.

As part of "tawasau bil haqq wa tawasau bissabr"(Qur'anic injunction to advise each other to do the right thing and persevere against adversity), and shedding my deplorable sarcastic tone, I wish to say this: We have all done stupid things, we all have bad days. Yours truly is seriously and frequently guilty of it too. But no need to get mad at others when we make a mistake. Our Muslim family from DC area should just move on - it wasn't their shiniest moment but I don't think anyone else has any blame in any of this. And thank God that the FBI and the airline were cordial and respectful to them. To my non-Muslim American/world family-at-large, let's keep those ears and eyes open and err on side of caution when we see someone who could be a terrorist. However, nothing wrong with using a little bit of judgement instead of being, err, obtuse about the way we report these things!

THE BIGOT STREET JOURNAL

The passion with which The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) embraces the most bigoted positions is both alarming and sad. I have concluded that as far as opinions and editorials go, this newspaper is to the world of American journalism what Dick Cheney has been to America's political leadership (ideology-driven, what others say never matters, never admit any mistakes, offense is the best defense, decency is over-rated). Well, I wish it had kept its bigotry only to its editorial content, it goes further and taints its news, what it reports and how, with a fierce ideology.

In recent days, nearly every report on the scandal surrounding Illinois' governor Blagojevich has focused on somehow connecting President-elect Obama and his team with it. The MAIN headline on its online edition in the past 24 hours has been "Obama, Two Aides Questioned in Probe." Choosing to lead with such headlines and trying to make this about the President-elect than the governor of the Prairie State, requires some effort, possibly an agenda?

If WSJ were a publication in Russia, it would certainly hail Putin as the great guardian of the great nation and regard every opposition leader as a traitor. Ideology and tribal affiliations seem to mean more than any effort at trying to embrace a balanced view point and looking at all sides of any story.

I base this on the way the editorials and op-ed selections have glorified Sarah Palin, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, etc. Apparently, one of its op-ed writers still hasn't received the memo that the election is over, and proclaimed concerning Sarah Palin: "I know Maggie Thatcher. The two women have a lot in common." If you don't like Maggie Thatcher, there's one sure way to diss her. The heading of the same article was "Conservative Snobs Are Wrong About Palin." Wow, reads more like Rush Limbaugh's monologue transcript than the heading of an op-ed in one of the world's most prestigious daily newspapers.

The editorial yesterday called for President Bush to issue a full pardon to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney. Mind you, within hours of being found guilty and sentenced to jail, President Bush rushed to commute Scooter's jail sentence. Anyone else would have been jumping in joy, clapping their hands and sending thank you notes... but the bigots at WSJ call this "a half-measure" and "a chilly arms length" treatment. And the audacity of their bigotry - they then go on to say "Many in (the Bush) Administration failed to behave honorably, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell..." Cheap attempt at obfuscation. Drawing from a famous exchange in American history, one may ask the WSJ editorial team, "have you no sense of decency, folks?" And what will they ask next - Scooter be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

Even the choice of books they review propagates bigotry and a monolithic view of the world. In their review of a book called The Blind Spot, they highlight the work of two authors who believe that any attempt to explain acts of terrorism by Muslims as a result of "oppression, economics, freedom and progress" is "stunningly naive" because such acts are solely the product of Islam's "fundamental religious dimension."

It is sad when news organizations become mouthpieces of any ideology. Fox News, MSNBC and WSJ do not serve the American people or American democracy well in their ideological slant. In so many ways these organizations are parochial and medieval, the difference is they have money and power today with which they cover it up. Shame on them and their sad agendas.

Their approach has a marked impact on the sort of nation we become. I have occassionally peeked at the "discussion" section most newspapers have started where online readers can leave comments. How is it that only the most bigoted and extreme people seem to participate in these? The passions, the bigotry, the downright hate that people spew on these forums - it's stunning. How come no one there sounds like my neighbors and co-workers? Slanted media serves the extremist appetite in our nation and that appetite grows as it consumes more of the "red meat." History shows us, that is not a good path for any nation.