Dear Friends and Patriots,

Steve

27 Jan. 2017

Continuing on with my thoughts on political correctness, I want to address the issues of Muslims. Yes, there are a lot of issues there to discuss, and if we’re to stop being PC, we need to figure out which issues are real and which are not.

The hottest topic of the day regards Muslim refugees. You all should know the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees has allocated refugees from the Middle East war zones to the United States. As a signatory nation, we somehow are obliged to agree and accept that allocation. You know the High Commissioner is himself a Muslim, don’t you? Yes, he’s a Jordanian Muslim. He’s allocated hundreds of thousands of refugees to UN member nations, yet he allocates none to Saudi Arabia or any other Arabian Gulf state. They refuse them based on their concerns for internal security. Do you see several problems at once with all that? If not, you certainly should.

Yesterday the Trump administration announced it was unilaterally halving our UN mandated 100,000 refugee allocation and was going to do “extreme” vetting of all refugees that may come our way from seven nations – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, and Syria. Trump’s Executive Order refers to them as “Countries of Particular Concern”. They also announced a temporary halt to accepting any refugees from Syria. Please note, the term used in the announcement, and indeed the actual case is refugees; not Muslim refugees. Regardless of the media propaganda, there is no ban on Muslims per se’, but there are going to be serious measures taken to assure our citizens anyone coming from areas where there are active Al Qaeda, ISIS, or other Islamic extremist group operations will be heavily scrutinized. It just happens that most of the refugees will be Muslims. What else would anyone expect? The PC Police are calling it a ban on Muslims, and declaring it religious discrimination and xenophobic. Are we tired of all that yet?

Muslim refugees present a true problem. It’s one we’ve faced before, but not in recent times. The essential question is: How does one tell a “good” Muslim from a “bad” Muslim? We might be able to define “good” Muslims as those who are not averse to western culture and can accommodate themselves to American social structures and behavioral norms without feeling compelled to declare all of it an abomination. In other words, “good” Muslims are those who can come to our country and live in peace and harmony with their American neighbors. Conversely, a “bad” Muslim might be one who has radical Islamist beliefs; who holds all non-Muslims to be infidels. Yes, we might define a “bad” Muslim that way, but we might want to include any Muslim who wants to live under Sharia Law instead of the US Constitution and our Common Law legal system. We’d certainly define any refugee who wishes the destruction of the government of the United States as “bad.” We might want to define a “bad” Muslim as one who refuses to accommodate (not accept or exhibit, mind you) all western values, regardless of what they may be. Then, again, aren’t a few of our values somewhat worthy of condemnation? This is where we all need to be very careful. But, the intent to keep out the “bad” and only allow the “good” seems to make sense.

It’s true there have been Muslims in America since colonial times. Yes, they’ve always been among us. They don’t number among the significant founders of our land, and haven’t contributed much to our social fabric that anyone notes. But, they’ve been here, and in all those many years we’ve had precious few incidents where the fact they were Muslim has presented any significant problem at all. Then again, there was that Al Rukn Temple bunch in Chicago.

The Al Rukns were nothing but a gang of criminals who had converted to Islam while incarcerated, then banded together under the guise of a religious organization to commit murder, mayhem and a plethora of drug-related crimes. Those Muslims weren’t good Muslims.

Meanwhile, there are times when I question why the Nation of Islam is allowed to operate openly in our land. Louis Farrakhan certainly does preach hate and divisiveness to his membership. He constantly refers to white people as “devils” and Jews as “unclean animals” and often calls for the destruction of both. Somehow, though, he never seems to be charged under any hate crime statute at all. Is there something about Chicago that attracts religious extremists? I’m reminded that Jeremiah Wright, once a follower of Farrakhan, had his church there, preaching radical black liberation theology.

I’m always confused on the subject of hate. It seems hate is bad when practiced by some groups, but not when practiced by others. After all, the Al Rukns, the Nation of Islam, and Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ all wallowed in invective directed toward the white majority and Jews in our land, yet faced no sanctions for it.

There are many questions regarding Muslims in America that merit answers. Why does Egypt consider the Muslim Brotherhood to be an illicit terrorist organization and the United States does not? Why do we allow Muslim Brotherhood affiliated organizations to freely operate in our country when our government has documented proof of their criminal networks and their material support of overseas terrorist organizations? Why are Muslim Brotherhood members allowed to work in our nation’s government, join and serve in our military services, and acquire security clearances? Why does the media appear to dote on Muslim Brotherhood members and allow them to speak on national issues as if they are the voices of reason from the Muslim community? Why does our government allow Muslim training camps to operate in the hinterlands of our nation, training future jihadis in the arts of war? Yes, there are many questions that need to be answered, and once answered, acted upon.

I am not one who believes all Muslims are “bad.” Nor, do I believe we should ever ban a person from emigration or citizenship for their religious beliefs, unless that belief includes a political expression that is contrary to the interests of our country. I know Muslims who’ve never had a problem living in our country. I’m confident most Muslims among us mean us no harm and only want peace from us in return. But, there is still a question that I cannot answer. It’s a question that’s central to the entire issue of political correctness with regard to Muslims. How does one ever tell a “good” Muslim from a “bad” one? Until we know how, what are we to think and do?

One thing we cannot do is be afraid of the questions. We cannot allow political correctness to deter us from ensuring the safety and security of the nation. Hesitation in questioning kills. Those who lost their lives in the San Bernardino terrorist attack last year might be alive today if neighbors who knew something very odd was going on with the attackers in preceding days had acted instead of allowing political correctness to stop them from alerting their police. No harm comes from observing and questioning. It’s far better than risking the death of innocents.

Here’s where I am on the problem of Muslims in America: I am filled with mistrust. I won’t trust my government until it purges Muslim Brotherhood members from within. I don’t trust the Muslims I see around town, because I have no idea where they came from or why they’re here. I don’t fully trust most of the Muslims I know because I have no way of knowing what their true nature is. I can’t look at them and tell. They look like everyone else. I can’t listen to them and tell. They utter nothing I perceive as threats. I can infer from their actions, but are those definitive? No, they aren’t. So, I don’t invest a lot of trust, but there is one thing I unfailingly do. I treat my Muslim friends, co-workers, and acquaintances with respect and friendliness. I treat them as I do anyone else in my life. I understand there is a risk there, but I consider it as the same level of risk that my next door neighbor might one day go crazy, mistake me for a threat and shoot me. Life always has risks. There’s no avoiding all of them. You owe it to yourselves to avoid as many as you can. Each of us has to make up our own mind regarding the reality of Muslims in America. Our government is always supposed to take measures to ensure our safety and security. Meanwhile, we need to do the same, regardless of what it takes.

There are two things about this issue that I believe are of paramount importance. One is the role of the United Nations and the notion that it can impose conditions on our country that negatively affect our government’s ability to ensure our safety. Does that seem rational? The other is the notion that it’s somehow wrong to exclude anyone who wants to come to America. Does that seem rational?

Let’s get rational, my friends. Let’s push our legislators toward a position that ensures the safety and security of all citizens. I suspect our “good” Muslim friends and neighbors will approve. They don’t want the “bad” Muslims among them any more than we do.