The Myth of the Anti-Muslim Backlash

Raamsade · December 25, 2009

This article essentially encapsulates everything I want to say, so I won't say much. I'll only add that Islamic apologists have once again been caught with their pants down.

From 9/11 to Fort Hood massacre, we've heard nothing but ominous warnings of anti-Muslim backlash from bigoted and Islamophobic Westerners. We've been told to expect concentration camps, mosque burning and beheading of Muslims, forced expulsions ect... but if the evidence on hate crime is anything to go by, hate crimes against Muslims is on the decline. Muslim groups are unperturbed by this and continue to insist on mythical anti-Muslim backlash ala anti-Danish backlash during Mohammed cartoons episode.

It is only fair after some 8 years and a litany of quite hysterical claims, to ask of Islamic apologists: where is the anti-Muslim backlash you've been warning us about?

Hysteria hasn't swept the country since the Ft. Hood terrorist attack.

by Gary Bauer

Backlash: a strong or violent reaction, as to some social or political change.

It has been more than a month since U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly murdered 14 people and wounded 30 others at Fort Hood military base in Texas. And while we were led to believe that the rampage by Hasan, who is Muslim, would provoke a strong and violent reaction against Arab and Muslim Americans, a backlash has been conspicuous only by its absence.

In fact, in the immediate aftermath of each of the dozen attacks by Muslim Americans since 9-11, the conversation has been dominated by predictions of inevitable violence toward Muslims by bigoted Americans unable to control their rage. And each time a backlash has been virtually nonexistent. Our journalistic and political elites have become terrorism's unwitting domestic enablers, perceiving religion-based violence where there is none, while ignoring it where it is widespread and intensifying.

After Hasan's terrorist attack, an Associated Press headline read, "Another attack leaves U.S. Muslims fearing backlash." A Christian Science Monitor story was titled, "Fort Hood Shootings: US Muslims feel new heat."

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared: "We object to, and do not believe, that anti-Muslim sentiment should emanate from this." And U.S. Army Chief of Staff George Casey said, "I'm concerned that this increased speculation [about Hasan's motives] could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers. And I've asked our Army leaders to be on the lookout for that. ... as horrific as this tragedy was, if

our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse."

But the data show that America's more than two million Muslims have little to fear from their fellow citizens. According to crime statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the number of hate crimes against Muslim Americans increased in the immediate aftermath of 9-11. But it declined precipitously after that, and has remained low ever since.

Of 6,832 religion-based hate crimes reported between 2002 and 2006, 4,627, or 68 percent, were committed not against Muslims but against Jews, while 744, or 11 percent, were committed against Muslims. In 2007 there were 1,477 reported offenses motivated by religious bias. Again, 68 percent were committed against Jews, and only 9 percent against Muslims. Reported hate crimes against Catholics and Protestants accounted for 8.4 percent.

And recently-released FBI statistics for 2008 show that 65.7 percent of religion-motivated hate crimes were anti-Jewish, 8.4 percent anti-Christian and 7.7 percent anti-Islamic. That means there were 1,013 cases of hate crimes motivated by anti-Semitism in 2008, the highest number of hate crimes against Jews reported since 2001. There were just 105 reported cases of anti-Islamic hate crimes.

Don't believe the FBI's statistics? Data compiled by Muslim lobby groups paint a similar picture. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Research Institute's 2003-2007 Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Arab Americans found "The rate of violent hate crimes against Arab Americans continued to decline from the immediate post 9-11 surge, to a level somewhat but not dramatically increased over that seen in the five years leading up to the 2001 attacks." A 2008 survey by Human Rights First called Violence Against Muslims found only two assaults based on anti-Muslim sentiment in 2007 and 2008, no incidents under "violent backlash to terrorist and other attacks" and just one incident under "attacks on places of worship and cemeteries."

Almost all of the "backlash" against Muslims following acts of Islamic domestic terrorism has consisted of acerbic blog posts, tightened restrictions at mosques and enhanced airport security.

In the more than a month since the Fort Hood massacre, the only religion-based crime I could find was committed by a young Muslim in California at a mall kiosk. He tore a crucifix from shopper's neck and shouted anti-Christian slurs and "Allah is power."

While reports of attacks against Muslim Americans remain low, it is worrisome that attacks by homegrown Jihadists have increased. Since 9-11, at least 60 Muslim Americans linked to jihadist groups have been convicted of terrorism and national security charges against American residents. As Sec. Napolitano said in a recent speech:

"We've seen an increased number of arrests here in the U.S. of individuals suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, or supporting terror groups abroad such as Al Qaeda. Home-based terrorism is here. And, like violent extremism abroad, it will be part of the threat picture that we must now confront."

The Los Angeles Times recently reported:

"[FBI] investigations have run across Americans suspected of being operatives of Al Qaeda and its allies who were trained overseas and, in several cases, allegedly conspired with top terrorism bosses. They include a convert from Long Island, N.Y, who was captured in Pakistan late last year; a Chicago businessman accused of scouting foreign targets for a Pakistani network; and at least 15 Somali American youths from Minneapolis who returned to fight in their ancestral homeland."

The emergence

of Americans traveling abroad to train for Jihad was highlighted again in early December when five Muslim American men were arrested in Pakistan, allegedly en route to North Waziristan for training with the Taliban and al Qaeda to fight American troops in Afghanistan.

A Rand Corporation report states that of the more than two dozen homegrown terror plots uncovered in the U.S. since 9-11, ten surfaced in 2009. That puts "the level of activity in 2009 much higher than that of previous years," Rand senior adviser Brian Jenkins told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in November.

The misplaced fear of igniting an anti-Muslim backlash is a consequence of the pervasive and stifling political correctness that surrounds Islam in the West. It prevents many of our journalistic and political elites from naming our enemy and compels them to accommodate radical Islam most readily in the very places it can cause the most damage--in our prisons, public schools, and military.

American Muslim radicalization is happening in a very tolerant America. The United States contains more than 1,200 mosques, and since 9-11 it has elected its first two Muslims congressmen as well as a president who inexplicably believes our country is as much Muslim as it is Christian, and who habitually refers to Islam as a "great religion."

According to the New York Times, in 2005 more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent United States residents -- nearly 96,000 -- than in any year in the previous two decades. Next year, the first accredited Muslim college in the United States, Zaytuna College, is set to open its doors even though some of its founders have shown radical Islamic sympathies.

At a time when Swiss voters have banned the nation's Muslims from building minarets, French officials are considering outlawing the burka, and Italian politicians are mulling legislation to prohibit mosque construction, the U.S. is increasingly looking like the most welcome destination for Muslims.

A Rasmussen poll immediately after the Fort Hood massacre found that a majority of Americans were at least somewhat concerned that the shooting would prompt a backlash against Muslims in the military. They needn't have been concerned. Since 9-11, every Muslim terrorist attack on American soil has been followed not by a violent backlash, but by outreach and conciliation toward Muslim Americans. And then by more attacks--by radical Islamists. Instead of fretting about a nonexistent backlash against Muslims, perhaps we should be examining more closely what is happening on radical Islamic websites and in some U.S. prisons, mosques, and Islamic schools that is causing increasing numbers of young American Muslims to embrace jihad against their neighbors.

source

Nur · December 25, 2009

This report supports what I've always believed. That the safest place on earth for Muslims today is in the USA. Safest spot on earth is around Washington DC ( If you stay away from South East side of the City where crime is endemic), its even more safer at Lafayette Square, where a Muslim can demonstrate against US policies in Muslim world with the protection of the US Park Police right across from Obama's White House Office, burn the US flag , and then catch the subway home to have a nice meal purchased by subsidized food stamps since most are unemployed due to economic depression.

The farther a Muslim gets from that safe point, the slimmer their chances of escaping extrajudicial secret practices by the special US forces policing the entire globe without the watchful eye and umbrella of the US Constitution. The US simply outsources dirty little services not allowed in the US to third world nations who help in renditions, Aerial bombings and torture, all paid by the US tax money in exotic places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan. The US government does not need to kill Muslims who live within it's borders and risk riots for the rest, it has already killed over a Million in Iraq alone and its not done yet.

The irony here is that its safer in a lion's den for the Muslim prey from PREDATOR DRONES, HUNTING FOR FAKE Al QAEDA, and then Killing innocent Civilians and wedding processions by the hundreds, and destroying Mosques and schools, all mistakenly labeled as Terrorist havens.

Mr. Obama, let my people live safe!

Nur

Raamsade · December 28, 2009

Originally posted by Nur:

This report supports what I've always believed. That the safest place on earth for Muslims today is in the USA.

"Always?" You certainly didn't seem to believe that "always" when you posted this link while the wounds of the victims were still fresh: Horror at Fort Hood Inspires Horribly Predictable Islamophobia

What led to your change of mind?

Nur · December 28, 2009

Raamsade writes:

"Always?" You certainly didn't seem to believe that "always" when you posted this link while the wounds of the victims were still fresh: Horror at Fort Hood Inspires Horribly Predictable Islamophobia

What led to your change of mind?

For the benefit of doubt, I am going to assume that you have a problem mixing what I have said, with what you might have read elsewhere, which I disagree with like you.

Its true that I have always believed that Muslims are safer in the USA than in their own countries in which USA is committing crimes against Humanity. For you to understand that I have previously believed the opposite, you would need a better caption of the thread, because, in that thread, I have never implied that I agree with the whole of articles that I post, so that will leave what I have written in that thread as your remaining caption, which is the only proof you can use to show that I have changed my mind.

Here is what i have written on that thread:

Islamophobia is feeding the 8 year unwarranted and unjust US war in Iraq and Afghanistan that claimed the lives of over a Million civilians after concocted 911 frame game. Islampohobia has since prompted the change of laws in the US to introduce unconstitutional measures of detentions of US citizens as "enemy Combatants" torture and unlawful intrusion of citizen's privacy, all justified as measures to fight what is called "Terrorism" aka PHOBIA of ISLAM!

Meaning:

Islamophobia in AMERICA IS TAKING A TOLL ON MUSLIMS WHO LIVE IN AFGHANISTAN

I have never INSINUATED ANYWHERE, including when I mentioned the targeting of US Citizens PRIVACY, that, ISLAMOPHOBIA WILL TAKE A DEADLY TOLL ON MUSLIMS IN AMERICA

Nur

Fabregas_Bruv · December 28, 2009

The whole article is too biased and simplistic to address such an important issue.

I am not expert on this subject, but I believe most Islamists/Muslims would readily admit that the USA has more rights for Muslims and is, in fact, better than many Arab/Muslim regimes.

Majority of people who have launched or being caught attempting to launch attacks on US soil have rarely used the "islamaphobia" that exists on US soil as a an excuse for what they were attempting to do, rather they see this as a legitimate response to the support for Israel, the torture in US or US funded prisons, the support for Israel, Afghanistan, the desceration of Islamic holy books in various US ran institutions, the crimes in Guantanomo, Iraq, Afghanistan the so called extraordinary renditions and so and so forth.

Simpleton writers such as this one want to make the reader believe that, since everything is supposedly rosy for Muslim in the US, then surely the whole solution to the problem lies in simply focusing on Muslim websites, inmates and mosques( fifth columinsts, eh?).

I believe this to merely be a sugarcoating of an international problem which has mainly global roots. In fact, I believe most US mosques and Websites have largely toned down their anti US rhetoric since 9/11, they regurlarly condemn Islamist groups and some are know becoming more localised by developing what they have referred to as "American Islam or Muslim American identity". Heck, some Islamic groups and mosques were raising money and praying for the victims of the Fort Hord. Other Muslims groups in the UK publicly renounced their links to Anwar Al Awalaki and some started to refute him.

Did Nidal Hassan do what he did as a reaction to global and personal events or was he pushed to do what he did by US mosques, websites or prisons?

ElPunto · December 28, 2009

It is an amusing article. The problem starts with the author's self-serving definition of backlash. On the one hand anti-Muslim backlash is restricted to crimes committed against Muslims which are tallied and totaled and found wanting. On the other hand this is cited as a crime:

"In the more than a month since the Fort Hood massacre, the only religion-based crime I could find was committed by a young Muslim in California at a mall kiosk. He tore a crucifix from shopper's neck and shouted anti-Christian slurs and "Allah is power."

A backlash only defined as a tallying of reported crimes to police is quite frankly a retarded metric. A backlash defined properly would include:

1- a hieghtened atmosphere of suspicion against any and all members of x group,

2- a greater than warranted scrutiny of x group

3- populist moves to restrict or deny x group's rights using the flimsiest of legalities

4- a feting of x groups' critics

And there have been many examples of the above in the USA over the years. From shutting down all Islamic charities post-911 including shutting down Al-Barakat(how justifiable was that) to the Muslims praying on a plane being taken off and questioned for terrorism because people thought they looked suspicious to the lovely US policy of rendition to the celebration of the likes of Ayan Ali Hersi et al.

The idea there is no backlash against Muslims is patently moronic. True - it has been mild to this point. But the idea that we wait for large numbers of crimes to occur against Muslims to diagnose a backlash is the reasoning of bigots.

Cara. · December 28, 2009

^Good points. And I also wonder how readily Muslims report attacks on them. Most are recent immigrants or first generation Americans from places where you don't go to the police because someone said something mean to you.

ElPunto · December 28, 2009

^Something else to consider. The thing is Rush Limbaugh groupies only know truthiness.

LayZie G. · December 29, 2009

Cara, I take offense to your claim that habo xalimo who recently immigrated to the great state of Wisconsin from uganda via Kismaayo is ignorant of the law of the land and would not know how to report a crime committed against her and her family to the police or take the necessary steps to combat such violent acts against her if such an incident were to happen.

I take offense because you are suggesting that habo xalimo did not watch reno 911 or the show cops from Ugandan living room while she awaited her papers, as her comrades back come can attest to that and the other reason is that Nur told us that we shouldn't consider an atheist views in this section, for this reason alone and only this reason, new immigrants, especially Muslims are off limits to you Cara as per Nur.(just following the rules of this section)

And to the nameless creature who said:

A backlash only defined as a tallying of reported crimes to police is quite frankly a retarded metric

I couldn't disagree with you more. When the author mentioned the incident that happened in California, he was painting the psyche of the Muslim in the west.

A criminal, who takes upon himself to carry the faith of over a billion people in his shoulders in order to harm another human being deserves no symphathy nor should he be called anything less than a criminal and at worst an extremist?

If anything, it is a crime to assault another human being in this great civilized west that you and I and Nur reside in. You should know better than that ya nameless.

Yes, you should equate crime to the decline of retaliation from the west against Muslims, especially the U.S.A

The hands off approach and fear of backlash and decrease in hate crimes is the sole reason why terrorists are having success in recruiting young men from all over the world and is indirectly contributed to the increase in home grown terror in the west, especially the United States.

The problem today is not whether or not a bigot takes up the cause of policing his or her neighborhood and being on the watch-out for extremists plotting to blow themselves up, instead, its the fear of officials offending the Muslim community.(the same community who turn a blind eye when one of their own is blowing up a bus full of innocent people or a girls school or a public place, a market, oh no, this muslim community turns a deaf ear when faced with the work of the terrorists)

Officials should not concern themselves with offending anyone, especially muslims, instead, they should do the work they are paid to do and thats protecting the public.

The leaders of the west ought to be concerned with protecting and finding safe passage for travelers, instead of worrying about how many Muslims might be offended by the extreme measures they take to protect their citizens. (i.e profiling, single, muslim men should not be allowed to board a flight without going through a mini interview)

No more political correctness, time to protect the people from the evil doers and if Muslims are so fragile that they would take offense to a speech a politician made about curbing extremists, then tough luck, better yet, go GET ANGRY AT THOSE THAT LOOK TO KILLING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY UP , INSTEAD OF BEING OFFENDED....after all, if it isnt flight 253 today, it will be another flight that any one of you will be on next and count on it that it could happen to anyone. NO ONE IS IMMUNE to death, especially dying in the hands of savages.

The innocent people in flight 253 this past christmas did not get on that plane to come back home just so that a lonely boy from lagos, who looked to belong to this world for a long time has found comrades who told him to blow up 200+ people and as a result, he was too fearful and instead waited the last possible moment to get caught in hopes of being saved from this mess he found himself in.

Furthermore, the author in my view is alluding to the absurdity associated with anti-muslim backlash and government officials who walk on eggshell in fear of offending the Muslim community and as a result are indirectly contributing to the success of terror recruits who use young men to carry out attacks abroad, instead they should take history lesson and adapt similar tactics as that of the communism era in the 50s in the united states. NAME AND SHAMe, take aggressive steps to tackle extremist and above all, reward those vigilantes who look to police their neighborhoods and public places.

Let us find the McCarthyism of this era, let us hope it will be as significant as it was in the 50s and its era of doom. Oh and nothing reckless about it, if its used effectively to curb terror, it can work.

Cara. · December 29, 2009

I see you're also a fan of Jonathan Swift, Layzie. But you need to ratchet up the satire a bit more, there are sure to be a few slow people who'll think you are being serious. May I suggest:

1) Call for rounding up of Muslims and immediate placement in internment camps. Just until the War on Terror is over, you should add hastily.

2) Next, suggest Muslim children report their parents' every word to their beloved Uncle Sam, especially if parents criticize the state in any way.

3) IF internment camps are out of the question, at least promote some sort of symbol, maybe a special hat or pin all Muslims should wear. Really, it will be completely harmless, it will just help law enforcement with tedious paperwork.

4) Speaking of paperwork, how about all Americans carry identification papers with them, and of course checkpoints at all major intersections? That way your next idea (patriotism pop quizzes) can be more easily implemented! "You sir, list the founding fathers and the names of the original colonies?" Although this may backfire since immigrants may know these things better than the locals after studying for the citizenship exam.

There are many more suggestions I can offer but to be honest I don't have your ability to adopt this crazy right-wing hick character with such flair.

Khayr · December 30, 2009

Originally posted by Cara.:

I see you're also a fan of Jonathan Swift, Layzie. But you need to ratchet up the satire a bit more, there are sure to be a few slow people who'll think you are being serious. May I suggest:

1) Call for rounding up of Muslims and immediate placement in internment camps. Just until the War on Terror is over, you should add hastily.

2) Next, suggest Muslim children report their parents' every word to their beloved Uncle Sam, especially if parents criticize the state in any way.

3) IF internment camps are out of the question, at least promote some sort of symbol, maybe a special hat or pin all Muslims should wear. Really, it will be completely harmless, it will just help law enforcement with tedious paperwork.

4) Speaking of paperwork, how about all Americans carry identification papers with them, and of course checkpoints at all major intersections? That way your next idea (patriotism pop quizzes) can be more easily implemented! "You sir, list the founding fathers and the names of the original colonies?" Although this may backfire since immigrants may know these things better than the locals after studying for the citizenship exam.

There are many more suggestions I can offer but to be honest I don't have your ability to adopt this crazy right-wing hick character with such flair.

Strangely enough, I agree with Cara on this one.

Layzie G., what world do you live in? :confused:

Raamsade · January 2, 2010

Originally posted by Nur:

I have never implied that I agree with the whole of articles that I post, so that will leave what I have written in that thread as your remaining caption, which is the only proof you can use to show that I have changed my mind.

So you don't after all agree with the article or some of it what it says? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt but I must say it sounds awfully convenient. But I will leave you with this advice: perception is reality. By posting an article with a title " Horror at Fort Hood Inspires Horribly Predictable Islamophobia" a mere 24 hours after Islam inspired massacre of Americans, you don't give the impression that you think the US is the best place for Muslims. Reading the article one would think Muslims in the US are like Coptic Christians in Egypt or Christians in Pakistan or Somalia. There is a huge dissonance between the knee-jerk cautioning against "Islamophobia" and the reality of nigh total absence of that "Islamophobia." This is only exacerbated by the hate crime data from the FBI which shows declining figures for hate crimes against Muslims.

Originally posted by Nur:

Islamophobia is feeding the 8 year unwarranted and unjust US war in Iraq and Afghanistan that claimed the lives of over a Million civilians after concocted 911 frame game.

This is so symptomatic of Muslim's inability to take responsibility for their own problems and learn one or two things from history.

First, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would never have occurred if Muslims didn't fly planes into buildings killing 3,000 people. Second, both Iraq and Afghanistan had the chance to avoid any invasion by simply complying the demands of the Allies just like German, Italy and Japan sensibly complied all the demands of Allies. But the Taliban and Saddam weren't able to cut deals with those threatening to invade their countries thereby avoiding all those dead Muslims you mourn and we don't have to wonder why.

Lastly, you say a million Muslims died. Of course this is not true but even if it is true the overwhelming majority of them died at the hands of other Muslims. Muslim on Muslim bloodletting is one of the defining features of Islam. If Iraqi Muslims didn't decide to re-fight the 656 A.D. Battle of Basra in the 21st Century, so many Iraqi Muslims wouldn't have died.

Originally posted by Nur:

Islampohobia has since prompted the change of laws in the US

Actually, it is Islamic terrorism -- you know the people who fly planes into buildings and try to smuggle explosives onto planes -- that are responsible for any changes in the law.

Raamsade · January 2, 2010

Originally posted by Fabregas_Bruv:

Majority of people who have launched or being caught attempting to launch attacks on US soil have rarely used the "islamaphobia" that exists on US soil as a an excuse for what they were attempting to do, rather they see this as a legitimate response to the support for Israel, the torture in US or US funded prisons, the support for Israel, Afghanistan, the desceration of Islamic holy books in various US ran institutions, the crimes in Guantanomo, Iraq, Afghanistan the so called extraordinary renditions and so and so forth.

Ignoring the fact that most of these grievances postdate the 9/11 attacks, what did Muslims benefit from attacking the US? For bringing down two American towers, the US brought down two Muslim majority countries. How did that work out for Muslims?

Originally posted by Fabregas_Bruv:

Did Nidal Hassan do what he did as a reaction to global and personal events or was he pushed to do what he did by US mosques, websites or prisons?

He did what he did because he genuinely thought he was waging Jihad against unbelievers.