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America’s new Joseph McCarthy
According to Congressman Peter King, his country’s Muslims are just not doing enough.
The writer’s first book, Looking For America, has been published by Harper Collins India. He is a former editor of the Hindustan Times’ Mumbai edition avirook.sen@tribune.com.pk
Congressman Peter King of Long Island, New York, begins the first of a series of hearings on the terror threat posed by radicalised American Muslims today. King is chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security and from that chair he will be asking why American Muslims are not cooperating as that country comes under attack from within.
King had an alter ego, the fictional hero of his novel on the same theme, Vale of Tears (2004, Taylor Trade Publishing) — which I have not had the pleasure of reading — who is evocatively called Sean Cross. But King’s crusade (he prefers to call it investigation) has seen the ego and the alter ego fuse into one over time.
In the book, when terrorists bomb targets in New York, Cross must find the people behind the attacks. His investigations lead him not to some cave in Afghanistan, but to a mosque in an upscale New York neighbourhood. The terrorists were home-grown — like California Basmati rice, say. Seeds possibly sourced elsewhere, radicalised indigenously by clerics whose mission was to destroy America.
New York Magazine picks out two quotes that show Cross’s surprise and disgust: “It was dirtbags living here a few years… Right here among all of us.” And then he issues a warning to the respectable (till then) Muslim surgeon who has key information about the attacks: “You need to give your own people up.”
This is precisely what will be asked of the Muslim community in the US through these hearings. According to King, his country’s Muslims are just not doing enough.
The hearings echo Senator Joe McCarthy’s hounding of suspected communists in the 1950s. Well that one didn’t go too well for the senator, who was driven to drink and death a few years after. The most withering attack came from the great broadcaster Edward Murrow, who didn’t spare the rest of America either: “We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.” The question Murrow raised then can be asked now as well.
Ironically, it comes at a time when people in the Arab world are asserting their own right to freedom — overthrowing dictators whom the West had supported for decades.
In the same broadcast, Murrow had said that McCarthy merely exploited the “situation of fear” that had been created. In the present instance, the church of Islamophobia is well under construction. King, who is eyeing a Senate seat in 2012, has recently taken the project over, but there are voices like Brigitte Gabriel’s that now lead the choir.
Gabriel was a native of Lebanon and she survived the war there. Her second book They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It (2008, St Martin’s Press) is (approximately) a non-fiction version of King’s 2004 novel. Gabriel goes on speaking tours and wins applause for her rather simplistic descriptions of everything. Radical Muslims: Anyone who prays five times a day. God: Their god is “something they call Allah”, different from “our God… the God of love.”
Gabriel’s organisation, American Congress for Truth, has over 150,000 members and seems to have grown at a much faster rate than the homegrown terrorist population. Starting with very little money, it is now rich enough to pay her $178,000 a year. The money comes from those who share her views.
Black American standup comic Chris Rock calls it “hateriotism”. In a piece he did on white Americans’ response to the war on terror, he says it was cool till the time these guys were saying (in that order): Screw foreigners, the French, Arabs… But the moment they said “illegal aliens” he “started listening”. “Because niggers and Jews are next! Any day now! That train’s never late!”
Rock’s train will come in a little later, thanks to a stop Congressman King insists it makes — at the station of Muslim Americans.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2011.
Reader Comments (15)
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Absolute balderdash!
Are Angella Merkell, David Cameron, Sarkozy and all those other Europeans, all of them, Joseph McCarthys? All of them have condemned in very clear terms Islam as we all see it in action. Indian commentators like you, by this servile ingratiation of Muslims, are doing a great disservice to Muslims. From how the whole world, every country, every community, every nation perceives Islam in such vehemently dark terms should prod Muslims to examine and explore what is wrong with their theology. After that exercise has been completed, they will come up with corrective measures if they want to get along with the rest of us. If they don’t, there is only an Armageddon to look forward to.Recommend
In Kings honour we have set up a group to hand ourselves in as muslims or friends of muslims http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195792410441123Recommend
@Avirook Sen,
before you accuse the world of Islamophobia, please tell me how many non-muslim suicide bombers and Kalashnikov weilding terrorists you would find over the last 10 years.Recommend
finally, america has woken up to the threat of islamic fundamentalism.It was high time they opened their eyes.We’ve already seen our country being destroyed by these religious barbarians.
It’s time,the western countries got past their political correctness & saw the evil lurking amongst them.The cancer of islamic fundamentalism was spreading quickly in america,hopefully now they’ll take steps to reduce the threat from these religious barbarians.Recommend
very brave step by mr.king,may allah help you in your efforts to weed out the menace of islamic fundamentalism.
i have many cousins,friends & former colleagues who although they’ve migrated to a civilized society,still have the sick,women oppressive,homophobic mentality that they had while they were here.They’ve formed their own ghettos where the majority of the population is pakistani.
They are not shy to take advantage of the unemployment benefits,the medical & educational facilities but don’t adopt the civilised ways of the country that has given them all of this.
Their allegiance to their new country is restricted to looting all the allowances & social security benefits it gives them but they keep on sticking to their sick,depraved attitudes,beliefs & values that they had while back home in pakistan.
The americans,british & the canadians should wake up before its too late & they have acid throwing,stoning & whipping of women & our all time favourite of human beheadings happening in their country also.Recommend
we need a courageous man like mr. king ourself.
Our country is being destroyed by the religious barbarians & all our leadership has fallen silent out of fear.
We need more men like shaheed salman taseer,shaheed shahbaz bhatti,these men had the courage to speak out against a barbaric,savage law( it’s not even worth being called a law) that belongs in the times of the cavemen.
People like the brave sherry rehman,asma jehangir,shaherbano taseer are the only hope left for our country which is fast going downhill.
This country is for everyone: Atheists,Agnostics,hindus,christians,parsis,muslims.
No one community has any right to claim ownership of the entire country.Recommend
we need a courageous man like mr. king ourself.
Our country is being destroyed by the religious barbarians & all our leadership has fallen silent out of fear.
We need more men like shaheed salman taseer,shaheed shahbaz bhatti,these men had the courage to speak out against a barbaric,savage law( it’s not even worth being called a law) that belongs in the times of the cavemen.
People like the brave sherry rehman,asma jehangir,shaherbano taseer are the only hope left for our country which is fast going downhill.
This country is for everyone: Atheists,Agnostics,hindus,christians,parsis,muslims.
No one community has any right to claim ownership of the entire country.Recommend
I am not sure Readers in PAK understands what is written here. I am what some call extreme liberal. I defend and protect what may be called hate speech by some and blasphemy by others.
Because I side with the very notion that makes us human, Freedom of Thought and it’s out come, Freedom of Expression.
In this case Cong. King is right in initiating the hearing. Yet, in America people of different faith join the protest with American muslims, who fear what you call McCarthyism.
People in America EARNED that right to protest against this, but Neither the PAK people nor the PAK Press.
When people around the world see that people in PAK join the fight with Bibi on her Blasphemy absurdity charges, join the fight with the father of the Hindu 10 year old girl who was exhumed from muslim cemetery in Rawalpindi after more than one year because she was of different faith and join many others like them, as Americans are doing with American Muslim community in their fear, I do not think any one in PAK has the right to use the word of McCarthyism that is uniquely reserved for Americans.
What the ET has earned is asking the question,
“Is it really McCarthyism as Americans Think?”Recommend
@muhamad karim:
Please read the column again, you must be blind or have a very low IQ to come to the conclusion that King is courageous.Recommend
My hat off to this great man called Avirook Sen. This man is most deserved to be an enlightening writer for being a torch bearer of the Truth. He perhaps, has read and digested the history of his own country very well of how the European Terrorists misbehaved in India. He will agree with this Truth nothing but the Truth, that from what people throughout the world including ordinary people in Europe have endured over the years,one can say very confidently that Europe is the continent from where Nazism, Fascism and Terrorism has been exported since 2000 years ago. The campaign of Terrorism in and from Europe died down due to the fall of the Roman Empire. Then the world saw nearly 700 years of relative peace simply because the European Terrorists were kept in check by the Arabs and N. Africans.
With the fall of the N. African influence, the European Terrorists became active again and since the last 500 years till this day one can see then in action in many parts of the world. It was indeed, initiated by the Spaniola Terroristadors in Central and South America and then copied by others, lion’s share going to the British.
Having said the above Truth, those people who never had or do not have any contact with the ordinary people of Europe or for that matter the people of the USA will never know that the ordinary people in Europe and the USA also endured and endure people like Hitler, Mussolini, McCarthy and now this man called Peter King.
The people see their tax dollars looted right in front of their eyes through such excuses as the phoney Vietnam War and now the phoney War on Terror, and yet unable to do anything about it. Why? Nowhere in the world including the USA have people organised to stop the loot of their tax dollars by those who are organised to do so. So it goes for McCarthy and those who will follow in his foot steps for all time to come rendering the people of the USA irreversible damages and loss. The real Terrorists as well known to everyone in Europe and in the USA today are those who have initiated the replica of their War of terror in Vietnam, calling it War on Terror. How can any truthful person disagree with this historical Truth?Recommend
Peter King may be biased and hard liner.
However, Americans need to work out which direction America should take. At the moment Muslims are in a low % in population and so all this “Victim” approach where they will simply plead that they are marginalized. But wait for sometime for them to go on converting American population to Islam and with high birth rate, they will soon hit 10% of population.
When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions. In Paris , we are already seeing car-burnings. Any non-Muslim action offends Islam and results in uprisings and threats, such as in Amsterdam, with opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films about Islam. Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections, in:
Guyana — Muslim 10%
India — Muslim 13.4%
Israel — Muslim 16%
Kenya — Muslim 10%
Russia — Muslim 15%
After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings, and the burnings of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, such as in:
Ethiopia — Muslim 32.8%
At 40%, nations experience widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks, and ongoing militia warfare, such as in:
Bosnia — Muslim 40%
Chad — Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon — Muslim 59.7%
From 60%, nations experience unfettered persecution of non-believers of all other religions (including non-conforming Muslims), sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon, and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels, such as in:
Albania — Muslim 70%
Malaysia — Muslim 60.4%
Qatar — Muslim 77.5%
Sudan — Muslim 70%
After 80%, expect daily intimidation and violent jihad, some State-run ethnic cleansing, and even some genocide, as these nations drive out the infidels, and move toward 100% Muslim, such as has been experienced and in some ways is on-going in Pakistan.
REPEAT: Americans need to work out which direction America should take.Recommend
Finally someone had the courage to standup to the PC crap! It was long overdue.
Islam is the most anti-secular religion in the world. It has no place in a secular and democratic society. Whenever, ‘muslims’ travel to or live in the west they demand equal rights and special concessions in the name of religion. Wherever they are in a majority, they declare it an islamic state, impose the sharia and use blasphemy laws to oppress the minorities. It is violent and coercive in nature. “Muslims” keep on claiming that Islam is peaceful, but the actions of a disproportionate amount of them suggest otherwise. They claim that it is the action of a radical “few”. However, everyone knows that these “few” would not have survived without the passive support of the “many”. There are passages in the “holy book” which encourage the persecution, killing and forced conversion of non-muslims. “Muslims” conveniently deny that. It is not words but deeds that are a true reflection of one’s intent. A religion is only as good as it is practiced. How peaceful can a religion be if it was spread by force?
Further, if a religion is so certain about the merits of its message, it should be able to withstand scrutiny and criticism. Why does it have to resort to threats and coercion to attain or retain a following.Recommend
By reading muhammad fajim, saqib akthar and faraz sadiq I thought there is some hope still there in Pak (assuming they are pakistani). But after reading faraz and sharafat lone it proved to be a false hope.
Ofcourse Avirook sen is sympathizing with muslims by criticising Kings approach but some times we have to give bitter medicine to cure a disease. Islamic fundamentalism is indeed a disease and some hard hitting questions need to be asked, everything cannot be swept under carpet in the name of being politically correct.Recommend
It is totally disingenuous to vilify Senator King. He is doing his duty by the people who elected him. In theory at least, his views are those of people even if the position he has taken is not shared by ALL those people. In a Democracy, the incentive for acting correctly is to be able to be elected again. If his views had not been largely held, he would not succeed.
By vilifying Senator McCarthy, the author has betrayed a shallow understanding of the phenomenon of McCarthyism. This is understandable because underlying his motivation, may be even subconsciously, was toadyism to Muslims.
Senator McCarthy conducted similar hearings pertaining to Communism. He can only be faulted for letting his hearings descend to a farce and witch-hunting. The author and others of his ilk must remind themselves that those hearings were the stepping stool for EVERY president that came to the White House after that. Every one of them took the ownership of anti-communist struggle up until Ronald Regan’s gauntlet “Pull down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev!” And, Mr. Gorbachev complied!
We should not discount the Peter King hearings on Islamic extremism and the associated terrorism. Hopefully, it will lead to similar results and we shall be rid of this barbarism that is going on in the name of Islam!Recommend
More teary eyed analysis by the Hindustani press. The truth is, muslims are the first victims of the Islamic extremists. As can be seen by the posts here, the average muslim hates their guts. I hope Mr. Sen has understood that his left wing ranting is 20 years behind the times.Recommend