Protest This

What I’m about to say isn’t politically correct.  It may not be the type of thing that wins friends in some circles, although, admittedly, it will be the circles where I don’t want friends.  And it may be considered by some to be wrong, insensitive, uncompassionate, or other, stronger adjectives that the bleeding hearts might want to attach to me, but it’s my opinion and my right to air it.

I’m sick of these Muslim protesters.

Look, people who know me know by now that I hate protesters in general.  Whether you are protesting a coal company because you think greenhouse gases are burning up the world, or you are protesting a business because it hired non-union labor, or protesting an abortion clinic because you don’t agree with its practices, I still get irritated by you when I see you standing outside on the street waving signs and getting in people’s faces.  Look, I might agree with your cause, but I think protesting is a useless and annoying practice that only pacifies your conscience without really accomplishing anything.  And while I understand not every protester is the loud, violent, obnoxious variety, all of them annoy me to varying degrees.  I’m sure some people will gasp in horror at this and try to remind me of Martin Luther King or Gandhi.  I can’t speak for their protests, because I wasn’t around then…but they probably would have annoyed me too.  So what?  

But these Muslim protesters…they’re some of the worst.  I’m just going to be honest and politically incorrect here.  I’m no fan of Islam.  I know that not every Muslim is a suicide bomber…I know that there are some peaceful, intelligent, and kind people who practice the Islamic faith.  But let’s face it….the Muslim community has a problem, and I’m not just talking about suicide bombers.  Even many of the “peaceful” ones refuse to condemn the actions of their radical brethren, and they love to scream bloody murder over any perceived injustice to them while supporting cruel injustices in their own countries or among their own kinsman. So call me a bigot or prejudiced or whatever you want to call me.  I think Islam has a problem, and I’m not going to stop saying it just because it makes somebody uncomfortable.  Muslims around the world need to pull their head out of their nether regions….when you start protesting the atrocities committed by those of your own faith as loudly as you protest stupid crap like cartoons and teddy bears, we’ll take you seriously.   I sympathize with those Muslims who do speak out against terrorism and violence against other non-Muslim peoples–but the problem is, they are in the minority in their faith.  Islam around the world is either largely silent regarding the radicals in their midst, or else they are supportive of their actions.  I’ve yet to see the kind of ardent passion Muslims exhibited over the Danish cartoons exhibited when ever Hamas or Hezbollah camps out on the border and starts blowing up Israeli’s.  Usually, nothing is said until Israel responds.

Which brings us to the latest round of protests.  Since last week when Israel responded to Hamas terrorist attacks by bombing the crap out of Gaza, we’ve gotten the usual round of Muslim (and leftist) protesters out decrying the “disproportionate response” and claiming the Jews are committing their own brand of genocide.  Today, it seems that some protesters down in Florida were calling for Jews to “go back to the oven” and waving signs that said “Nuke Israel.”    Listening to these windbags makes you weary…we’ve had our own little rag tag band of protesters here in St. Louis whining about the disproportionate response Israel has been conducting.  Disproportionate response?  It’s war!  If Hamas shoots 20 rockets into Israel, does that mean that somehow Israel should limit themselves to shooting only 20 rockets into Gaza or they are breaking some Geneva code?  The problem with Israel is that they never do enough.  Like America, they often allow themselves to be hamstrung by the opinions of other nations.  Anybody remember Sean Connery in The Untouchables?  “They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue “  That’s the proportionate response.  Hamas sends a missile into Israel, Israel should carpet bomb the crap out of Gaza and reduce the terrorist population.  It is unfortunate that innocent people are dying, but Israel has done quite a bit more than their part to reduce that…they’ve sent telephoned warnings to the civilian populations living withing striking distance of the terrorist hotspots, warning them to get out before their houses get reduced to rubble.  The way to reduce civilian casualties is not to not strike back when you get bombed…it’s for Hamas to stop hiding behind the civilian population when they shoot their missiles.  Not that that’s likely to happen…radical Muslims are not anything if they are not cowardly. 

Anyway…the protesters.  First, it should be noted that there were some pro-Israel protesters on the streets too, during this demonstration.  And it’s not like standing out waving an Israeli flag or pro-Israel sign is going to help the current situation.  I think Israel needs to do what’s right for their country–but that’s for Israel to decide.  America has enough problems within its own country without trying to take on the problems of other countries.  That’s not to say I somehow dislike or disagree with Israel’s actions.  I respect them as one of the few voices of sanity and freedom in that part of the world, but America needs to stop playing world policeman.  It’s not our responsibility to broker peace between Palestine and Israel.  Anyway….the Israel supporters, according to the news article, were carrying signs calling the Hamas-run territory a “terrorist state.”  Which….it is.  That portion of the Middle East is crawling with rabid, foaming at the mouth, Zionist hating scum who would like nothing better than to blow themselves into smithereens if it meant killing one Jew in the process.   Meanwhile, the Muslim protesters are here in the US advocating that nuclear weapons be unleashed against Israel, and one lady was running around telling the Jews to get back in their ovens.  And the article states that her fellow protesters refused to condemn her remarks.  So much for reconciliation amongst opposing faiths.  So much for Muslim tolerance.

And yet, somehow, Muslims are always portrayed as a peaceful, productive members of society.  That may be true of some of them, but there are huge numbers of them in this country alone that silently or openly support the sentiments of these Florida protesters.  These people scream bloody murder when they are kicked off a plane for loudly praying in Arabic, but if you visit their home countries like Saudi Arabia and try to read aloud from the Bible, and see what happens.  When a Danish cartoonist draws a picture of Mohammed, Muslims all over the world unite in indignation, and cry for western governments to censor such material, but when terrorists kill 3000 Americans on a single day, they dance around in the streets in glee. Many of them don’t say a word when Hezbollah, Hamas, or other Islamic terrorist organizations kill innocent people, but the minute Israel or America causes any measure of collateral damage, they storm the streets waving signs and crying for peace.  I suggest a new kind of peace….pieces of Mahmoud Abbas, pieces of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and pieces of Hassan Nasrallah to be spread all over the Middle East.  That would go a lot farther towards peace than the Oslo Accord ever did.

What’s truly insulting about this latest are the cries comparing Israel to the Nazi regime.  Jonah Goldberg has a great article on this today, referencing this incident down in Fort Lauderdale.  Islam can’t just seem to make up its mind…among many Muslims, they deny the Holocaust ever happened, but then they turn around and want to compare the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.  Make up your mind…either Hitler was ok and didn’t really engage in any genocide, or else he really did butcher all those Jews.  You can’t have it both ways.  Besides, if Jews are intent on practicing genocide on the Palestinians, they sure are doing a sloppy job of it.  Why did they wait until Hamas bombed them first?  Why didn’t they just nuke the Gaza strip and be done with it?  As Goldberg points out, the problem is that Hamas has some sick need to perceive their desire mirrored by Israel.  The terrorists desire an end to the Jewish state, and I’d be willing to bet plenty of Muslims, radical and “peace loving,” wouldn’t shed a tear over the elimination of Israel or her people through violent means. It just makes Hamas feel better if they can convince themselves (and other nations) that Israel had it coming, because, hey, they are just like the Nazi’s.  In this sick fantasy, all the world will hail them for eliminating the Zionists because look, you remember all those dead bodies on TV when Israel bombed Gaza.  And the media is complicit because they report whatever tripe is fed to them by the terrorists, whether its true or not.  Journalistic integrity is a dinosaur in this day and age.

So, if you’ve been out protesting the “disproportionate response” that Israel has been conducting, you need to ask  yourself why you weren’t out protesting when Hamas was shooting rockets into Israel killing innocent Jews.  If you were protesting that, you need to ask yourself why you are out in the street protesting at all on behalf of other countries when your own is going to hell in a handbasket.  Now a lot of Muslims who had placed great faith in our new President-Elect are getting all worked up because they are interpreting his silence as support for Israel.  My question is, so what if Obama is silent?  We aren’t Israel, we aren’t Gaza, so in my opinion, Obama’s silence is the best course of action, not just now, but come January 20th when he is sworn into office.  It’s not our business to sit down with Palestine and Israel and try to work out their problems for them.  We’ve been getting involved for years, and look at exactly how much success we’ve had.  So to all the Muslim protesters who think the American head of state needs to decry what Israel’s doing:  Shut up.  Israel needs to do what’s best for their country, and these “anti-war” Muslim protesters need to go get a job, or stop standing by the side of the road and go stand in the middle of it.