Burkas, Bikinis, and Bigotry

by Sheila Musaji

Personally, I’m not fond of either extreme in feminine clothing - burkas or bikinis.  I believe that beauty contests exploit women, and I’m pleased that they seem to be less and less popular with each passing year, and will not be at all sad when they are no more.  Nevertheless, women have the right to express themselves however they see fit, and the reaction of some Americans to Rima Fakih’s winning the Miss USA beauty pageant should be enough to prove once and for all that Islamophobia does exist, and that it has nothing to do with “political Islam”, “radical Islamists”, “Islamism”, or any of the other carefully crafted terms used to attempt to hide their hatred of Muslims as actually being a defense of western civilization against extremist or “radical” Muslims. 

The truth is out there now for everyone to see.  It is simply Muslims that they hate.

The “famous” Islamophobes were careful not to cross the line into outright bigotry.

Michelle Malkin wasn’t happy about the win. 

Pamela Geller noted the win, but surprisingly didn’t have much to say.

Daniel Pipes posted an article Affirmative Action in Beauty Contests? in which he points to other Muslim women who have won beauty contests around the world and then concludes “They are all attractive, but this surprising frequency of Muslims winning beauty pageants makes me suspect an odd form of affirmative action.”

The unknown Islamophobes weren’t as cautious, like Chicago Ray who said “I saw this last night and couldn’t believe this country now has a Muslim MS USA. Good God Almighty these Muslims smell our blood all over the streets of the country today ...Goodbye America as the Muslims swallow up the USA right in our faces and laugh their sand chafed asses off at the wussification of this dying land….” 

The third-rate Islamophobes like Debbie Schlussel join the lowest of the low.  Perhaps she is trying to beat out Pamela Geller as Loonwatches looniest blogger ever.  I would say that Schlussel is the winner in this particular contest of the Islamophobes.  She is so beside herself with rage that she writes article, after article, after article, after article on this story, and she is probably not done yet.  Actually, her focus on this minor story seems obsessive.

Here are some of the low points of her commentary on this (to her) momentous story presaging the downfall of our civilization:

* calls Donald Trump a “dhimmi”
* calls Rima Fakih “Miss Hezbollah”, and a “Hezbollah-supporting Shi’ite Muslim”
* says that “Muslims (who mostly support Islamic terrorist groups, like Hezbollah)” will “exploit this propaganda for Islam”
* says that “Hezbollah is laughing at us, tonight.”
* wonders if “this whole contest is rigged” and that “clearly, there is affirmative action for Muslim women in beauty pageants and other such “contests.”
* closes one article with “Oh, and she wasn’t a Lebanese Muslim Hezbollah supporter with relatives who are top terrorists and “martyrs” in the group.  If you don’t have relatives that have died killing some Jews and relatives who’ve murdered hundreds of Americans, you really don’t deserve to be Miss USA.”
* says “It’s a sad day in America but a very predictable one, given the politically correct, Islamo-pandering climate in which we’re mired.”
* says Fakih’s attendance at an Arab Women’s Conference “The Many Faces of Arab Women”  at her former community college constitutes “using the Miss Michigan USA name to promote Islamic subjugation of women”.  (How did she promote this subjugation?  By giving a talk on what it means to her to be the first Arab American Miss Michigan.) 
* Guilt by association is all the “proof” Schlussel has for her conclusion that Fakih is an “open Islamic terrorism supporter” and that her participation in the contest is proof of “The Islamic concept of deceiving infidels–taqiyyah–”. (This taqiyyah libel against Muslims is getting old.)
* she used the word Sharmuta in the title of one of her “articles” to describe Ms. Fakih.  (My Arabic is limited and doesn’t include swear words, but I checked it out and this is not as I at first thought, a Yiddish word for clothing, but an Arabic word meaning something like “a whore or a hooker”, really classy, Schlussel!)

Debbie Schlussel has never been a slacker in the Islamophobia industry:

* she said “Tough luck, Muslims.  Despite your endless whining, dogs will sniff you, anyway (if the stench doesn’t kill ‘em).”
*  In an article titled “Barack Hussein Obama: Once a Muslim, Always A Muslim” that because Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein, his late, estranged father was of Muslim descent, and he has shown interest in his father’s Kenyan heritage, Obama’s “loyalties” must be called into question as he emerges as a possible Democratic presidential candidate. 
* she said that minarets on mosques “establish Muslim supremacy”. 
* she said the Angels and Demons film was “soft on Muslim terrorists.” 
* she said the perpetrator of the Virginia Tech massacre was a “Paki” Muslim and part of “a coordinated terrorist attack”,  and FALSELY attempted to link the tragedy to Islam. 
* she ridiculed the Wall Street Journal for allowing one of its reporters (“with a Muslim-sounding first name”) to write admiringly about a Muslim author doing a DC comic book. 
* she objected to Muslim relief efforts in Haiti and joined in the LIE that their efforts were minimal. 
* she attacked Marvel Comics for giving academic internships to Arab students from the United Arab Emirates, using that as evidence to support her outrageous claim that “Spider-Man and the Hulk are embracing the new Nazis.” 
* she promoted the FAKE Hamas child bride story.
* she promoted the Rachel Ray paisley scarf as subversive Arab jihadi chic nonsense.

I’m with Adam Serwer who said “I’m not really a fan of beauty contests, but the tone and substance of the fever swamp’s reaction to an Arab-American winning a beauty contest is at least useful for pointing out how some people’s political opinions aren’t based so much in questions of policy as anti-Muslim animosity. The level of anger is just so plainly disproportionate to the matter at hand as to be self-implicating. These people aren’t worried about terrorism—they’re offended by the idea of Muslims being integrated into the most mundane and banal aspects of American society.”

And Jonathan Turley who said “If Hezbollah planned to gain some advantage by winning the Miss USA competition, they are more desperate than I thought. Next they will be targeting the USA Spelling Bee.”

And Rick Moran who said “Ah, but our Ms. Schlussel says that this is a Mooooslim Roooose! In their constant efforts to bring death to the infidels, the clever Moooslims allow for this kind of trickery in the greater cause of taking over the world. The Mooslims allowed Miss Fakih to appear nearly naked on stage in order to advance their nefarious schemes. She actually runs around in a burqa at home where no one can see her.  Clever indeed, these Moooslims.”

If you want a good laugh over this whole incident check out The Foiler for a great satire under the title “Miss USA and Prince of Persia Movie Release – Coincidence or Muslim/Gay Agenda?”

Debbie Schlussel has firmly entrenched herself as the lowest of the low among the Islamophobes.  She is clearly part of the industry spreading hatred as part of what I call the “what everyone knows” crowd.

The most commonly repeated claims about Muslims are that “everyone knows” that most or all terrorists are Muslims, and there are no Christian and no Jewish terrorists (or terrorists of any other religious stripe), and that Muslims are inherently violent.  Everyone also knows that Muslims are not equivalent to real Americans, that they are the enemy within, and a fifth column,  that good Muslims can’t be good Americans, that they are not a part of our American heritage, that they are all militant,  that Islam makes Muslims “backward”, that Muslims have made no contribution to the West,  that Islam is “of the devil”, a Crescent menace, and an “evil encroaching on the United States”, and not a religion.  Everyone knows that this is a Christian nation, which everyone knows the Muslims are trying to take over, starting with getting an Eid stamp which is the first step towards shariah law, and by purposefully having more children than others to increase their numbers.  Everyone knows that Muslims have no respect for the Constitution.  Everyone knows that Muslims are given a pass by the elite media.  It’s “us versus them”.  They don’t speak out against extremism or terrorism, and even those Muslims who do speak up or seem moderate are simply lying or practicing taqiyyah.  The problem is that what “everyone knows” is wrong.  These self-righteous and incorrect statements are usually followed by a demand that the Muslim community do something about whatever is the false flag of the day or face the inevitable consequences.

In addition to these “everyone knows” statements of demonization and misrepresentation, there is also a whole industry of simply connecting with Islam or Muslims with any negative idea, event, or societal trend (even when there is no sane connection to make).  These I think of as “Through the Looking Glass” claims.  For example, lots of “news” items never happened, or are simply not true.

Arabs didn’t celebrate 9/11 at a Dunkin Donuts in New Jersey.  Budweiser did not pull all its product from the shelves of a convenience store where there was celebration of the terrorist attacks - this never happened.  The Muslim statement of faith (Shahada) is not an expression of hate.  An American Missionary in Africa didn’t face possible murder charges and hanging because of a traffic accident.  There is no verse of the Qur’an on “The Wrath of the Eagle”.  The supposed bomb threat made by an Arizona student that led to an evacuation of the school was a hoax by non-Muslim students.  The story that Iran was considering forcing Jews to wear a yellow star appeared in several publications and it was totally false.  The slaying of the New Jersey Coptic family was falsely charged to Muslims.  The story about the British banks banning piggy banks so as not to offend Muslims never happened.  Muslims are not more likely to support terrorism and violence than Christians or Jews.  Muslims did not destroy the Library of Alexandria.  Nurses in Britain were not “ordered to drop everything and turn Muslims’ beds toward Mecca five times daily”.  There is no  Muslim sword through the 41-cents mark on the U.S. Eid stamp.  Sirhan Sirhan is a Christian, not a Muslim.  The Virginia Tech massacre had no connection with Islam.  A bus driver in Britain didn’t tell passengers to get off the bus so he could pray.  Rachel Ray’s Paisley scarf is not a symbol of “murderous Palestinian Jihad” (and neither is a Keffiyah).  A Muslim student in Florida did not refuse to stand for the pledge of allegiance.  There were no Muslims acting suspiciously on Air Tran flight 297. Wearing a tee-shirt with Arabic writing on it does not make a person dangerous.  A Madrassah is simply a school.  The zebibah (prayer bruise) on some Muslims foreheads is not a sign of a “commitment to jihad”.  Jihad is not terrorism. Ashura is not a “Muslim blood festival”.  Muslims are not forbidden to have non-Muslims as friends.  The Nuclear Security Summit logo is an atom on a circular path, not an Islamic symbol, the U.S. Missile Defense Logo is not evidence of Obama’s ‘Submission To Shariah’, and neither is the Flight 93 memorial.  Barack Obama is not a Muslim, but so what if he was?  (Note: click on the links to see responses to particular claims or incidents