Pastor Terry Jones has at least temporarily suspended his planned Koran burning rally in Florida, but some fear the damage may have already been done. Headlines concerning the rally have already made their way around the world, and terrorist propaganda artist will surely spin whatever happens next into a "the West hates Islam" narrative.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Pastor Jones and his rhetoric constitute a threat to American military forces and civilians. Last week, mere rumors of the event generated protests in Afghanistan. Protesters called for the murder of President Obama, and threw rocks at American military convoys. General Patreaus, head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, called for the event to be stopped since it would "endanger the lives" of his soldiers. Since that time both Interpol and the State Department have warned of an increased risk of terrorist attacks in response to Pastor Jones rally.
Now, some liberals are arguing that conservatives share some responsibility for the unfolding of this scenario. As evidence, they point to the narrative pushed by many conservatives over the past two months over the "Ground Zero mosque" controversy. Despite being build by a moderate group of Muslims, conservatives like Glenn Beck have claimed the mosque represents a possible danger to America. Beck has questioned the funding sources behind the mosque even though he has never given the same scrutiny to a Mormon church. Beck also has called Imam Rauf, the main spokesperson behind the project, a radical. Sarah Palin has also expressed her opposition to the mosque, calling it offensive to merely build a Muslim place of worship two blocks away from Ground Zero. Finally, New Gingrich may have been most forceful in his opposition, comparing the mosque builders to Nazis and saying it could be used as terrorist command and control center.
Even beyond Palin, Beck and Gingrich, the larger conservative community has not long been promoting what some call "Islamaphobia." Many times in covering terrorist threats conservatives blur the line between moderate Muslims (who make up the overwhelming majority of those who follow Islam) and extremists (which every major religion suffers from). Media Matters has documented an extensive list of times when Fox News personalities and other conservatives have painted all Muslims as extremists or threats to America.
Finally, Pastor Jones may have provided the best evidence of a connection between his actions and conservatives like Palin and Beck. When asked to comment on the Koran burning event Sarah Palin did call for it to be stopped, but also connected the rally to the plans to build the "Ground Zero mosque." Under Palin's reasoning, both events were objectionable though liberals obviously disagree with the comparison. In announcing he was canceling his Koran burning rally, Pastor Jones followed Paln's lead in connecting his event with the Cordoba House project.
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Comments
Oh you betcha... there's a BIG connection between hateful conservative rhetoric and the actions of Terry Jones.
Ryan Witt has been promoting what some call 'conservativeaphobia'.
Oh goody, another thing to blame on conservatives! Happy Day! BORING!!!
I think if there is anyone to blame it is the pastor himself; he is responsible for his own actions and he alone. This is all about personal accountability, personal responsibility, some thing that is foreign to the liberal mind. This pastor is to blame and no one else and all this piece amounts to is another desperate stab at doing anything to help desperate democrats in the coming fall election.
Witt is a conservaphobe!
he can't be...his half brother was born conservative, but he loves his brother just as much as if he were born with a regular brain.
The actions of the radicals if they do anything violent, will be the fault of those that support the Victory Mosque and are fomenting hate toward others.
The hateful rhetoric from the right toward the Cordoba House project combined with the excessive media coverage of the same led Terry Jones to hold his "Koran burning".
"The hateful rhetoric from the right toward the Cordoba House project ..." by that you mean the 70% of Americans who agree with the right to build the mosque but think it is still a bad idea?
Nooooo, I'm talking about celebrity polititians, political entertainers and extremist wingnut bloggers from all over the country that managed to rile up their core audience, not that questionable "70%" you refer to.
Nah, it's all the fault of the evil IRS for hitting the church with that huge fine for tax evasion.
Jonesie had no choice but to con folks into sending him money.
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