How about two cops in a rowboat?
Well, that's a relief. Let's have a big-picture lede to set the stage before we start counting, and don't forget to mention those colleges and their safe spaces!
Since President-elect Donald Trump's victory, people have taken to social media with concerns and fears about the incoming administration. Riots, protests and the creation of safe spaces on college campuses have rose* in the wake of an election that has left the country deeply divided.
But Ali Olaikhan, a Muslim-American, argues Trump's comments were taken out of context.
So we're at one -- at least, one who (according to Fox) thinks some unspecified comments were taken out of context.
“I'm a Muslim, and I know what he says about Muslims,” said Olaikhan. “I understand what he means. He's talking about the terrorists or the extremists, of course."
Note to reporters: That's telepathy, not "context." If you want a comment taken out of context, try "you didn't build that," in which the context actually does make the scope of "that" clear:
Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business — that- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.
But back to the latest demonstration of affection for the Dear Leader!
Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV star, stunned the nation as he pulled off one of the biggest political upsets in history. Olaikhan said he was happy, but for the majority of registered Muslim voters, the election elicited a much different reaction.
“The first word I said when he won was ‘chaos,’” Abbas Abdul, a truck driver and former Department of Defense contractor, said. “I expected something to happen the next day.”
OK, we're at two -- though the second guy doesn't seem ready to bet on anything.
Both Abdul and Olaikhan were born in Iraq and worked as translators for the United States military forces in the early 2000s. They served in regions such as Ramadi and Mosul, some of the most violent places in the world — experiencing firsthand the devastating impact of terrorism.
While we're on the subject of context -- would "the early 2000s" be before or after the unprovoked US invasion that destabilized the region by removing the main regional counterweight to Iran? That's sort of how major Iraqi cities came to experience "the devastating impact of terrorism." But onward:
Only 4 percent of registered Muslim voters planned to vote for Trump, whereas 72 percent planned to vote for Hillary Clinton, according to a survey by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Trump’s campaign proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S.** sparked distrust among the Muslim community and was partly responsible for the deep rift among Muslim-American voters, said Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy.
... However, some argued the attack Monday at Ohio State University, which left 11 people injured and was under investigation as an act of terror, supported Trump’s claims of the need for “extreme vetting” to prevent Islamic extremists from entering the country.
Olaikhan said he didn’t “blame Trump” for proposing the ban, and understood Trump’s motivation was not to harm Muslim-Americans, but rather to protect America from more terrorist attacks.
Good start! So the rest of the many Muslims who are betting on Trump are about to join in, right?
... Abdul, who voted for Hillary Clinton, believes it’s not the ban that has Muslims concerned, but rather a narrative which Abdul claimed pushed the “trigger for violence.”
“A few days ago, I was in the bar, a couple people are around the bar drinking, and I had my beer, and they were like, ‘Hey, what do you think about what’s happening? Do you guys [Syrian refugees] deserve to be here?’ I was like, ‘Are you serious right now?’” Abdul said.
Not sure who decided to parenthetically clarify -- or not clarify -- that the Iraqi translator was a [Syrian refugee]. But surely we're due for some context!
Incidents like the one above have incited fear in minorities after Trump’s victory. However, Jasser believes while Trump’s rhetoric can be troubling at times, the real cause for worry is actually media bias — and the failure to fairly cover all aspects of the Muslim community.
I'm inclined to go along with him there. But we seem to be up to three Muslims, and only one is anywhere near the betting bandwagon.
... Despite conflicting views of who is best suited to run the country, both Abdul and Olaikhan agree the next four years boil down to one crucial issue: defeating ISIS.
“A lot of Muslims they like him, most of the Muslims I know like Trump,” says Olaikhan. “They like him because he is serious about ISIS, and serious about the tax and the middle class.”
Abdul also hopes to see Trump make good on his promise to eradicate terrorism, and his message to the President-elect is pretty clear, “go fight the terrorists out there, wherever they are.”
You have to wonder sometimes why Fox doesn't enable comments on some stories -- this one, for example. Could it be because even Fox readers have trouble adding one to zero and getting "many"?
* (sic), if you must. I mean, who's gonna read the first paragraph?
** Pesky context
posted by fev at 11:37 PM
1 Comments:
Has anyone wondered whether being the constant object of suspicion and abuse might cause thoroughly vetted people to become hostile? When some non-Muslim person who doesn't look Arabic and was born in the U.S. lashes out because of real or perceived injustice, ISIS doesn't claim responsibility, but the effects are similar. Treating humans with respect and empathy might go a long way.
Post a Comment
<< Home