Les Jones: The Religion of Peace That Dare Not Speak Its Name

March 14, 2006

Middle East > The Religion of Peace That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Mark Steyn looks at P.C. media self-censorship in the Chapel Hill terrorist attack.

A fellow called Mohammed mows down a bunch of students? Just one of those things -- like a gran'ma in my neck of the woods a couple of years back who hit the wrong pedal in the parking lot and ploughed through a McDonald's, leaving the place a hideous tangle of crumbled drywall, splattered patties and incendiary hot apple-pie filling. Yet, according to his own statements, Taheri-azar committed an act of ideological domestic terrorism, which he'd planned for two months. He told police he was more disappointed more students in his path weren't struck and that he'd rented the biggest vehicle the agency had in order to do as much damage to as many people as possible. The Persian car pet may have been flooring it, but the media are idling in neutral, if not actively reversing away from the story as fast as they can. Taheri-azar informed the judge he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah," and it was apparently the will of Allah that he get behind the wheel of Allah.

It is odd that the media is downplaying the Islamic terror angle that's very clearly the rationale behind the attacks. I've seen commentators justify it by saying that the media doesn't want to inflame the situation because they don't want to risk a violent backlash against Muslims. It's the same rationale for not showing tapes of the 9/11 attacks. Of course, that backlash hasn't happened in any meaningful way in the past, despite media handwringing over same. So now we're in the situation of the media hiding information about an actually violent Muslim terrorist so that we supposedly violent Americans don't strike back. This seems to be nothing other than reverse (and flawed) P.C. profiling of Americans as ignorant, violent hoodlums.

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Comments

It is odd that the media is downplaying the Islamic terror angle that's very clearly the rationale behind the attacks.

WTF?

From the article Mark Steyn has his panties all in a knot over:

"Mr. Taheri-azar, who is being held on a $5.5 million bond, told the judge he was "THANKFUL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPREAD THE WILL OF ALLAH," The Associated Press reported." He's also identified in the article as a native of Iran.

How much more explict are they supposed to be? And not only is he clearly identitied as a Muslim, the article also uses the "T" word, although, being the America-hating, criminal coddling NYT, they use it in the context of the debate on the university campus about whether he is a terrorist or just a plain old crazy lunatic.

More apologias for terrorists from the MSM:

LA Times:
"University of North Carolina student Stephen Mann has a simple definition for the attack that occurred on his campus last week: terrorism. He and other UNC students were disturbed to learn this weekend that former UNC student Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar allegedly plowed a sport utility vehicle into nine pedestrians on the busy campus square to "avenge the deaths of Muslims" around the world, according to campus officials."

Washington Post:
"A University of North Carolina graduate from Iran, accused of running down nine people on campus to avenge the treatment of Muslims, said at a hearing Monday that he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah.""
"Stephen Mann, an 18-year-old freshman, said he was not singling out Islam with his call to label Friday's incident terrorism. He said a member of any religion who did what Taheri-azar is accused of doing should be called a terrorist.

Posted by: Steve K. at March 13, 2006

This is a particularly choice bit from Steyn's article:

The Persian car pet may have been flooring it, but the media are idling in neutral, if not actively reversing away from the story as fast as they can. Taheri-azar informed the judge he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah," and it was apparently the will of Allah that he get behind the wheel of Allah.

Does the part in bold look familiar? It should, because it's from THE FUCKING NYT ARTICLE. Steyn is using a quote from the article which clearly identifies Mohammed Whatzizname as Muslim, without identifying it as such, as evidence that the article is trying to avoid identifying him as a Muslim.

Posted by: Steve K. at March 13, 2006

Interesting. I wonder which NYT article Steyn is referring to, March 5 or March 8, or if it makes a difference. I don't have a TimesSelect pass, so I can't see.

Posted by: Les Jones at March 14, 2006

Yep, I posted on this also. The MSM is to wimpy to call a terrorist a terrorist. What more do they need??? He ADMITTED what he wanted to do and why. Way too 'tolerant' for me.

Posted by: Debbie at March 14, 2006