Stealth Jihad In America
I was at a major university in southern California last week meeting with a friend who is a member of the faculty. I m being deliberately vague, because I'm still having trouble believing what I am about to report. Bear with me while I work my way to my point.
The drive in was a long one and on my way up I stopped to use the rest room. When I finished I reached over for some toilet paper in a restroom that I had been in literally dozens of times. The paper roll had moved from the right side wall to the left side wall. I could tell because the screw holes from where it was were still on the right side wall. Curious I thought. It must have been carelessly broken off of the wall, and the only choice was to put it on the other one. I put it out of my mind.
On my way out a few hours later there were maintenance people in another rest room . They were working in the stalls, and they were switching the toilet paper rolls from the right side to the left side. I asked about what looked like a "make work" project, and the maintenance worker in charge said that all he knew was that his work order said to switch them.
I poked my head back in my friends office. Jokingly I asked what the deal was with the toilet paper - it seemed odd and funny. I figured that Nancy Pelosi must have thought this one up. My friend said that it was a request from one of the student groups.
That only led to a puzzled look on my face. He, somewhat uncomfortably, explained that a Muslim student group had placed the request for cultural reasons, and that the university was accommodating them in their request to the best of their ability. Then I understood.
Muslims, according to the Koran, are to eat with the right hand and wipe with the left. My guess is that reaching with the left hand over to the right side of the stall was inconvenient. About as inconvenient as an American reaching with his right hand over to the left wall.
To be fair, the school does have a large and growing Muslim enrollment. Muslims make up about 15% of the students. And in full disclosure I could not get confirmation of this being the reason from administrators that I contacted right up to the dean's office. The closest I came was a maintenance supervisor who said that he had heard the same thing.
All right, BFD. It's toilet paper. Let's contrast with some other stuff going on at our campuses (or campi, if you are using the proper plural). May 8th was Israeli Independence Day. There were incidents at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and San Francisco State University where Muslim student groups held anti Israel rallies, which were tolerated and protected. Free speech is free speech.
At SFSU, a pro Israel Independence rally was disrupted by a smaller but more vocal anti Israel rally that drowned out the speakers with Arabic music and chants calling for the destruction of Israel. Campus police did nothing to prevent the rally from being disrupted. Maybe some speech is more free than others.
Over the past couple of weeks a beauty queen, an eight year old child and an 8 month old baby made the news for being fondled in the name of airport security. Yet only the other day a man who was not selected for enhanced screening was subdued and arrested after charging the cockpit door screaming "Allahu Akbar!" In case you hadn't guessed male, Arabic, you know - fits that racist profile.
A dimwit in Florida burns a Koran and riots erupt across the Muslim world. In those riots American flags were the fuel of choice in the fires they set. Just to top it off, American servicemen arriving in Afghanistan have had their bibles confiscated and burned, so as to not offend the locals.
There is a stealth jihad, a creeping sharia that is spreading throughout the world. Europe has largely succumbed to it, but it is not dead yet. With the vast flood of north African Muslims pouring into Italy, France has seen fit to defend it's southern border,apparently for the first time ever. France and Germany together have introduced proposals to at least temporarily stop free movement between countries in the EU until things "settle down". They are learning that a country without borders is not really a country.
The stealth jihad has arrived at our shores as well. They push and gauge our response. The 1993 WTC bombing was treated as a police matter, so we got 9-11. 9-11 rained down some instant hell on them so they backed away. Afghanistan was won, then sidelined, and now, who knows? Iraq was won, then lost, then won, then crumbled into chaos. The Middle East is on fire and we muddle. Then we kill Bin Laden. If President Obama could come up with a consistent policy, he, and we, could profit from it.
Western civilization prides itself on being enlightened and open minded - after all we dreamed up western civilization. America exemplifies western civilization at it's zenith. We define ourselves by our liberty and our freedom. We believe that all people have inherent rights. Our weakness comes from our failure to recognize that not everyone shares our belief.
9-11 was an obvious push, but not every push is as obvious. Sometimes the war is won in the mundane. A teacher who sues the school board for not allowing her 17 days off in the middle of testing to make a Hajj; an employee suing the company cafeteria for having pork products available in an eating area; and yes, where the toilet paper roll is mounted.
Common Sense Dictates
Not all wars are won on the battlefield. Most are won by one side choosing not to fight. Pacificism is elevated by many in this country as the enlightened choice. When an enemy is determined to fight, and you refuse to step up to defend yourself, well, where is the moral victory in actual defeat? Where is the moral victory in surrendering the liberties that we pride ourselves on to make nice with a philosophy that does not value them in the least?
By now some of you are labeling me as racist, or nativist, or a Muslim hater. I am not. My friend, the professor that I had mentioned early on, emigrated here from Egypt in the 1980s. He is a devout, practicing Muslim, and I can personally attest to the fact that no one loves this country and the liberties it affords more than he does. Islam in not incompatible with western civilization any more than being a Southern Baptist, a Roman Catholic or an Orthodox Jew.
In one of those times that I can come to the defense of President George W. Bush, our war is not with Islam, per se. It is with those who cloak hatred and a political system that promotes virtual slavery under the guise of Islam. It is fascism that does not have the state as arbiter of every decision, but claims the mantle of God as it's authority. It is humanistic greed masquerading as religious piety. God has nothing to do with it, as Osama bin Laden recently found out.
We must defend and push back against these encroachments. Our way of life, and our belief system is being challenged and threatened by a political system that last challenged us nearly a millennium ago. We were up to the task then thanks to the creative thinking of Richard, the Lion Heart, who in an eerily familiar way, decided to take the fight to them, rather than fight them here. The capture of Jerusalem ended the Muslim conquest of Europe.
We need to defend our way of life, or lose it. There is no accommodation with those who wish to destroy us,, because the only accommodation they would accept is our destruction. That is unacceptable to me, and I would have to believe it is to a majority of our readership. We need to push back when we are pushed, pure and simple. Every push is just a test of our mettle. So says Common Sense.
RLB
Categories: Foreign Affairs, Rights and Responsibilities, Terrorism, Civic Duty
Tags: civic responsibility foreign policy Middle East national security
It seems excessive. But then again we do need to allow them to express their faith the way it is taught in their holy book.
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No. Just no. a person's freedom of religion stops when it interefere's with my rights. Freedom of religion has limits. The Mormons can't practice polygamy. You can't use illegal drugs or make animal or human sacrifices. You can't accost people. We are a primarily christian or secular nation. We get along with the jews, the hindus, the buddhists and just about every other religion. We do that because we all respect each person's right to worship according to his own conscience. I know muslims who practice in this manner, and I agree that islam can be compatible with American society. The muslims in question do NOT give that respect.They demand that American (and all societies) make concessions to them. They demand special treatment, and they get way in our face. Well, I demand that if they don't like how we do things here that they go back to their crappy sandbox and live a happy life. Inshallah.
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When anyone bends over backwards to please one person or one group, it's almost guaranteed that everyone else will be offended. There are excellent points here. Yes, everyone must be free to practice their own faith according to their own doctrine. Once it starts infringing on others' rights, it needs to stop.
However, your comment about Nancy Pelosi was unnecessary, irrelevant, and inflammatory. Regardless of how we may feel about her, throwing that comment in here was gratuitous. It makes you guilty of exactly what you were complaining about in "When Did We Go Insane?".
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You better watch your back - the muzzies don't like being called out.It offends them. much like they offend me.
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Really? You're turning toilet paper into an act of war? I don't even know what to do with that. It's important to them, and not to me. What's the harm?
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not calling to toilet paper roll moving an, as you say, "act of war", but other faith groups in this country do not receieve the same courtesies...jus' sayin'.
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I don't think there's a whole lot of stealth about it - remember the flag that they are planting near Ground Zero with the mega-mosque? They are in our face, and we just politely give them what they want. God forbid that one gets enhanced search at the airport. You wouldn't think that such a peaceful, holy group could curse in such colorful terms. We need to push back, and hard.
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The Islamofascists (that's what they want, the foundation of an Islamic state)are repeating the same thing that they did in Europe here in the US. They use our openness and our fairness against us. It was easier to do in Europe because they have a lot of guaranteed social programs that were easily exploited. It's a little harder to do it here, but we are quicker to think that we have offended someone, so there is a change in strategy, but it is part of the strategy. It's like a virus. Their strategy is to move in and take over in baby steps.
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I'm not making apologies for the "muslims in question", but I'd like to balance out history. If one read's the Old Testament, the Jews are cast in a very bad light. Christianity had the Spanish Inquisition as one of it's more barbaric periods. Neither is that way anymore, because once they met up with what we now consider "western civilization", the period following the Reformation, religion bowed to individual dignity. That took several hundred years. Islam has been on the rise in Europe and America for about 30 years. Western civilization will win over the long haul, but not if we keep chipping away at it to appease those who identify themselves as enemies of it, or proponents of a better system.
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I don't really know a lot of Muslim people, so I don't have any special knowledge to add. Still, the ones I know from work are all reasonable people, and they live normal lives. I don't see a terrorist behind every bush. I agree that if you live here, you should be American, or at least be respectful of America. Preaching hate is not acceptacle.
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This goes back to your article on immigrants not assimilating. They have that saying aboutAmerica being a melting pot. That's not true, because each culture that comes to America has an effect, usually good, on America. The other comparison is that America is a great gumbo, many differnet things coming together to make something more rich and more flavorful. Your Islamic radicals do not wish to become a part of American society. Instead of diving into the gumbo and adding more flavor, they choose to sit itn a Tupperware (their segregated communities) containner and get dropped in the pot. It adds nothing to America, and assimilation is not possible. That is a prescription for failure.
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If you want to live here, and you don't want to live in the American way, stay where you are. We don't want you. If you want to live here and reap the benefits, you need to become a part of American society.
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The airport thing is really getting to me lately. So many regular Americans getting frisked, but if an Arab looks at a TSA agent funny, they pass through with no problem. I guess they are afraid of being accused of profiling or racism. It's a disgrace that my person is violated, and not in an equal manner to everyone else.
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Next will be the train stations. There was some intel in Osama's computers outlining attacks on passenger rail stations. Can wait until I have to take off my shoes to ride the train home. For sure I'll buy a car then.
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We've given up a lot of freedom for very little payback in security. Franklin said that a man who trades his liberty for security deserves nether. On this issue, we have been playing defense, and not going full out. Militarily, if we hit them even open-handed we would destroy the terrorists. Culturally, our "diversity" police have neutered who we are as a society. Multiculturalism doesn't work because it fractures societies. A society needs to have a common vision. We don't. We have more and more sub groups claiming discrimination and special favors. It's no way to run a country.
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Let me accept your view, just for the sake of argument, that there is some sort of invasion going on here. Since there is no government involvement from the Muslim world in this "invasion", we have to accept that these people are coming here voluntarily. While here, they feel uncomfortabein our culture and try to maintain their own. Rather than "pushing back" wouldn't it be a better idea to make life better in their home countries so that they can return there and live in a culture they are comfortable with?
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That would be "nation building" Randi, and as I remember it you din't like the idea much when Bush was trying it in Iraq and Afghanistan. You know - get rid of the tyrants, set up democracy, build schools and roads, and rebuild the schools and roads when they get blown up again. At this point, I don't think its a good idea either. All I really care about is that if you want to live here, you need to become American first. No one will take your heritage away from you, but in America, we do things the American way. If you don't like it, don't come here.
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I agree with the whole idea the whether or not we are at war with islam, islam is at war with us. If we don't deal with it, we lose. We should do to them what they would do to us if they could - squash them like bugs.
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This smacks of the degrading racism that classifies people of different beliefs as sub-human. You should be ashamed.
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Valerie, I am pretty much as liberal as they come. I side with you on a lot of things.
First, let's be very, very clear. This article is not in reference to Muslims in general. It is in reference to extremists, and those that wish to destroy people who disagree with them.
This, however, is not racism. Nor is he classifying those with different beliefs as sub-human, or even terribly different.
What he is saying, however, is that it is NOT okay for a radical, extremist group to trample all over everyone else's rights. It's not fair that a baby gets a pat-down, but a Muslim doesn't because it's against his religion. It's not fair that the UC system spent even one penny changing toilet paper holders during horrific budget cuts in order to placate less than 15% of their population.
This isn't about racism in the least. It's about having local and national policies that respect everyone, not just those people we are scared of.
It's the extremists that classify people of different beliefs as sub-human. THOSE people should be ashamed.
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Shannon -
Wish there was a "like" button. There's a difference between setting out the welcome mat and being a doormat.
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I find it really sad that 3 religions based in the same root just can't get along. That said, I would rather have it be the Christians or the Jews deciding how things are than the Muslims. The headlines coming out of the Middle East have been horrible, and I can't imagine either Christianity or Judaism condoning them. Maybe the Muslims really don't share our beliefs.
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OK, so we move the TP to the LHS in the stalls. What's next? Salute our flag with our left hand, move the steering wheel to the left, drive on the left? NO THANKS. Why come to a country and demand they change everything...unless CHANGE ISN'T REALLY WHAT YOU'RE AFTER?? SOUNDS MORE LIKE DOMINATION TO ME.
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Sometimes it is the quiet, unimportant battles that wind up losing or winning the war. You don't need a gun to conquer a country, just a submissive population. We really need to wake up to what's going on here.
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I get into Michigan a lot on business (yeah, there still IS business to be done in Michigan...), and they have one of the biggest Muslim populations in the US. There is a lot of catering to the Muslim mindset up there, but it stays pretty much limited to the Muslim neighborhoods. They segregate themselves. I'm sure there's a little accommodation made in public places, but I haven't seen it on the scale that you are reporting. Maybe California is just a little crazy.
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I'll go with hoosier on this. We have a fair amount of Muslims here, and Madison iis a university town, so we see more than most. They do tend to segregate themselves, and I haven't noticed any of the things that you are seeing in California. Granted, I haven't really been looking either, but I think that California has a tendency to over react in the name of diversity.
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I agree with most of this article, except I do not believe a moderate muslim exists. A muslim must follow the koran, thus you cannot be moderate and muslim at the same time.
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I appreciate you sharing this story. I for one would like to know why someone would move to a country because it is so much better than there own country and then try to change things so that the new country resembles the old one. It makes no sense to me. If I moved somewhere better than the country I was born and raised in, I would be adopting their culture, etc. Isn't that what made it better in the first place?
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We have to wake people up to the infiltration of our Republic!!They are using our strenghts of compassion for our fellow man as an instrument against us just as other minorities try to make mainstream folks conform to their needs,first!!We would be willing to help anyone,just don't cram it down our throats with laws,demanding it!!!
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They try to shame us into not speaking up. Someone should have questioned the use of public money to switch toilet paper rolls from one side to the other.
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Seems they will take us down with stupidity and lack of common sense,we are in trouble.
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We need a president that has the balls of Pershing, Patton, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. A bunch of bad mamma jammas that dont take excuses and dont bow to the enemy.
This PC crap has slowly destroyed this country from the inside out.
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What I find amazing, many EVEN IF TOLD will call you Islamophobic. Even the ones that know you are not a racist or a person that has issues with prejudice. The spirit of deception is heavely cloaking their minds, eyes and ears.....
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We must not allow the stifled sheep to sharia-ize our society. While they are living by the rules of PCism, we are being invaded & conquered.
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Very well written article. In my discussions with many who claim to be opposed to the "unnecessary" wars in the middle east, the root of the matter is their hatred of war. No one hates war more than a soldier and most of these peaceafisits have never served. To David's point about disengaging from this part of the world. It's too late for that which is the point of the article in that Islam has spread throughout Europe and is spreading here as well. PC has been a failure and, it seems, the only ones that truly understand this are those of us not living in ivory towers.
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Very well put. I have been trying to explain to everyone, the little liberties that are being taken, as well as the little incidents of so called placating or giving in and the little instances of over sensitivity. All these "little" things are that way for a purpose. So that before we know it we are in a totally socialistic and dare I say almost communistic country. Wake up people and stand up for our constitutional rights. We should all be able to do and say whatever we like so long as we do not infringe upon the rights of others. I said infringe upon rights not offend, or hurt someones feelings. There is a difference.
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My solution is simple. If the toilet paper is on the left, piss on it. If on the right, use it.
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