First they came

I have recently become aware of the movement led by some hard right Republicans and others to make being a Muslim a crime in America. I had not heard of this one until I caught it on TV.

I was stunned—it is, after all, a direct assault on freedom of religion in America. But, what I found fascinating was that some of the people behind the movement are Jewish.

That seems odd. Oh, I can understand it, what with the threat to Israel and all, and the more or less open incorporation of crude, Nazi-style anti-Semitism in Jihadist ideology. Yet, even so, to make a religion illegal in America…? Do we really want to set that precedent? And who would be next?

First they came for the Muslims…

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Another thing that fascinates me is how many of the most energetic leaders of the current anti-Muslim movement are, in fact, young, conservative women. By that I don't mean the old faithfuls…Palin, Ann Coulter…but rather a harder edged bunch, people like blogger Pam Geller, who combines Ayn Rand with anti-Islamic activism, and Laurie Cardozza-Moore, who led the opposition to that mosque in Tennessee. (Carodozza-Moore later got her fifteen minutes of fame, and more, by appearing in the Daily Show's coverage of the story.)

Note to feminists.

You've worked for decades to get women into politics…to "feminize power."

Well…

Was this really what you had in mind?


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BTW, you can see more on Carodozza-Moore's time on the Daily Show here:

huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/26/the-daily-show-mosque_n_695329.html

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I suppose I'll take some heat for my comment on the move to make Islam a crime in America. It is, after all, fairly unlikely. It is the kind of thing that a few fringe figures suggest to get a few headlines…and then gets promptly and properly forgotten.

Yet, I do worry. You see, at least some reports seem to suggest that similar ideas are reasonably common in the theoretically mainstream Tea Party Movement (see, for example, here: www. huffingtonpost.com/ahmed-rehab/tea-party-official-corres_b_693579.html).

Which, as I say, makes me worry. Fringes are not fixed. They tend to move about at the gentlest puff of wind. I feel some real terror that I may some morning awaken to find this baring down on me, like the Flying Dutchman, or the ghost ship in The Ancient Mariner…

Cursed, inexplicable, crewed by wraiths and furies…and impossible to escape.