Summary: A bizarre ruling by a Pennsylvania State judge has sparked yet another round of anti-Muslin hysteria by Republicans. Sharia is coming! Sharia is coming. The far more widespread and growing hostility towards Muslims — backed by government action — remains invisible. Can a people with such a weak grasp of reality — so little self-awareness — survive in our complex and changing world?
The hot news:
- “The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania“, Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review
- “Sharia Comes to Pennsylvania“, PJ Media
- “Penn Judge: Muslims Allowed to Attack People for Insulting Mohammad“, Yahoo News
- And hundreds more such alarms course through the Internet.
Getting less attention:
Contents — what is more characteristic of America today:
- Choice #1: One tiny microscopic step towards Sharia, one large burst of hysteria
- Choice #2: widespread government programs aimed at American Muslims — an important story, revealing much about us
- For more information about our struggle to adapt to a new century
(1) Choice #1: One tiny microscopic step towards Sharia, one large burst of hysteria
(a) The incident (note the charge was not assault, as widely misreported, but harassment)
The charge was harrassment, by the dictionary “unwanted and annoying actions of one party on another.” {Update: in Penn law the “intent to harass, annoy, or alarm”) The ABC article below does give details, but it’s most often a misdemeanor.
The only news article to date about the incident (the story that sparked a thousand indignant blogposts): “Judge rules against atheist attacked in costume“, WHTM-ABC, 21 February 2012 — Excerpt:
The Atheists of Central Pennsylvania decided to walk in the Mechanicsburg Halloween parade. There was a zombie Pope and a zombie Muhammed. On YouTube, you can catch a scary moment. It’s dark and distorted, but a Muslim man comes off the curb extremely offended at Muhammed being depicted in this way.
“He grabbed me, choked me from the back, and spun me around to try to get my sign off that was wrapped around my neck,” said Ernie Perce, who donned the costume.
The Muslim man and Perce both called police to report a crime. Both kept walking, and a few blocks down found Sgt. Brian Curtis. He talked to both and came to this conclusion. “Mr. Perce has the right to do what he did that evening, and the defendant in this case was wrong in confronting him,” he said.
Talaag Elbayomy was charged with harassment, but District Judge Mark Martin threw it out after criticizing Perce, the victim, and even calling him a “doofus.” The audio is also on YouTube. Martin, who has done several tours of duty in the Middle East, said Perce would be put to death in those societies for his crime.
Perce wonders why that’s relevant in this country. “He let a man who is Muslim, because of his preference of his culture and his way of life, walk free from an attack,” Perce said.
… Although Elbayomy denied touching Perce at trial, Curtis said he admitted grabbing Perce’s sign and beard the night of the incident. Elbayomy said he was at the parade with his wife and two kids and felt he just had to do something. In fact, he too called police because he thought it was a crime for someone to depict Muhammed in such a way. He has since learned otherwise.
Cellphone video of the incident. It shows almost nothing, but is considered definitive evidence by right-wing bloggers.
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Update — comment from Eugene Volokh Prof Law, UCLA) at The Volokh Conspiracy: “and a mere physical attack with an attempt to grab a sign might or might not qualify … The acquittal itself might thus be justified, depending on exactly what evidence was introduced.”
(b) The Judge’s ruling
Transcript of remarks by Magisterial District Judge Mark W. Martin, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, posted by Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review Online, 25 February 2012. Martin is the equivalent of a justice of the peace, hearing minor criminal cases and small-claims civil suits. His remarks suggest a mail-order legal degree, in which he failed the “Bill of Rights” section.
Anyone want to place odds on Judge Martin’s odds of re-election when his six-year term expires in 2018?
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(c) Update: The Judge’s explanation
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(2) Choice #2: widespread government programs aimed at American Muslims
Entrapment of lone losers, encouragement and support to convert them into terrorists. Widespread surveillance, probably far beyond that which has become public knowledge. Unlike the occasional crazy judge, these are a powerful large-scale government programs. Unlike the almost insignificant support for sharia law (small even among Islam-Americans), this is America’s future.
The serious aspect of this is that we cannot see this difference in the seriousness and magnitude of the the two things.
Our reaction to the news about the NYPD program reveals much about the state of our nation. As Glenn Greenwald says,
{despite what the cartoon above shows, only a tiny fraction of those spied upon} are suspected of any wrongdoing; they are just innocent people who are targeted for surveillance solely because they are Muslim. … According to The New York Post, to be Muslim — as between 5-7 million people in America are — is to be a hook-nosed, Osama-worshipping, suicide-bomb-wearing Terrorist. There is no other interpretation for someone justifying a massive, indiscriminate spying program aimed at Muslims generally with this response. It goes without saying that there is not a single other group against whom bigotry this hateful and overt would be tolerated. And that explains a great deal about what has happened with U.S. policy — both foreign and domestic — over the last decade. (25 February 2012),
Update: another Greenwald quote:
So that is basically the story of the general civil liberties assault and the accompanying demonization of Muslims in America since 9/11. The Government spies on whomever it wants in total secrecy and with no checks or oversight. In those rare instances where it is revealed, those responsible immediately screech Terrorists! to keep fear levels high, while politicians in both parties, with rare exception, line up to support these assaults. The bigoted equation of Muslims with Terrorism is incrementally bolstered each time. And all of this becomes more and more normalized — not an aberration but the norm in American political life. (28 Feburary 2012)
For more about this see the following — this will be updated.
- Summary of the AP articles about the NYPD’s surveillance of American Muslims in NY and NJ, posted at NY Neighbors for American Values
- “NYPD spying program aimed at Muslims“, Glenn Greenwald, Salon, 22 February 2012
- “The NYPD spying controversy: a microcosm for the 9/11 era“, Glenn Greenwald, Salon, 28 February 2012
If we fear these changes — and act accordingly — perhaps we can prevent the death of our political regime and the birth of a new one. Probably one resembling the Founders’ nightmares.
(3) For more information about our struggle to adapt to a new century
- Which is better? Rioting in France and Greece or snoozing in America?, 28 October 2010
- Polarization and hot rhetoric conceal two similar political parties. Will we ever notice?, 29 October 2010
- We have the leaders we deserve. Visit MacDonald’s to learn why., 30 October 2010
- The problem with America lies in our choice of heroes, 2 November 2010
- The Enigma of American Power, 8 November 2010
- Why China will again rise to the top. About their most important advantage over America., 11 November 2010
- The story of the early 21st century: the future arrives, forcing us to build a new world order, 6 December 2010