Curt Schilling got in trouble with his employer [ESPN] for tweeting a comparison of the number of Muslim extremists that might exist today vs the number of Nazis in 1940. [May I suggest Stalin or Pol Pot for future attempts at evil equivalencies?] The move comes just in time to be part of the upcoming paperback edition of Kirsten Powers’ book, The Silencing.
On the one hand, ESPN’s suspension is the latest attempt by the powers that be to communicate to Muslims that; ‘While savageries are continually committed in the name of your Islamic faith across the world, we deem that no stigma or responsibility shall be ascribed to those of you residing in the Western societies, safely separated from the realities of being governed by your brethren in the faith. This protection is applicable even if you share the belief in Sharia law which is the main justification for the many atrocities committed in the name of Islam.’
In short, another example of the type of political correctness which is driving my fellow Republicans so insane, that they are actually telling pollsters that they would support Donald Trump for President. Don’t worry, I know you guys are kidding. Right?
But on the other hand [while I still have one, pending Sharia law implementation for blogging excesses which may offend the Profit [see what I did there?]], its an opportunity to highlight the very point Schilling was attempting to make.
Back in late 2014, the comedian Bill Maher had writer Sam Harris on his HBO show and together made it a point to note the problem is not just about Islamic terrorists, but the populations in predominantly Muslim countries which adhere to fundamentalist Islamic views [Sharia law].
Afterwards, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro put together a 6 minute video which highlighted the points made by Maher and attempted to quantify why the problem is not limited to active terrorists, but the many extreme aspects of Sharia law, belief in honor killings, etc. See below.
But the PC police didn’t get their jobs just for their pretty faces, besides that would be sexist. So Politifact analyzed the Shapiro video and found that by using differing criteria, both relied heavily on the Pew Research Center poll, their estimate was much lower than Shapiro. Given that, they deemed his position — The myth of of the tiny radical Muslim minority — as ‘false.’
Shapiro’s aggressive estimate of Muslims with extremist views was 72%, or 680 million. But using Politifact’s more lenient criteria, the estimate dropped to 19%, or 181 million. But still we’re talking about 181 million people. The gist of Schilling’s tweet was that even if it’s only 10% of Muslims, it’s still a big problem.
Finally we get to the humorous part of the blog post. Even using criteria intended to downplay fears about Muslims with extremist views — Maajid Nawaz has coined a more useful description, “Islamists” – Schilling’s estimate was on the low side by almost 100%. Hey, maybe that’s why he was suspended?
A few bloggers I read on this issue are listed below. Sobering stuff, but that Martin Niemoller quote has long haunted me.
H/T to Wichi re the blog post title. As with testimonies, any allegedly stolen ideas are now strictly property of the blog.
Filed under: 2TG Favorites, Current Affairs & History Tagged: Ben Shapiro, Curt Schilling, ESPN, Islam, Islamists, Joseph Stalin, Kirsten Powers, Maajid Nawaz, Martin Niemöller, Muslims, Pol Pot, Sharia Law, The Silencing, Wichi
