#AntiMuslimHate #ArizonaHateCapitoloftheWorld #NotMyAmerica This weekend, a group of 250 led by a former U.S. Marine, protested against a Mosque in Phoenix claiming they wanted to show the world America is about free speech, tolerance, and against violence and hate. But their protest was driven by hate, founded on hypocrisy and consumed by contradictions; all the protest did was expose their racism against Muslims and their ignorance about both Islam and Christianity, and free speech
By Ray Hanania
Is anyone surprised that the organizer of an anti-Muslim rally in Phoenix now claims he has to hide because he fears for his life from “death threats” he says he has received?
It’s really ironic and typical of the racism and hate that is rising as a result of extremists on both sides who are exploiting violence for their own personal agendas.
John Ritzheimer, a former U.S. Marine who organized a rally this weekend in Phoenix, Arizona to protest a terrorist attack that took place near Dallas, says he just wants peace and justice. But his event has attracted haters, racists and protestors who denounce an entire religion, rely on stereotypes and promote hate in a contest showcasing negative cartoon images and hateful caricatures that stereotyped Islam and its Prophet Mohammed.
Ritzheimer targeted the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix because two gunmen who in early May tried to shoot and kill participants at another “hate Islam/Mohammed Cartoon contest” organized by the notorious New York racist and provocateur Pamela Gellar at the Curtis Culwell Center (Garland, Texas near Dallas), had attended the Phoenix mosque.
Clearly the two dead gunmen, Elton Simpson, 31, and Nadir Soofi, 34, who were wearing body armor and carrying assault rifles when they attacked the Mohammed Cartoon event on May 3, were terrorist criminals incited by the same hatred that incites Gellar and her friends. The two gunmen were shot dead by Texas Police and security hired by the event organizers after they tried to storm the event with guns blazing in a fanatic, terrorist rush.
Ritzheimer, who has been identified in the media as the organizer of the latest anti-Islam rally, according to the New York Post, one of a dozen major news media promoters of racist anti-Muslim hate reporting that has helped fuel the rising violence on both sides of this idiotic issue, has gone into hiding saying he fears for his life. That kind of contradicts his tough words and vows posted on his Facebook Page this week:
“Driving in the middle of the quiet desert with a clear mind. Writing key notes for my next big announcement. I’ve decided that if I die, it will be as a free man, and not as a coward. You will not find me in a hole like we found Saddam Hussein. I’m going to keep living free but keep my protection close and near. I’m a Marine and we don’t run and hide. We hunker down in our fighting hole and we stick it out! I have a heightened sense of things out here when I’m alone. And I have more PEACEFUL ideas that I want to see take place across America.”
He also posted a video denying claims by critics that he supports violence.
Well, Ritzheimer may in fact be hiding in a Saddam Hussein hole someplace, at least if you believe the garbage that passes as news at the vicious New York Post newspaper. But that’s besides the real issues here. I reached out to Ritzheimer for a comment and will post it if he responds.
Ritzheimer and Gellar, allegedly, organized the contest in Phoenix to draw caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed as a part of Gellar’s campaign to harass and bully American Muslims, whom she disagrees with both religiously and politically. They’re doing it because Muslims say the cartoons offend them, which suggests the purpose is to offend other Americans who happen to be Muslim.
The anti-Islam event drew only 250 attendees and was confronted by 250 other protestors who oppose Gellar’s hate campaigns. The two groups shouted insults at each other, according to the media reports.
Rather than criticize the criminals, Ritzheimer is enthusiastically making the mistake that Gellar has made, broadly denouncing an entire religion and an entire people for the acts of two terrorists who claim to be Muslims but in fact violated a fundamental principle of Islam, which is a peaceful religion that has as many crazy violent fanatics as does Christianity and Judaism.
Terrorists can claim whatever they want, but it doesn’t make it true. And why do people like Gellar and Ritzheimer believe the terrorists who espouse hatred and threats, but ignore the words of other Americans who claim those terrorists don’t represent them?
That’s a point neither Ritzheimer or Gellar will acknowledge, of course. To them, it’s not really about standing up to violence or terrorism. They only stand up to violence from criminals who claim to be representing Islam and Muslims. When you focus on the suspect’s race and religion, then your actions are a hate campaign. When you ignore facts and target people because of what they believe, rather than for what they do, then you are a hater, and an enabler of the growing terrorism.
For example, how many people have been attacked, injured and killed by former servicemen? Or how about by motorcycle gang members? Or how about by Christians, Jews and atheists, in fact, not to leave anyone out of this point?
The anti-Muslim haters don’t care that they also represent a growing violence-driven group of fanatics, or that their protests are based on racism, stereotypes and discrimination that have nothing to do with the violence. They don’t mind that their racism and hate provokes more violence, as long as it gets them attention, apparently.
For example, Ritzheimer posted this hate-filled picture of himself waiving an American flag and wearing a “Fuck Islam” t-shirt. It only shows how crazy some people have become by the growing violence in today’s world. For someone who claims he doesn’t want violence, he sure is acting deceitful.
Ritzheimer is a victim of his own hatred. If someone didn’t threaten him, I suspect he would have been disappointed because what he is doing is as much about wanting attention as it is about hating on Islam, bullying Muslim Americans and organizing rallies that replicate rallies held by the Ku Klux Klan. Instead of wearing white sheets, they’re wearing hateful t-shirts and racist slogans.
As an American military veteran myself, I am always appalled by others who waive the American Flag as they engage in racist and hate-filled behavior.
The real irony is that while embracing Free Speech and the American Constitution, the haters are themselves trying to bully people and prevent them from expressing their own free speech, to denounce the attacks against Islam and the Prophet Muhammed.
Racist hatred is despicable regardless of who engages in it. It doesn’t matter whether they are disciples of a crazed New York activist, a Phoenix former Marine, or two Muslims who turned to violence to respond.
Some of the worst crimes have been committed by Christians who went to Church. Yet Muslims, and others like Gellar and Ritzheimer, have never rallied to protest those churches. Racists will argue that Christian Churches don’t promote violence, but you can find many examples of Christian church leaders who do advocate violence.
The Islamic Community Center that was targeted by Ritzheimer and Gellar has never advocated any violence against anyone. Neither have the muslims who attend that Mosque, with the exception of the two terrorists, who were dealt with properly by law enforcement.
In a video posted by Ritzheimer, he claims he wasn’t advocating violence. But he admits he was wearing a gun and that he really “wants the bloodshed to end.” He wants to make America a better place, he claims.
Well, hate doesn’t make America a better place. It on enables more hatred, and more violence. So you are a failure Ritzheimer. And you are certainly a disgrace to U.S. Marines who have fought real terrorism and violence with honor, defending this country for the right reasons.
Ritzheimer is a victim of the growing racist hatred that Gellar is selling to the world, a father of two children who can’t seem to control his own rage and anger and instead of practicing the essence of true Christianity, which is to turn away from name-calling, provocations and hatred, he is blinded by his own anger.
If I were the Muslims in Phoenix, I’d invite him to sit down and talk, because the majority of Muslims are better people than the people hating on them. The only real way to deal with blind hatred in America is to address it head on, not the same way the fanatics convey it but using the essence of true Islam, true Christianity, true Judaism and the true spirit of Americanism that everyone claims to have.
No one wanted those two terrorists Simpson and Soofi to commit their acts of violence. They were handled properly. But maybe they, too, were reacting in an out-of-control manner to the growing racism of many of the people attending the hate Mohammed rally in Gardland, Texas. Maybe the organizers of the hate-Mohammed cartoon contest are also responsible for contributing to the violence.
One day Americans will be rid of all of the haters. That’s a goal we should aspire too.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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Refuse to wait for you to “approve” my comment. Deleted.
What race is Islam and why are the people who write this making excuses for the Garland shooters and Charlie Hebdo attackers?
Charlie Hebdo deserved to die, you dont draw incitement inducing hate filled comments that you know will put your life in danger and be shocked when they come to kill you. Its like punching a lion in the face and being shocked when it bites you
Seems to me that we are talking about mental illness and not ‘haters’ at all. In some cases psychopaths but we shouldn’t be limited to that narrow definition.
“Jumping to a fake mental disorder diagnosis in everyone who is violent has another serious downside. It unfairly stigmatizes the mentally ill, most of whom are not violent. The public and the press must accept that political or religious violence is usually just political or religious, not very often the result of diagnosable mental illness.”
That said to merely define these people as ‘haters’ is just too kind. They are not involved in something random by an organised agenda to defame. By doing so they prevent legitimate critique of Islam from within. What sane Muslim is going to make comment that will see them magnetically attract team Geller. The negative impact on internal critique within Muslim communities may well limit expressions of critical thinking and lead to the protection of radicals rather than their exclusion. Therefore they contribute to an issue which is their claimed concern.