But should WorldNetDaily be trusted?
In May the FBI released a bulletin mentioning WorldNetDaily as a source of paranoid fear of Muslims among far right militia groups.
Militia groups across the country are setting their sights on American Muslims. Since 2013, domestic militias have monitored Islamic institutions, and plotted and advocated violence against Muslims in states as diverse as New York, Indiana, Alaska and South Carolina. In 2014, militias in Mississippi “discussed kidnapping and beheading Muslims and posting the video” online, and a year earlier there were “calls over social media to kill Muslims attending worship services.”And to think the leaders of Armstrongism seem to trust this far right website so completely.
These revelations about militia groups’ increased targeting of Muslim communities come from a May 2015 FBI bulletin recently released by the website Public Intelligence. The FBI’s warning — which was issued with “high confidence”— states that militia groups’ focus on Muslims “has resulted in increased violent rhetoric and plotting and has the potential, over the long term, to additional harassment of or violence against Muslims done by domestic extremists.” ...
In addition to the background this bulletin provides on the potential dangers of these groups, the FBI report draws attention to the sources that inspire these groups’ perceptions of Islam and Muslims. Shaped by an “ideology that views Muslims collectively with suspicion” and “contribute[s] toward an anti-Muslim bias,” these “extremists” adhere to two main misconceptions: that “Islam represents a foreign threat, equivalent to those which emanate from illegal immigration or international terrorism,” and that “the President of the United States not only sympathizes with Islamic extremists but directs US Government policy to align with their goals.”
These groups are often inspired by right-wing websites and individuals that promote anti-Muslim rhetoric and “anti-government conspiracy theories.” The FBI report makes mention of a few by name, including World Net Daily and Pamela Geller, both of whom have fermented conspiracies about ISIS training camps in the U.S. (Source.)
These right wing publications focus on the terrorist elements of the Muslim faith. Basically, these are the Muslim equivalent of our own militias, although there is a marked difference in the actual level of violence. Beheadings, homicide-bombings, and revolutions in which sharia law are imposed are all in the news on a continuing basis, and are very effective all in their own in fomenting hatred and distrust of Islam. Many citizens of the civilized world do not separate the terrorists from peaceful Muslims as we would abortion-clinic bombers from typical Christians.
ReplyDeleteOur own militias are often referred to by their participants as "The Christian Patriot Movement". At least in the ACOGs, members did not shed their Social Security numbers, become anti-tax activists, acquire caches of weapons, and form separatist communes. But, the ACOGs, with their apocalyptic and legalist views are distant cousins of the Christian Patriots. Closest thing to a "missing link" was David Koresh, an extremist from the Adventist movement.
BB