Saturday, June 18, 2016

PCG's Richard Palmer Moans About the Non-Islamophobic World

When I had previously listened to PCG's Richard Palmer he did not seem overly ideological. But one can see beyond that in a recent broadcast of The Trumpet Hour he did shortly after the massacre in Orlando (Orlando: You Can't Call It Islamist Terrorism, June 13, 2016). Here is the synopsis.
Once upon a time, the media labeled anyone who said “Islam is a violent religion” as Islamophobic. But after the Orlando shooting this weekend, all you need to do to earn that label is mention that the terrorist was Muslim. The shooting has been blamed on “hatred,” “religious fundamentalism, whether your call it ‘Christian’ or ‘Muslim,’” and even “the patriarchy.” One senator was so anxious to avoid the term “Islamic terrorism” that he referred to the attack as a “public health crisis.” No one wants to talk about radical Islam. Even after news media reported Omar Mateen’s pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State, United States President Barack Obama said he had no “judgment on the precise motivations of the killer.” As former CIA director James Woolsey said, “You can’t effectively fight something if you can’t discuss it.” Trumpet writer Richard Palmer explores America’s muddled response to Sunday’s shooting and shows why America cannot solve a problem that it refuses to see. 
Here Palmer complains that the liberal media does not call the gunman in Orlando a Muslim.

He complains about how the BBC covered the massacre. He first learned of it through the BBC, but he complains that their reports did not say the gunman was a Muslim. He then says a friend advised him to look up Fox News. He then states that their coverage mentioned the gunman was a Muslim. Palmer insists that pointing out that the gunman was a Muslim is not bigoted. It is worth noting that PCG has a long history of demonizing Muslims.

(It seems strange for an organization that discourages interracial dating to dare suggest they are competent in deciding what is bigoted or not.)

Back in January 2014 Jeremiah Jacques gave a presentation advising PCG's leaders not to use Fox News too often in their writings. He said many people get turned off hearing about Fox News and will simply conclude that PCG's writings are right wing. Palmer appears to have disregarded Jacques' advice in this broadcast.

Palmer points to media reports that the gunman had pledged allegiance to ISIL. Using this Palmer proclaims this massacre to have been a Islamist, jihadist terrorist attack. Today it is now known that the gunman gave his allegiance to several armed groups including one that is diametrically opposed to ISIL. Last Thursday the CIA said they could find no direct link between the gunman and ISIL. It seems all too likely that he was just saying such things to make himself appear more intimidating.

Palmer then complains that Pamela Geller was blocked on Facebook. (The self ordained, almost arrested Bob Thiel also complained about this same matter.) Geller is notorious for vilifying Muslims and has been noted as being part of what some have called an Islamophobia Network.

If Palmer is worried about being blocked on Facebook it is really simple to avoid. Just blame those individuals responsible for acts of violence such as the massacre in Orlando instead of an entire religion. Just distinguish between those who are guilty and those who are innocent.

It has also come to light in various media reports that the gunman was gay. Media reports indicate he was man inclined towards violent tendencies who used to beat up his first wife. But what use is domestic violence to PCG's writers? PCG's writers decided to just leap to their favored conclusion and just blame it all on ISIL instead of waiting to see the fuller picture emerge and before the nature of the gunman's (seemingly non-existent) involvement with ISIL was better described.

At one point if he said that they hoped that this massacre would make people view Muslims and ISIL the way the PCG leadership does but were disappointed to see that it was not so. That they even had such a hope indicates just how narrow minded they are about such issues. Perhaps PCG's leaders should try to understand differing viewpoints instead of just simply insisting that they are right and any other opinion is wrong and worthy of contempt.

It is also worth noting that back in 2011 Richard Palmer minimized the genocidal Srebrenica massacre of 1995 in which 8000 Bosnian Muslims were murdered as merely "a crime of passion ... provoked by crimes on the other side."

11 comments:

  1. And yet, they would probably consider it inaccurate to associate Dennis Rohan or Terry Ratzmann with any breaking news item involving Armstrongism.

    Basically, Mateen was having a difficult time dealing with the juxtoposition of his sexual orientation with his deeply held religious beliefs, and he turned his self-hatred upon those who shared that orientation. His conflicting Islamic allegiances were probably a smoke screen to cover the real conflict. Bad combination, gayness and jihadist views. Can't imagine the level of cognitive dissonance.

    BB

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    1. It is very unfortunate that PCG has decided to make this about negatively stereotyping Muslims instead of waiting to see a more fuller picture emerge. It is unfortunate that they rushed to their preconceived conclusions.

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  2. I do not read or listen to pcg, however Redfox your analysis on the reality of the Orlando situation is quite good. The Geller network sponsors European nationalist parties with hundreds of thousands of dollars perhaps millions. So any endorsement of Geller would be comments of a political nature not religious.

    I especially like your comment about waiting until a bigger picture emerges (which as BB said seems to be quite different from what the Australians (that is Fox news corp, and PCG bigots make of it).

    Perhaps it is because Australia is so isolated or bordered by the largest muslim country in the world. I don't know.

    I've been in Sarajewo and the Srebrenica area. It is true that there were a lot of Muslim combattants at the time also in the save havens, it was a mess only the UN can create, but it would serve any commenters or writers on the topic to do some travelling and establish for themselves the magnituted of the tragedy that unfolded in the Bosnian territories and the heinous atrocities perpetrated by the Serbs.
    At this time people must come to terms with that past and accept the Serbs back into the family of civilised nations. At the time however I thanked God for Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright for at least allowing the bombing of their capital city as a message in response of their atrocities.

    nck

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  3. btw
    Richard Palmer is a very talented young man.
    Such a shame if he continues to develop the more than average connections in his brain toward a single myopic connection. He has 12 talents whereas I have 8. Jesus says to use all 12.

    Eat that, you pcg social media watchers!

    nck

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  4. To make my point entirely clear.

    Even when the 80 bodies of the Utoya Breivik victims were still lying on the beach. I was quick reading the 130 page manifesto since I had a hunch. And yes, there it was, he was quoting Garner Ted Armstrong about the unification of europe or something.

    Now, to be honest, it was only one of a 100 quotes. Since I have been honest I expect PCG to be honest on Orlando or at least modify the link they make with this troubled individual with materials this troubled individual found on the internet.

    nck

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    1. I am not sure of Geller's links to the far right in Europe. But it is known that the name of her organization, Stop the Islamization of America, is an imitation of some far right group originating from Denmark.

      Most of what I know about her is from The Islamophobia Industry by Nathan Lean. That is a really good book for trying to understand the phenomenon of Islamophobia.

      I also read her book, The Post-American Presidency. She also denied climate change in that book and dismissed it as some sort of conspiracy to get money from America.

      You went to Bosnia. Good for you. The closest I've ever got to Bosnia was just reading and watching documentaries about it.

      That foul terrorist in Norway quoted an article from a COG website? Thanks for telling me. I didn't take a look until years after the massacre but I missed it. I just made a post about it and I thank you for mentioning that.

      Taking a look it is a quote from an article posted in later 2006 on the website of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association however the article itself is from a non-COG source.

      Thank you for telling me. I thanked you in the post.

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    2. And in regards to Australians all I will say is that I will state that many Australians are not like the few Australians who are present within PCG.

      But I do sometimes wonder about the prominence of some Australian individuals within PCG such as the late Ron Fraser or Brad MacDonald. I suspect the late Ron Fraser had something to do with that state of affairs.

      It is my understanding that Richard Palmer is British. But he has clearly integrated himself within the PCG leadership.

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  5. Australia: A great nation, great people. Just warning for the flipside of the coin that isolation, fear, may not lead to misguided sense of superiority. But that is inherent in BI isn't it? It is God's blessing to separate the Aboriginal children from their parents. (I know the PM apologized for the '50's) But that generation is still preaching.

    Bosnia: Things were wrong on all sides. Muslims, Serbs, UN etc. The nature of war. But heinous atrocities were perpetrated on civilians. My comments were directed at the notion that these acts of inhumanity were provoked.

    Geller: I am not sure who is copying who. Nationalist European parties fail to disclose the funding of their parties. It is substantial and it is foreign. I do observe those politicians "paying back" by visiting their rallies in the US.

    Norway: Ah, you managed to find the original non-cog related link. Those links were quickly non existant. It is fair to mention the original non cog source. Since it was only part of a cluster of thought.

    US&BinP was of course a fairly benign book. But I am pretty sure books like that were part of the cluster of thought in the compound from where TmcVeigh left to act on his hatred for the government. That is an interesting story also if you would discard everything that was in the regular newsmedia but trace all his steps.

    Now it looks like that I am implying that those fine anti war cog people had anything to do with these heinous acts. For sure that is not what I intend. I am mearly pointing out that they are surfing on 19th century theories on how the world was (supposed) to be ordered and that people better adapt to the new reality to be healthy wealthy and wise. I am not demonizing nice cog people. It is not the strongest animal that survives (or flourishes) it is the most adaptable.

    nck

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  6. In addition. The details on that British little town murderer of the politician were quickly filled in by the Right wing Watch in Alabama USA.

    A lot of Americans believe the support system for fascism is European but if you investigate it you will find that a lot of the infrastructure, money and materials for nationalist European (right wing) parties (or fringe groups) is provided from the US. Who would have thought?

    nck

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  7. Very good analysis. For ministers of Armstrongism it's all about scaring the membership into seeing the world in the 'one faithful way' that keeps members silent, paying and praying [though the latter doesn't really interest them!] so they can continue their mission...

    I wonder how they would react if they learned that instigating hatred against muslims IS in fact one of the tricks Daesh/ISIS wants to use so they can light an all-out war between xtianity and islam? It's the Daesh-people who are a disgrace against civilized life - not muslims. Regardless of what political commentators may say about that perspective

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  8. Henrik,

    I am a bit confused about the Obama legacy. However Hillary Clinton was very clear and eloquent on why Trump's statements were so dangerous and inflammatory. At present we are only fighting a couple of hundred thousand lunatics we can easily beat them when the world develops the will power to get rid of those loose misguided truly evil youngsters. What we don't want is to make 30% of the world population our enemy and estrange true islamic heroes who are waging their lives daily in rescueing Yezidi women from evil.

    nck

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