[media-dakwah] Hate Speech: Bennett on cartoon riots: "Islam is as Islam does"

Fri, 05 May 2006 19:02:24 -0700


http://musliminsuffer.blogspot.com/

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


=== News Update ===



Bennett on cartoon riots: "Islam is as Islam does"



Summary: On CNN's The Situation Room, Bill Bennett claimed that "people"
who got "a good, close look" at Muslims rioting over perceived anti-Islamic
cartoons would say that "these people ["Islamists"] are unhinged."

During the February 9
<http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0602/09/sitroom.02.html>edition
of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN contributor
<http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/people/billbennett>Bill Bennett
claimed that "people" who got "a good, close look" at Muslims rioting over
perceived anti-Islamic cartoons would say that "these people are unhinged."

Bennett then changed course to discuss a young Iranian woman
<http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060108-092739-1620r>sentenced
to death for stabbing a man while defending herself during an attempted
rape. Bennett claimed the incident "is a peek into the soul of that faith
[Islam] when it's run through a government."
<http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.aaiusa.org/zogby/zogby_home.htm>James
Zogby, founder and president of the
<http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.aaiusa.org/zogby/zogby_home.htm>Arab
American Institute, challenged Bennett's blanket characterizations of Islam
and contended that "it's not a peek into Islam. It's a peek into the
outrages that take place in contemporary Iran, which is not synonymous with
Islam." Zogby maintained, for example, that "[t]he policy of Catholics
during the Inquisition is not synonymous with my church." Bennett initially
conceded, "Fair enough," but then reiterated, "Catholicism is as
Catholicism does; Judaism is as Judaism does; and, by God, Islam is as
Islam does. And what it's doing right now, I wouldn't want to be associated
with." Zogby responded: "Hundreds of millions of believing Muslims do not
... practice these things." Bennett then thrice asked: "Where are they?"

As Media Matters for America has
<http://mediamatters.org/items/200602090009>noted, numerous religious
leaders and government officials who represent the world's more than one
billion Muslims, as well as many Islamic organizations, have condemned the
widespread rioting that has followed publication of the cartoons.

Before being hired by CNN, Bennett came under fire in September for the
following <http://mediamatters.org/items/200509280006>remarks, which he
made during his radio show:

[I]f you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole
purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime
rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally
reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down.

From the February 9
<http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0602/09/sitroom.02.html>edition
of CNN's The Situation Room, which featured anchor
<http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/blitzer.wolf.html>Wolf
Blitzer:

BENNETT: Now, the Islamists have won, in that they have intimidated the
major news media from showing these cartoons.
They have lost, however, in the wider world, because people see that this
is just totally nutty behavior, that these cartoons are shown and people,
as a result, want to kill people, behead people, burn buildings down. And,
whatever the argument with the Danes, what is the point of burning the
Jewish flag? What is the point of burning the U.S. flag and saying, "death
to Israel and death to the United States?"
People get a good, close look at this and say, you know, these people are
unhinged.

[...]

BENNETT: I mean, is there --

ZOGBY: No --

BENNETT: -- excuse me. Is there no argument that radical Islam is
connection -- connected to violence? Is there no suggestion that, in the
name of Islam, in the name of the Quran, in the name of Allah, people are
having their heads cut off? These things hit their target.

ZOGBY: This was not about radical Islam --

BENNETT: This is --

ZOGBY: -- this was about the Prophet Muhammad. Let's be fair here.

BENNETT: Well, the Prophet Muhammad is tied into Islam.
[...]

BENNETT: Let's go beyond cartoons. The other story out of Iran is the story
of the two young girls who were raped. A girl defended herself and stabbed
her attacker. She is now sentenced to be hanged, under Islamic law. This
isn't a caricature. This isn't a cartoon. This is a peek into the soul of
that faith when it's run through a government.

BLITZER: I'm not familiar with that story. But go ahead.

BENNETT: It's a real story. And it deserves --

ZOGBY: And, frankly --

BENNETT: -- it deserves to be criticized.

ZOGBY: -- I'm familiar with Islam, and it's not a peek into Islam. It's a
peek into the outrages that take place in contemporary Iran, which is not
synonymous with Islam. And we cannot do that.

BENNETT: Oh, it's run by Islamic -- Islamic people --

ZOGBY: The policy of Israel in the West Bank is not --

BENNETT: -- theology. It is Islamic theology that runs it.

ZOGBY: -- synonymous with Judaism. The policy of Catholics during the
Inquisition is not synonymous with my church --

BENNETT: Fair enough. That's --

ZOGBY: -- nor is the policy of the Islamic extremists synonymous with the
Prophet Muhammad. Let's be fair and use one standard. I agree we have a
double standard.

BENNETT: Here's the standard.

ZOGBY: Frankly, I think that the way this story is cast is the wrong double
standard.

BENNETT: Here's the standard: Catholicism is as Catholicism does; Judaism
is as Judaism does; and, by God, Islam is as Islam does. And what it's
doing right now, I wouldn't want to be associated with.

ZOGBY: Well, as President Bush has said, correctly, hundreds of millions of
believing Muslims do not -- do not -- practice these things, did not burn
embassies.

BENNETT: Where are they? Where are they?

ZOGBY: Do not behead people.

BENNETT: Where are they?

ZOGBY: They, frankly, are insulted at the outrage committed against their
prophet, number one. And, number two, they're watching this situation
unfold with great fear, because their agenda is not the same as the agenda
of those who are extreme in their own midst.

BENNETT: I wish they would speak out. I wish they would speak out and take
to the streets, like these people do, when we see the beheading and beating
of people.

­S.G

source:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200602100004

===


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