The Trump assassination attempt vs Islamophobic hate crime: Parallels and double standard
Who is to blame for the recent assassination attempt of former president Donald J. Trump?
Could it be the Secret Service? Was there a failure on their part to spot the situation and diffuse it before it escalated to the actual attempt? Were they not supposed to scope out the campaign site before the former present got there?
Could it be Donald Trump himself? If he wasn’t such a divisive figure maybe none of this would have happened? If he just kept his mouth shut most of the time and left people alone, he would not have had the brush with death he had a couple of days ago.
Conventional wisdom and common sense says the shooter is to blame. This youth who must have felt he was making a difference and was a force for good in the world. He shot for the stars and got shot down in his prime. Did not Jesus say that he who lives by the sword dies by the sword? The media holds him responsible…and rightfully so.
Now, the media, this same media which has spent the last however many years framing Trump as the most evil man on the planet holds the youth responsible for Trump’s shooting. The media has dehumanized Trump and called him all derogatory names under the sun. Trump is a fascist! Trump is a bigot! a racist, a bully, a convicted felon. Now, I am not a Trump apologist but the man has never pretended to be a priest. The man has his issues but the amount of hate and calumny he has been subjected to is almost unprecedented. The media portrayed Trump and his potential presidency as the worst thing that could happen to America, it literally would be the apocalypse! The end of the world! Is it any surprise that somebody would actually want the man dead?
This is the same media that tells us that when people criticize the Islamic ideology they contribute to Islamophobic hate crimes. The same media which tells us that pointing out links between terrorism and Islamic ideology (as represented in its earliest and most reliable sources) contributes to hatred against Muslims. It dehumanizes them, they say, and makes them targets for harassment and puts their lives in danger. This same media riles up public opinion against Trump and then is shocked, (shocked I tell you!) when there is an attempt against his life.
Again, in blaming the shooter, the media apportions blame correctly here. Why is this same standard of culpability not consistently applied to perpetrators of Islamophobic hate crime? Why are the perpetrators alone not blamed? Inasmuch as the media will never take any share of the blame in the botched Trump assassination attempt, it has lost the right to claim people who expose the Islamic ideology for what it really is are to blame for any rise in Islamophobic hate crime.
Now, Trump is entitled to his right to life and dignity just like every Muslim on the planet. Fans and foes alike have to admit he is a controversial and divisive figure. Love him or hate him, the one thing you cannot be about Trump is neutral. His nature and personality force you to take a side especially because his potential presidency of the world’s most powerful nation would have a massive impact on the world around us.
You see, Islam is very much the same. The ideology is one you cannot be neutral about. The things it teaches have a real world impact which people tend to feel especially as the population mix within a region changes. It calls for the violent death and subjugation of people who do not share its beliefs (Surah 9:29–31) hence like Trump it just does not leave us alone.
Point is, people air their feelings about Trump (and my gosh does the media air their feelings about him! ) and they are entitled to do so. They should be entitled to air their feelings about Islam as well.
Nobody, including the media, would countenance limitations on freedom of expression about Donald Trump because it has stirred up actual near fatal violence against him. In like manner, limitations on expression about the Islamic ideology on the basis that there might be potential backlash against Muslims should not even be remotely touted by the hypocritical media. Until they accept the part they played in putting Trump’s life in danger, they have no right to do so.
*We thank God for the survival of Donald Trump. We continue to keep him in our prayers.
