Friday, June 26, 2009
Crazy Crap / Law and Order / Politics / Silverman Despite Their Intolerant and Misguided Views, Islamophobes Have a Sense of Humor
Posted by Jack Silverman on Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 7:22 AM
It appears Pith really struck a nerve with our Islamophobic neighbors at New English Review. A month ago, in a post prior to their symposium "Understanding the Jihad in Israel, Europe and America," I wrote the following:
What is the New English Review, you ask? I'm still scratching my head on that one, too. There's no discernible mission statement or "about us" page, though there are individual bios of the various editors, publishers and contributors.My point, of course, was that New English Review sounded like the name of a literary magazine or a journal on current trends in grammar. Yet oddly, the site was dominated by anti-Islamic rhetoric and fear-mongering, with the sole aim of convincing the world that all of our current global problems are not the result of complex geopolitical, economic, tribal and cultural factors--they're the result of Islam. D'oh! It's that simple! And here we were wasting our time trying to have a nuanced understanding of an extremely complicated situation. Anyway, though I was just trying to make sense of the odd disconnect between the site's name and content, this "discernible mission statement" comment really got under their skin. There were several comments about it then, and now, a month later, they're still talking about it, as revealed in a June 21 post on their blog, The Iconoclast:
It has been exactly one month since it was first reported that New English Review does not have a "discernible mission statement". Despite several news organizations' efforts, NER has defiantly refused to provide one, in an obviously extreme display of extreme-right-wing extremism. Erstwhile-contributor Artemis Gordon Glidden was heard to mutter, "They can have our mission statement -- when they pry it out of my cold, dead fingers. Mission statement? I got your mission statement right HERE," as he mopped the dark, empty marble halls of NER's international headquarters. Mary Jackson added, "They can love that mission statement up their Mama Cass," as she squeegee'd the windows. Hugh Fitzgerald said something witty about Pushkin in Italian (which unfortunately no-one understood) over the hum of his buffing machine. Esmerelda Weatherwax and John M. Joyce were busy arguing over which radio station to tune in, and Jerry Gordon was doing vocal exercises to prepare for his radio show. Rebecca Bynum said, "Can we please just finish this up? I've got front-row tickets to tonight's big concert at the Opry." The Tennessee National Guard has been mobilized, and the Obama Administration is reported to be closely monitoring events. Stay tuned for further late-breaking updates as they become available.Imagine that! Right-wing extremists grasping onto one tangential point having little or nothing to do with my central argument, then obsessing over it to divert attention from the flimsiness of their own argument. What an original concept! Anyway, despite fomenting hate and intolerance, at least they have a sense of humor. A good sense of humor? You decide.
Comments (24)
Showing 1-24 of 24
