Three men were killed at the San Diego Islamic Center by two teenagers who were then found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. It’s easy for us to feel unified in horror over this, but it’s also going to become grist for claims America is overwhelmed by "Islamophobia."
Longtime San Diego talk-radio host Mark Larson -- now celebrating his 50th year on the radio there -- joined MRC Free Speech America vice president Dan Schneider and me to discuss it. Mark said the mosque was about four miles from where he works. The local community has united, but the national media is ready to make it political.
On Thursday, The New York Times carried the front-page headline “Islamophobia spreads fast, as does fear: Mosque Attack Reflects Rise in Overt Hatred.” The second paragraph argued “To some, the killings seemed like an inevitable result of a swell of Islamophobia in the United States and around the globe. Anti-Muslim rhetoric on the right has become louder.” This aims to connect anti-Islam rhetoric to this violent crime.
On PBS, they brought on CAIR deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell to announce "Anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States is completely out of control." MS NOW's Morning Joe used the occasion to lament about the “Christian nationalism” of Republicans, including the supposedly scary Sunday prayer event on the Mall. (Katy Tur didn’t understand how House Speaker Mike Johnson referred to the God-given rights language in the Declaration of Independence.)
The media sound universally defensive on Islam, but they can be very flexible on Christianity: if it helps them, it’s fine to blur into the government, they'll claim Jesus as a socialist. If it hurts them on the social and sexual issues, the menace of theocracy is going to run us over.
Speaking of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom bumbled into using the term "Fight fire with fire" in a Democrat gathering. The press didn't see it as a gaffe, despite the incompetence of Newsom and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass in recovering from the devastating wildfires there. They just repeated his line, with MS NOW highlighting "Democrats have promised a more ruthless approach beyond the midterms."
The competence of Mayor Bass is a major issue in the mayoral campaign, with former reality TV star Spencer Pratt driving home the point of how broken the city government is, and how intractable are social problems like homelessness. Mark says fully one-third of the homeless population of America is living in California.
Finally, the Los Angeles Times made fools of themselves in getting into a lather over the end of Stephen Colbert's Late Show on CBS. The TV critic's headline was "We will miss the divine and very human ministry of Stephen Colbert." It's hard to miss that this hints at comparing the comedian to the divinity and humanity of Jesus.
Enjoy the program below:
