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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Debbie Schlussel : Hate By Any Other Name



  When one writes for a living, there is a responsibility to provide the facts. even in op-ed pieces, there must be at least an attempt at keeping one's emotions in check in order to convey a message to a more mature audience. I understand the attraction of calling an opponent a dickweed, but at the end of the day there is little good done when you outright insult someone without providing a basis for it.

It was reported that CBS reporter Lara Logan was the victim of a vicious attack whilst reporting on the scene in Cairo. Whilst mainstream media offered condolences, the bowels of the web offered up a variety of opinions. And one person with an opinion is prominent Jewish blogger Debbie Schlussel.  I am familiar with Ms. Schlussel's work, I've even agreed with her before. But today she released this account of Egypt and Lara Logan that offends every sensibility that even a pro-Israel person such as myself possesses.

Warning: These are the exact words of Debbie Schlussel and not the opinions of myself or anyone else associated with Roofer On Fire.

As I’ve noted before, it bothers me not a lick when mainstream media reporters who keep telling us Muslims and Islam are peaceful get a taste of just how “peaceful” Muslims and Islam really are. In fact, it kinda warms my heart.  Still, it’s also a great reminder of just how “civilized” these “people” (or, as I like to call them in Arabic, “Bahai’im” [Animals]) are:



On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a “60 Minutes” story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy.
In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.
Hey, sounds like the threats I get from American Muslims on a regular basis. Now you know what it’s like, Lara.
There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.
I just love it when the people of the profession of “the public’s right to know” suddenly want “privacy.” Tell it to your next interview subject, Lara. Of course CBS has no further comment. Wouldn’t wanna impugn the “peacefulness” of “Religion of Peace” animals, would we? Now, if they were Christians or Jews, well, then there would be comments galore.
So sad, too bad, Lara. No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows. Or so we’d hope. But in the case of the media vis-a-vis Islam, that’s a hope that’s generally unanswered.
This never happened to her or any other mainstream media reporter when Mubarak was allowed to treat his country of savages in the only way they can be controlled.
Now that’s all gone. How fitting that Lara Logan was “liberated” by Muslims in Liberation Square while she was gushing over the other part of the “liberation.”
Hope you’re enjoying the revolution, Lara! Alhamdilllullah [praise allah].
As you may have read, Ms. Schlussel says it warms her heart that a peer has been sexually assaulted. Moreover, she calls Egyptians animals and savages, words used by whites to demonize other ethnic groups in the past. She makes an assertion that this attack was an Islamic evil, when it is known that Egypt is a multiethnic, multireligious society. Evil deeds can be done by anyone and Lara did know the risks and trusted a security group that was ill-equipped. Interestingly, Ms. Schlussel fails to honour the group of Egyptians that rescued the CBS reporter.
One could dismiss Debbie Schlussel as a far-right birther nutjob, but there are a lot of mainstream outlets who consider her an expert on terrorism.  Ms. Schlussel is the new face of hatred; a well-educated, well-spoken, attractive para-politician. She adds a facade of credibility to a racist, homophobic, and misogynistic agenda, which is why folks like Bill O'Reilly adore her. 
Columnists have the freedom to write about what they wish and ally with those of like minds. And I will state once and for all that Debbie Schlussel does not represent the views of at least one pro-Israel blogger. Her vicious attacks on all those not her have finally come full circle in a celebration of an attack on a peer. By celebrating rape, Debbie Schlussel has launched an attack on every woman who has ever been a victim of this most malicious of all hate crimes. If women are their own worst enemies, Ms. Schlussel is the Commandant of the army. 
There is never a justification for rape, nor racism. Hate in the name of patriotism is still the same. I sincerely hope that Magen David Adom pulls their ads from a website that promotes the types of crimes they stand against.
Ed. - I will no longer purchase the Vancouver Province until they stop using Debbie Schlussel as a columnist and apologize for featuring a writer whose morals are contrary to Canadian ideals. 

8 comments:

  1. Thank you Mika. One of the aspects of this awful situation which really gets my goat up is that too few people are calling out the bloggers & commentators for their repulsive words. Their silence condones this hate speech.

    And hate speech is exactly what it is. Pure venomous hatred against women. I'm not a lefty feminist but neither am I a conservative self loathing woman and I've been getting more and more repulsed with what seems to be a cavalcade of women bashing coming from the right, and from women no less.

    Debbie's words, along with others, simply outrage me. They sicken me to my soul. Mocking and blaming a person who was bashed, held down and gang raped is as low as it goes.

    I don't care that the victim was a reporter. I don't care that she was smack bang in the middle of an Islamic rampage. I don't care that her minders should not have been separated from her. This woman is a victim of a horrendous crime which will haunt her for the rest of her life. Where the hell is Debbie's humanity?

    I wouldn't be a reporter. I wouldn't travel to an Islamic nation. I wouldn't travel to any nation in the grip of violent political change. The CBS reporter did, but that does not make the crime her fault. She did not ask for it. She did not deserve it.

    I live in an area with a high population of Muslims. If I go outside and get gang raped by Muslim men, by Debbie's logic, I've deserved it. By her twisted words she is condemning women to the same oppression that Sharia forces upon women. Stay home. Don't go out. Don't ever go out near men. If you're hurt, it's your fault.

    I too have been subject to threats, but never, not once, have I ever felt compelled to say to a victim of those same threats "now you know what it's like." My basic humanity and compassion compels me to feel empathy for them, not derision.

    Lastly, mocking this victim of crime for her wish to privacy? Sick. Disgusting. Repugnant. The victim's right to anonymity, a right every victim of sexual assault in every western nation has, is no longer. At the very least we can respect her wish to heal without the eyes of the media on her.

    This issue also peaks my curiosity about conservative male bloggers out there. Apparently they're meant to be a hell of a lot more empowered than their leftist counterparts but I hear nary a peep from them. Do they agree with Debbie? Where is their outrage against blaming a woman for being raped? Stand up fellas or expect to lose a lot of respect from your audience.

    Kudos to you Mika for taking issue with this, irrespective of ideology, alliances or friendships. Kol HaKavod.

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  2. While the crowd was celebrating a momentous historic event, that most people in the world were celebrating with them, and innocent woman was dragged into the celebratory crowd and viciously raped and beaten so badly that she is still in hospital by the good people that the world was supporting and cheering for.

    They beat and raped her for thirty minutes before some women in the crowd got the army to intervene and stop it. The fact that this could happen in that supposedly joyful crowd is an important and telling event.

    This is not just some random rape. This is a Kitty Genovese moment, and the revolution itself is changed by this event. This is now part of what happened on that day. Inextricably part.

    If you can't see that, I think you need to think beyond your party lines and see the real truth of things.

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  3. It absolutely reminds one of the Kitty Genovese incident, or the Vancouver rave rape, or any of the others we've seen.
    My disgust is with Debbie Schlussel blindly attacking a victimized woman and launching into racist rants. I used to actually be a bit of a fan of hers but she's gone off the deep end recently.
    As for partisanship, you probably haven't been around long. Last night, I called out a hippie who was victimizing people. So what, tonight it's a rightie. Bad behaviour is bad behaviour whatever your political stripes.

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  4. "Bad behaviour is bad behaviour whatever your political stripes." Bloody oath Mika.

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  5. Obvious troll is obvious.

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  6. I am an Egyptian female and I have to admit that what happened to Ms. Logan was horrifying and hopefully she would recover soon from this horrific attack. But I have to admit that this could have happened to anyone because things were chaotic as everyone went out to celebrate.
    This was done by thugs and not by the Egyptian protestors who were finally celebrating their victory. It did NOT happen because Ms. Logan is an American, this could have happened to an Egyptian woman whether veiled or not, because at that moment she was a woman standing alone and vulnerable and was surrounded by thugs waiting for a prey.
    This was NOT an Islamic Revolution by any means it was an EGYPTIAN revolution led by both Muslims and Christians calling for justice and a better life. Egyptian people stood in front of their houses all night for weeks to guard it and protect it against thugs and thieves and actually replaced the police quite successfully. They do Not deserve to be called animals or savages, they were brave and heroic.
    It saddens me that people like Ms. Schlussel would call us animals only because we believe in a different faith, but as a Muslim I would like to know how she came to the conclusion that Islam condones rape and violence against women. Instead of being compassionate and supportive, she was gloating over what happened to another woman simply because she holds a different point of view. In the next few months I was supposed to go to Canada or the U.S. to pursue my graduate studies, but now I have to reconsider for there seems to be such irrational hatred.
    P.S. when I tried to post this comment on the daily mail, it was ignored and people from the U.S and Europe were allowed to comment, although they made comments that were kind of offensive.

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  7. Ms. Schlussel's comments are disgusting.

    Any consideration or concern on the part of the Roofer for the comments of Nir Rosen?

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  8. Debbie is a lier ...

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Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think